First of all, I just discovered the Home Orchard Society and want to say what a great resource it is!! I'm brand new soon-to-backyard orchardist getting ready to plant my first 5 trees. I have 5 acres of undeveloped land (no water hook up or power yet) near the town of Snohomish WA, east of Everett. The orchard site I've selected and cleared is in an open meadow (currently grasses, ferns, and small bushes and shrubs) sits at about 500ft, and gets plenty of E and S exposure (at least 6 hours a day of sun). Under foot is the Tokul soil series http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/s.....a_soil.htm which has a hardpan at about 3 ft down. I'm looking to grow the following selection of apples, cherries, peaches, and eventually a couple pears for home consumption and sharing with friends/family - pies, sauce, fresh eating, canning, and fresh cider. I selected these based upon Gary Moulton's "Fruit handbook for W. Washington: Varieties and Culture" publication available through WSU Extension.
Liberty (on M-26 rootstock)
Bramely's Seedling (on M-7 rootstock)
Melrose (on M-7 rootstock)
Surefire Cherry (on Gisela 5 rootstock)
Lapkins Sweet Cherry (on Gisela 5 rootstock)
Contender Peach (on Lovell rootstock)
I anticipate my biggest challenges in establishing/maintaining this backyard orchard will center around irrigation and protecting the trees from wildlife (deer, voles, rabbits, and other chewing critters). I'm also a little concerned about the long term viability/productivity of the trees given the hardpan issue.
To overcome the irrigation challenge I'm currently sketching out a basic rainwater collection, storage, and drip irrigation system. I need to know how much water I should anticipate needing to deliver to these trees during the dry months where sufficient rain can't be expected (namely mid-July through mid-September).
Advice on my selection of varieties/rootstocks, potential problems with the hardpan, general orchard layout thoughts, tree protection issues, and any insights into per day water requirements for these trees would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thank you,
James
I never give any baby tree more than 5 gallons per week in the hottest portion of summer. And if you want to really be efficient, you could water using buckets that have a smallish hole near the bottom, so as to be a "drip bucket". And I always add a little miracle grow type fertilizer to help baby trees get a good start.
Large tarps can be strung between existing trees or fence posts, and the water diverted to garbage cans or barrels.
Get your trees in the ground as soon as possible. Do not amend the soil at all. Around now you should probably cover the stems for the first 8 inches with used metal window screens to keep mice from chewing on the trunks, and come Feb or March you should apply cardboard or newspaper to the ground surrounding each tree, creating a mulched, weed free dead zone. Native grasses and weeds can really go thru alot of water, stunting your trees. So best to minimize competition. Mulch the cardboard/newspaper with leaves, forest duff, mowed grass, straw, whathaveyou, to keep the root zone cool and to keep cardboard from blowing away. 5 or 6 feet diameter dead zone is good. I use roundup herbicide around my larger trees, but only for ease of mowing. (wife tends to "bark" the trees with lawn tractor!)
Plant on 20 foot centers each direction, in my opinion. Makes it easier to mow, and you don't wanna crowd your trees.
Either get some used 4 foot field fencing, or buy some, cutting off 13 or 14 foot sections, forming a hoop from such, and place around each tree. Add a stake or two to keep the deer from moving them around. These will prevent most deer browsing. And if you have deer, they will browse. They will strip a baby tree of all leaves in maybe 5 minutes!
I think you will do just fine, given 3 feet of soil. Go for it.
Idyllwild
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
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