I'm off work this week, so spent more time in my orchard. It seems to me there are a lot of things to do in the fall, if one is so inclined.
Herbivore Damage Prevention. - I use a 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth around the trunk, tied with zip ties. Each young tree gets a collar about 1 foot to 18 inches tall. I try to stick it into the ground. During past winters, voles especially liked fig trees, pear trees, and apple trees. The collars usually last 2 or 3 years, before trunk grown means taking them off or replacing them.
Deer are less picky this time of year. I have a circular fence around most trees, with galvanized 5 foot tall fencing, one or two fence posts holding them in place. My deer don't seem to browse about 5 foot. They don't have to be rhinoceros proof - the deer in my area don't push them over. Some larger ones have 4 fence posts.
I have a few locations where I killed grass by laying down cardboard and covering with straw. Voles like living under the cardboard, so I removed that now that the grass is dead.
Herbivore damage is one of the biggest challenges for me, so this is first priority in my orchard.
Planting. I have a few trees that I grew from grafts or cuttings. This seems like a good time to plant them, so I did.
Mulch. Now that the grass is growing again, I am mulching around most of my trees with grass clippings. The mulch should last until Spring. One negative, voles might live under it. The hardware cloth usually keeps them out. I don't have mulch touching the tree trunk.
Removing dead or nonperforming trees. A few didn't make it this year. Drought, bugs, and voles. No reason to keep them in place. I pulled out and cut down a couple of dead ones and one that was not performing. The locations will either be fallow this winter, or if the issue does not seem to be infectious disease, I planted a similar species. I know that's taking a chance, and I would not do that if it appeared the dead one was diseased. I have a few apples on M27 - they don't do well at all, more than 6 years of trial and care, so I am removing those for something more vigorous.
Hopefully others will add their fall maintenance. These are a few things I am doing.
This is an excellent post Daniel that will be helpful for others. Its a good reminder for me. My mother in law is in town so maybe I can sneak out and take care of some of that herbivore protection.
To your last point. I'm happy I wasn't hasty in removing dead trees last Winter. I had a Yuzu citrus die to the ground and a bay laurel - oh, and a pawpaw, maybe seedling. I was sure they were history, but they both sent up suckers from the roots that became apparent mid summer.
I'm assuming the bay laurel was on its own roots. The Yuzu on Flying Dragon. I can let it get back some vigor and bud it again with the Yuzu. With both the Pawpaw and the Yuzu I planted another tree in the same spot. It will be interesting to see how the 4 trees do together as they grow up a bit. Maybe the pawpaw will be happier under the Nadia Cherry plum, or maybe the 4 in 1 pluot will be a bust the Flying Dragon will keep on.
Jafar
Jafar, your post let me to look up Yuzu. Very interesting. Proves that no matter how old I get, there are many many many things I don't know about. I was aware of that already, of course, and get reminded of it every day.
You are right that some trees and plants can surprise us and be alive when we think they are not. That happened with a couple of frozen and vole-eaten fig trees in my yard. A rabbit ate off one of my pawpaws, and it grew back, still at least 2 years behind it's cohorts.
I did an autopsy on two of my dead trees. No bark at all under the soil line. Voles. I think.
Another thing that works in fall. Prepare ahead for Late Winter or Spring Planting. If you have plans to plant an area late winter or spring, which is currently grass, you can prepare it ahead by covering with black plastic. Hold it down with rocks or pieces of wood. By late winter, all of the grass will be dead. In my yard, moles like to process the soil under the plastic, so it comes out soft and crumbly. Alternatively, cover the spot with some old cardboard, then cover that with grass clippings. That can kill the grass, soften the soil, and add nutrients to the soil. If the cardboard has not composted itself by spring, it can go into the compost pile.
Start Compost from Yard Waste. My neighbors in Battleground are all burning their grass clippings and leaves. Better would be pile them up and compost them. Our area has a lot of 1/2 are to 1 acre lawns - one is 5 acre. A lot of people fertilize and herbicidize and pesticidize, so I don't offer to take their yard waste off their hands for my own compost. I do make a lot from my own yard trimmings and waste.
I agree with you Daniel about composting. It just makes so much more sense.
Make sure to keep mulch at least 6 inches away from the tree trunk. It harbors fewer voles that way.
Mother in law visits can be an opportune time to desperately need to catch up on something.
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