We’ve always been surprised that in spite of the fact
that our place was an 1880 homestead, there were no fruit trees. Most of the
old homesteads in the area, even ones where the buildings had fallen down
decades ago, had old, gnarled apple trees still standing.
So in 2004, Don started our little orchard by planting a
Bali cherry tree. The Bali cherry was originally discovered in Alberta, Canada,
later propagated by Saint Lawrence Nursery in upstate New York and named for
the nursery’s daughter, Bali. Bali’s are hardy to 50 below and their fruit buds
are hardy to 40 below so we thought it would be the perfect cherry tree for our
location at 8000’ elevation. While our temperatures rarely reach those lows, we
do suffer through cold, dry conditions so it was still a guess if Bali would
survive and produce fruit here. But
survive and produce she has starting in her second year. Each year, if we
outsmart the birds and raccoons, we get a nice crop which we freeze and enjoy
all winter.
After some research, Don identified the best apple tree
prospects for our location and added three varieties – Sweet Sixteen, State
Fair, and Haralred – later in 2004. While the trees grew well, they rarely
produced blossoms much less fruit. We
read everything we could get our hands on about apple trees, asked everyone we
could think of to try and figure out what might be the problem. We added
supplements, watered religiously, talked to them, wassailed them in January –
anything but still no luck. We had about resigned ourselves to the realization
that our location just was out of the range of apples when this spring all
three trees burst into full bloom in early May. As is often the case here, we
were promptly hit with a week of evening temperatures dropping below freezing
including a couple of nights down to 28 degrees. We held our breath and hoped
that the blossoms would survive even though all the books said that would wipe
out 80 – 90% of the fruit production for that year. Miraculously the apples are
bearing fruit and in fact the most fruit we have ever had.
This year Don began a much more intense care of the
fruit trees following the guidance of Michael Phillips’ newest book, The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and
Berries the Biological Way. As the book title implies, the approach is
holistic and takes into account all the aspects of growth and production. It
reminds the orchardist that trees prefer to grow on the forest edge, in close
proximity to over-story and under-story species, and nurtured by soil that is
teeming with life and provides all the nutrients necessary for survival.
Don’s program includes bi-weekly foliar spraying with
various concoctions of kelp, neem, and teas brewed with comfrey, horsetail,
garlic, and chamomile depending on the time of the season. To enrich the soils he surrounds each tree
twice per season with a thick layer of compost and deciduous wood chips which feed
the soil organisms and in turn helps the tree roots to take-up nutrients from
the soil. Rather than an organized orchard, ours looks more like a wildland
area with other plants incorporated throughout that benefit the fruit trees by
attracting beneficial insects and bringing up deep nutrients to the surface
where the fruit tree roots can reach them.
It’s hard to say whether the warmer winter allowed the
fruit trees to progress to production or whether Don’s extra care is making the
difference or maybe a combination of both. Whatever the case, the orchard has
finally come of age. In more moderate climates this probably would have
happened years ago but at 8000 foot elevation, it took 8 years.
We still face many challenges with our orchard from
weather to the “locals” – birds, raccoons, deer, bears and more. Already this
year the raccoons got to the last of the cherries before we did and we will have
to alter our fencing design to thwart them in the future. We’ll work on the
plan this winter as we enjoy cherry crisps from our frozen stash and warm,
cooked apples for breakfast.
From Fleur Creek Farm
