Management of a Veteran Kentish Orchard

I look after a small orchard in Kent - between Dartford and Gravesend. I have mentioned it in a couple of other threads:

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/52999-having-go-pruning-fruit-trees-anyone-interested.html

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/2847-mulch-not-mulch.html

The first of these also includes some earlier pictures. I thought the ongoing work warranted its own thread, both for this and other, similar orchard/fruit tree work.

It is a mixed smallholding orchard planted in 1919, originally providing food for the family and fruit to send to market at Covent Garden. Although these were once very common, this is now something of a rare survivor. It is a mixture of apples, pears, cherries and plums, also a quince, with cobnuts along the boundary. The trees are mostly in bush form, many on semi-dwarf Paradise, St Julien and Quince A stock, the others on seedling crab and pear.

My parents bought the place in 1988 (Mum still lives there) and I took on management of the orchard. It had been seriously neglected, probably for the past 20yrs, with several casualties still lying fallen from the 1987 storm. There was also another period of reduced input from around 1998 to 2009 for various reasons, following which I picked it up again in earnest.

Although the fruit is still used, the orchard is well past its commercial life. The primary objective is therefore keeping the existing trees going, well past their normal life expectancy, together with replanting gaps, very much with the same philosophy of a mixed orchard for kitchen use.

There is very little spraying - pretty much only the Morello cherries as otherwise brown rot destroys the crop and the young growth. Codlin moth and plum moth traps are used and occasionally a bit of herbicide around the trees, although the weeds are mainly controlled with woodchip mulch (whenever anyone drops some off!)

As the thread develops I aim to document the ongoing work.

Alec

The pictures below, taken at the weekend, show some of the dwarf bush trees which are pretty much how I want them. They can be pruned from the ground, make reasonable extension growth each year and are light and open. Note that the original main structure is now pretty much hollow in all cases but this is not an issue so long as the trees are maintained.

The first two are St Edmund's Pippin, the third is Worcester Pearmain.

Alec

One consequence of neglect is that, where trees are close together, as they become more overgrown and dense they are drawn up towards the light. This results in the trees becoming taller and the lower branches dying, leaving the same canopy volume but at a much higher level than necessary. As the trunk becomes hollow or canopy becomes more dense, this risks the tree either blowing over or snapping out. This is addressed by cutting back to let light in lower down and encourage growth of new main branches from the small epicormic growth below. Once these become large enough, the main framework can be dropped to the level of the new branches, effectively a form of accelerated retrenchment with drop crotch pruning, leaving a new head.

These images show the progression in a series of half standards (4' clear stem). Firstly a Beauty of Bath which has been drawn up to about 15'. It is on Paradise and the tree habit is wide and spreading andso it should be possible to maintain the tree at around 8'. The main side branch has a large hole in it (image 2) so it is now time to accelerate reduction of height - two large sections were cut off this year. In parallel, new branches can be seen at around this height which are beginning to form a new branch scaffold. Cutting back progressively above these points will accelerate their growth.

The third image shows an Allington Pippin which is well on with the process - this is a slightly more upright tree but 10' is easily achievable. It is now being thinned out to improve branch spacing - cutting the head off tends to promote vigorous growth which if thinned at the same time just makes it bolt. The trunk is completely hollow.

Finally, a Beauty of Bath which has been brought into shape at 8'.

Are any of the species now rare? I ask because I've no real knowledge on fruit trees, but an interest in the history of them!

Look forward to following this.

This Lord Suffield is also in urgent need of reduction - in this case partly due to its height (currently around 12') and partly because it is internally decayed and is now buckling at every bend. The spread of the upper canopy has been reduced from around 12' two years ago to under 6' and heavily thinned. The planned new framework can be seen forming - it was set back badly by canker last year due to the bad weather but if we have better weather this year it should expand another foot or so. It will probably be 3 or 4 years before the top can be taken right down.

Are any of the species now rare? I ask because I've no real knowledge on fruit trees, but an interest in the history of them!

 

Look forward to following this.

The varieties are not at risk of disappearing - they are all in the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale and are available from speciality nurseries, however very few of them are now commercially grown. I once saw St Edmund's Pippin for sale in Sainsbury's and I have have bought Worcester Pearmain in a market. Beauty of Bath is a very early eater with not much flavour but interesting pink flesh; it is also one of the parents of Discovery, the other being Worcester Pearmain. Longer storage techniques and imports from New Zealand have pretty much wiped it out and Allington Pippin has gone completely. It was an early attempt at a Cox improvement but it is not bland or sweet enough for modern tastes and it can be difficult to get the size right as it is rather biennial and in off years the few fruit are huge whereas in on years they need thinning. It has a nice flavour though and keeps well. We are just eating the last of them. Lord Suffield is an early cooker but it is now pretty much impossible to sell anything other than Bramley, so they are just picked seriously under-ripe and people accept it. This is a shame, as a nice Lord Suffield is far better in my opinion. It also doesn't need much if any sugar with it.

Alec

I won't ask any more questions until I've re read the other threads. I'm a little envious of the opportunity to be working on something like this over a number of years and seeing how things evolve and improve.

Another problem which arises is that trees become imbalanced. This can be because a main structural branch dies, or because the tree was neglected, became dense and was blown over and can no longer be stood back up. New branches can then be grown to fill in the gaps and, where the tree has blown over, the lower branches on the wrong side removed to balance it up.

The first picture shows a half standard Allington Pippin which was so heavily overshadowed by a larger tree that one half died completely and the other side was drawn upwards. The tall side has now been brought back down the the correct height and new framework branches can be seen forming on the near side.

The second picture shows a Beauty of Bath which developed a lean. The branches to the left have grown over the past 15-20yrs and the tree is now completely balanced.

The third picture shows what is now a well balanced Rosemary Russet with good structure, however the fourth picture shows two scars - one low down and ageing, the other fresh. This tree fell over such that branch which was at the lower scar was horizontal, thus the branches now growing to the right originally grew to the left and branches to the left have been developed as a completely new half of the framework. There are pictures of this from a couple of years ago on the earlier thread, showing it before the last of these branches was removed.

Not much work yet on the big ones this year - they always get left until last as pruning later seems to produce a less vigorous response (at least, that's what I tell myself when putting it off...) However, I have worked my way round most of them now, with the very vigorous Bramleys to go in a few weeks time.

These two are a couple of Annie Elizabeths which are now mostly back in shape. They are very exposed and were windblown in 1987 whilst they were top heavy with a big sail area before being thinned but are now fairly open, reduced in height by around 6' and produce good extension growth and a reasonable crop of large, good quality fruit which keeps through until June. Pruning is therefore now more about removing upward growth, keeping a fresh supply of laterals by removing old ones and bending new ones down and removing the mass of thin, twiggy stuff which always develops along the tops of the branches.

The first is shown before and after pruning. The third image shows the condition of the trunk. Care is needed to stop it collapsing, but it hasn't moved any further in the last few years since I took the lever arm back a few feet and it is balancing up fairly well.

The next two images show the adjacent tree before and after pruning. This was winched up several feet and propped in about 1990. It also had Armillaria, which was successfully eradicated around the same time. The prop has mostly rotted away but the root system has recovered such that it is no longer needed. Some new branch structure can be seen developing low down on the trunk to fill in the gaps. The branches will need to be very large to achieve this but in around 15-20yrs it will be possible to take the top centre out and lower the canopy significantly on that side.

 

 

 

It also had Armillaria, which was successfully eradicated around the same time. .

Do tell? Now this is getting even more interesting.

Gary