Orchard Weeds

We had to do a little research to find out how we could efficiently weed the orchard without working 24/7. On-line we found an attachment for the Bobcat called a Weed Badger. Basically this is installed on the front of the skid-steer. It allows you to move the Weed Badger between the trees, without disturbing the trees. Sort of like a souped-up weed eater. You can see how clean the rows are.

Chestnut Growth

I haven't forgotten about the blog, we've just been pretty busy on the farm. Here are 2 pictures of the chestnut trees. We have a few that are actually growing out of the tube. Remember that the tubes are 5' tall. We were so fortunate to have all of the rain right after planting, and hopefully this will lead to strong growth for the rest.

We Have Fruit

It's not much, but after one year of working the little orchard, we do have fruit. I took these photos and then immediately picked what fruit we had. Our goal is to strengthen the trees this year in hopes of a good fruit crop in the next few years. These photos are apples and one peach.

Fruit Orchard

The fruit trees planted last year have done pretty well. Out of 12 trees, we only lost one, a cherry tree. Here is a photo of one of the apple trees. Although we did not see many flowers on the trees this year, they are full of leaves. I did spray them with Liquid Fence to keep the deer away. We also removed the stakes and strings used to keep the trees upright during strong winds.

Spring Planting

It looks like all the trees in the orchard have survived. So I ordered one more cherry tree and two more pecan trees as pollinators. I have been ordering seeds and plants from several companies for the past few years and have been pleased with their results. Guerneys, Stark Brothers and Harris Seeds are all good options for purchasing seeds and/or plants. We should receive our orders and begin planting in the next 2 weeks.

The Orchard

Once the garden has been planted and everything in place, we are ready to move to the orchard. We have just purchased about a dozen fruit and nut trees for planting. Although we have used soaker hoses in the garden, irrigation is going to be our greatest hurdle in the orchard. Trees will be spaced about 20 feet apart with rows spaced wide enough for a tracktor to pass for spraying and grass mowing.

First we measured each row 30 feet apart. We used string and stakes to insure straight rows when we began digging holes. Next we used an auger attachment for our Bobcat and dug the initial hole for each tree.

Then using a post digger, we made each hole at least twice the diameter of the root ball. While planting the trees, we added peat moss and top soil.

Following is a photo of the orchard, week 1.

5/14/07 update. The trees seem to be doing Ok, although some have a few dried leaves on them, even though we have watered and had a good amount of rainfall in the last week. Also, since we have planted the berries, the raspberries have started putting out stems already, so I am hopefull.

Liquid Fence

A short story here, some friends told me about a spray that I could put on my plants, completely organic, didn't wash off in the rain and really kept the deer away. It's call "Liquid Fence". So I tried it and it worked! However there was one downside that they failed to mention. It stinks to high heaven - and water does NOT remove it from your hands. To give you an idea, the product is made with egg by-product (whatever that is, but imagine raw eggs sitting out in the blazing sun, not cooking, just rotting and you can only begin to think of the aroma/scent/stink). Of course, when I used it for the first time, it was late afternoon before going to a church dinner. I kept smelling my hands to see if they were still stinky, and of course there was staring. The point of this story is wear rubber gloves when applying the Liquid Fence. I have learned my lesson.