Management of a Veteran Kentish Orchard

[agg221]

Do tell? Now this is getting even more interesting.

 

Gary

 

There were two trees which had it, showing large volumes of fruiting bodies - this and a Newton Wonder which was removed when the lower end was landscaped. We treated both with Armillatox in the days before it was withdrawn for such purposes. A single dose was applied, in line with manufacturer's recommendations. There has been no recurrence of fruiting bodies in c.25yrs and tree vigour is good. I take this as a success.

 

Alec

[David Humphries]

Fine thread Alec, thanks for taking the time to put it together.

 

 

 

Was the species of Armillaria ever determined?

 

Obviously there are more benign species than A. mellea?

 

 

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[Gary Prentice]

There were two trees which had it, showing large volumes of fruiting bodies - this and a Newton Wonder which was removed when the lower end was landscaped. We treated both with Armillatox in the days before it was withdrawn for such purposes. A single dose was applied, in line with manufacturer's recommendations. There has been no recurrence of fruiting bodies in c.25yrs and tree vigour is good. I take this as a success.

 

Alec

Me too.

I thought that might be the solution, but wondered if you'd replaced tonnes of soil and removed all the colonised roots.

 

If it was still used for that purpose the consideration would always be weighing damage to good soil fungi against killing the HF. I'd probably have done the same in you situation.

 

I was also kinda hoping you had an unknown and unpublicised solution that no one else knew.

 

Thanks,

Gary

[sean]

A great, interesting thread. cheers.

[peatff]

I have a couple of Worcester Pearmain trees in the back garden which I planted about 30 years ago. Some years they do really well and others not so much. They are getting ready for cutting back again this year as they are growing taller. Last year I noticed a lot of the apples had black spots and were malformed on one of the trees and I might look into something to prevent it this year. Nice to see the orchard and old trees being maintained.

[slack ma girdle]

You are a lucky man to have this orchard to play with.

I have always rated Tom Put and Mere de Manage as better cookers. Although bramley if left on the tree until November often becomes much sweeter.

[sandspider]

Nice to see there's still an orchard or two left in Kent.

 

I grew up there, and in the 20 odd years since, virtually every orchard I knew has been grubbed up.

 

Impressed too with your long term pruning planning! I really must get around to having a go at my overgrown plum tree.

[agg221]

Me too.

I thought that might be the solution, but wondered if you'd replaced tonnes of soil and removed all the colonised roots.

 

If it was still used for that purpose the consideration would always be weighing damage to good soil fungi against killing the HF. I'd probably have done the same in you situation.

 

I was also kinda hoping you had an unknown and unpublicised solution that no one else knew.

 

Thanks,

Gary

 

Afraid I don't have a magic solution - I'm aware of the pros and cons but in this case it was the combination of saving this tree and also not having it run rampant through the orchard. Also worth noting that 25yrs ago thinking was rather different, particularly in our case. I would have been around 16 and neither Dad or I had any experience to draw on. There was no internet so basically you read the fruit books to work out what problem you had, saw the dire warnings around honey fungus, walked into the local agricultural merchants (this is pre- PA1) and asked what they had that you could dose it with

 

David - no idea which Armillaria it was - the ID books I had available at the time just said 'honey fungus, very bad!'

 

As I recall, the Armillatox was quite expensive at the time and we did wonder if it was worth it, but it seems to have paid off

 

Alec

[David Humphries]

............David - no idea which Armillaria it was - the ID books I had available at the time just said 'honey fungus, very bad!'

 

As I recall, the Armillatox was quite expensive at the time and we did wonder if it was worth it, but it seems to have paid off

 

Alec

 

Alec, I've used Armillatox for eradicating Armillaria in the past, though this was a fair while ago pre understanding (a bit) about the complex relationships within the soil.

 

I only mention the identification angle as it's possible your historical infection was another species of Armillaria feeding saprophytically on dysfunctional wind rocked/severed roots, or old dead roots from previous removed trees.

 

Possibly too long ago to recall but I wonder how the vitality of the two trees in question were at the time or whether it was just the presence of Armillaria fruiting bodies that led to the decision?

 

Can you recall where they were fruiting?

 

 

Old thread on the (mis)identification of Armillaria fruit bodies, which is quite an interesting case study.

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/81240-armillaria-investigation.html

 

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[Will Heal]

Really interesting thread and a wonderful old orchard. Thanks for sharing it