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Orchards-
The first things I recommend for people to do after they get a place in the country is to put in and stock a pond and plant an orchard.
You can build a chicken pen in a weekend, buy some chickens and be up and running with them in a day. You can buy or build rabbit hutches and rabbits and be up and running with them in the same day. Orchards and ponds are longer term projects requiring more time investment before they are up and running. Therefore it's best to take care of these things FIRST.
These two items take a few years to really start producing for you, however they offer several advantages.
* They require very little work- besides initial establishment of a pond or orchard, there isn't a lot of time required for maintenance . A few hours mowing here and there plus some time pruning, spraying and fertilizing for the orchard. Twenty minutes fertilizing and doing the occasional liming of the pond.
* They are "less seen" food production items. If someone infiltrates your retreat they are more likely to steal from your garden or your livestock than your pond or orchard. Even if they steal fruit from your trees, which is only available a short period of time every year, they would be hard pressed to destroy the tree without being noticed.
* No noise involved- livestock makes noise and smells. I'm not saying don't have livestock, we do. All I'm saying is ponds and orchards have less of a "signature" than cows, goats and chickens. Fruit trees can be hidden in clusters. Contrary to popular belief, they will grow well amongst forest trees. Having a half dozen hidden in the woods could come in very handy. Course the deer love them to, so it makes a great place to set a stand up near.
Don't underestimate the amount of trees necessary. A lot of survival writers who don't actually have experience in growing fruit in an orchard will tell you that 3 or 4 trees will produce all the fruit a family of four needs for a year. Maybe they are talking about full size trees that have been in the ground for 10 or 15 years and are meticulously cared for, I don't know.
We used to have a very animated friend that we helped plant a few trees with. He planted two scrawny apple trees about 7 years ago at a hunting club property. I mentioned to him that he might want to add a few more. His reply was "are you kidding, I'll get a truckload of apples from these next year!" 7 years later one tree is dead and this is the FIRST YEAR the remaining tree produced any apples, about enough for one pie. So much for "truckloads."
We consider 10 trees per person an absolute minimum for semi-dwarf trees.
Some misc. items to consider regarding fruit trees and orchards. Please keep in mind I'm in the Southern United States, certain recommendations may not apply for your area.
* Use drip irrigation. It's very easy to install and maintain. At the lowest point in your irrigation install a ball valve that you can use to completely drain the lines every winter.
* Use Bo Smith type emitters. We had problems with the sediment in our water clogging the cheaper emitters. We have strung spaghetti tubing from the emitters to the trunk of the trees, then left it up about six inches out of the ground. This way you can walk by and verify by sight that the tree is in fact getting water. We first buried the spaghetti lines, but it was impossible to tell for sure if water was getting to the trees unless you left the irrigation on long enough to truly flood the ground near the tree.
* Don't overprune. Remember the main reason for pruning is to control growth. Stick to removing of branches that are out of whack. Keep in mind also if heavy fruit set becomes a problem for a branch that you can thin the fruit to save weight on the branch. Be ruthless when doing this to avoid losing branches to the weight of heavily laden fruit.
* Get your trees from a local nursery that has been in business no less than 10 years. Search around if you have to. You want to go to someone who truly knows what they are talking about. This does not mean Jimmy at the StuffMart garden center. He will likely sell you trees that may not produce in your area. Know the "chill hours" needed for each variety and know the hours normal to your area. There is nothing worse than buying and planting a variety that won't produce in your area, then nursing it along for six years, trust me, waste of time, space and money!
* Avoid the exotic stuff no matter the advertising claims. Yes we feel for this stuff also. "Cold hardy" bananas, citrus, etc. We have a well known nursery about 2 hours from us that specializes in this crap. Supposedly "cold hardy" to -10 degrees. In almost 7 years it has never gotten below 18 degrees here and 3 bananas and 2 citrus trees all "cold hardy" to -10 did not make it. Don't waste your money.
* Plant in clusters for pollination value. Pretty much everything needs a pollinator. Plan your planting so that trees that pollinate others are very close by, preferably in a block of trees. Having a few hives of bees will help with this also.
* Plant early and often. Get your trees in as soon as you get property. They will need the time to get producing. Plant a few new trees every year even if you have to plant them in the woods.
* We have had little luck with "organic" solutions to pest problems. Currently we use dormant oil spray in the wintertime and early spring before buds start to form. As necessary we will use stronger pesticides but this is rarely necessary. You may get to the point where you have to spray pesticides to SAVE TREES. It sucks but it does happen. Use the lowest dose you can get away with but save your trees. Get used to seeing and using fruits with "blemishes." All will not be presentation quality supermarket type stuff. Even for the really ugly ones- there is always applesauce, pearsauce, etc. We just learned how to make wine, so we have yet another thing we can do with excess fruit.
* Walk your orchard daily during the fruit season, culling fruit where necessary. Remove all diseased fruit, do not just let them drop to the ground near the tree. This may further the spread of the disease. I like to roll a wheelbarrow down the rows once a week pulling the culls to give to the chickens. What doesn't feed us feeds the other animals who in turn feed us.
* Apples and pears make up about 90% of our orchards. I did some experiments last year and found that most of the apples would remain edible on the tree for about a month- getting softer as time went on. The pears varied on time, depending on whether they were the "hard cooking type" pear or the softer eating pears. The hard cooking type pears remained edible on the trees for almost 2 months. This is an important thing to consider and factor for your area. Leaving the fruit on the tree allows you to eat what you need and save more for later- kinda like keeping animals alive till your ready to eat them- storage "on the hoof", this is storage "on the branch." Also, in normal times, it's nice to know you have a window of opportunity to pick and process fruits. Sometimes work schedules will not allow taking a day or two off to can fruit.
* Organic growing was not producing what we needed as far as tree growth, health of the trees and fruit production. While we attempt not to use any pesticides, we have in times past used them and will in the future if it means saving a tree. We use commercial 10-10-10 fertilizer every spring along with about 20 lbs. of cow manure at the base of each tree. We have had good results from this mix.
* When planting, allow for a hole that's 1 and 1/2 times the size of the roots of the tree. I prefer container grown trees. We have an excellent local nursery that provides 2 and 3 year old trees for around $7.00 per tree. We've even had trees produce the first year we bought them. Make sure you do NOT add fertilizer into the hole that you plant the tree in to. Doing this will damage the delicate feeder roots, the small hairlike roots.
Our video page
Has a six part series on Growing fruit trees to further your study.
The first things I recommend for people to do after they get a place in the country is to put in and stock a pond and plant an orchard.
You can build a chicken pen in a weekend, buy some chickens and be up and running with them in a day. You can buy or build rabbit hutches and rabbits and be up and running with them in the same day. Orchards and ponds are longer term projects requiring more time investment before they are up and running. Therefore it's best to take care of these things FIRST.
These two items take a few years to really start producing for you, however they offer several advantages.
* They require very little work- besides initial establishment of a pond or orchard, there isn't a lot of time required for maintenance . A few hours mowing here and there plus some time pruning, spraying and fertilizing for the orchard. Twenty minutes fertilizing and doing the occasional liming of the pond.
* They are "less seen" food production items. If someone infiltrates your retreat they are more likely to steal from your garden or your livestock than your pond or orchard. Even if they steal fruit from your trees, which is only available a short period of time every year, they would be hard pressed to destroy the tree without being noticed.
* No noise involved- livestock makes noise and smells. I'm not saying don't have livestock, we do. All I'm saying is ponds and orchards have less of a "signature" than cows, goats and chickens. Fruit trees can be hidden in clusters. Contrary to popular belief, they will grow well amongst forest trees. Having a half dozen hidden in the woods could come in very handy. Course the deer love them to, so it makes a great place to set a stand up near.
Don't underestimate the amount of trees necessary. A lot of survival writers who don't actually have experience in growing fruit in an orchard will tell you that 3 or 4 trees will produce all the fruit a family of four needs for a year. Maybe they are talking about full size trees that have been in the ground for 10 or 15 years and are meticulously cared for, I don't know.
We used to have a very animated friend that we helped plant a few trees with. He planted two scrawny apple trees about 7 years ago at a hunting club property. I mentioned to him that he might want to add a few more. His reply was "are you kidding, I'll get a truckload of apples from these next year!" 7 years later one tree is dead and this is the FIRST YEAR the remaining tree produced any apples, about enough for one pie. So much for "truckloads."
We consider 10 trees per person an absolute minimum for semi-dwarf trees.
Some misc. items to consider regarding fruit trees and orchards. Please keep in mind I'm in the Southern United States, certain recommendations may not apply for your area.
* Use drip irrigation. It's very easy to install and maintain. At the lowest point in your irrigation install a ball valve that you can use to completely drain the lines every winter.
* Use Bo Smith type emitters. We had problems with the sediment in our water clogging the cheaper emitters. We have strung spaghetti tubing from the emitters to the trunk of the trees, then left it up about six inches out of the ground. This way you can walk by and verify by sight that the tree is in fact getting water. We first buried the spaghetti lines, but it was impossible to tell for sure if water was getting to the trees unless you left the irrigation on long enough to truly flood the ground near the tree.
* Don't overprune. Remember the main reason for pruning is to control growth. Stick to removing of branches that are out of whack. Keep in mind also if heavy fruit set becomes a problem for a branch that you can thin the fruit to save weight on the branch. Be ruthless when doing this to avoid losing branches to the weight of heavily laden fruit.
* Get your trees from a local nursery that has been in business no less than 10 years. Search around if you have to. You want to go to someone who truly knows what they are talking about. This does not mean Jimmy at the StuffMart garden center. He will likely sell you trees that may not produce in your area. Know the "chill hours" needed for each variety and know the hours normal to your area. There is nothing worse than buying and planting a variety that won't produce in your area, then nursing it along for six years, trust me, waste of time, space and money!
* Avoid the exotic stuff no matter the advertising claims. Yes we feel for this stuff also. "Cold hardy" bananas, citrus, etc. We have a well known nursery about 2 hours from us that specializes in this crap. Supposedly "cold hardy" to -10 degrees. In almost 7 years it has never gotten below 18 degrees here and 3 bananas and 2 citrus trees all "cold hardy" to -10 did not make it. Don't waste your money.
* Plant in clusters for pollination value. Pretty much everything needs a pollinator. Plan your planting so that trees that pollinate others are very close by, preferably in a block of trees. Having a few hives of bees will help with this also.
* Plant early and often. Get your trees in as soon as you get property. They will need the time to get producing. Plant a few new trees every year even if you have to plant them in the woods.
* We have had little luck with "organic" solutions to pest problems. Currently we use dormant oil spray in the wintertime and early spring before buds start to form. As necessary we will use stronger pesticides but this is rarely necessary. You may get to the point where you have to spray pesticides to SAVE TREES. It sucks but it does happen. Use the lowest dose you can get away with but save your trees. Get used to seeing and using fruits with "blemishes." All will not be presentation quality supermarket type stuff. Even for the really ugly ones- there is always applesauce, pearsauce, etc. We just learned how to make wine, so we have yet another thing we can do with excess fruit.
* Walk your orchard daily during the fruit season, culling fruit where necessary. Remove all diseased fruit, do not just let them drop to the ground near the tree. This may further the spread of the disease. I like to roll a wheelbarrow down the rows once a week pulling the culls to give to the chickens. What doesn't feed us feeds the other animals who in turn feed us.
* Apples and pears make up about 90% of our orchards. I did some experiments last year and found that most of the apples would remain edible on the tree for about a month- getting softer as time went on. The pears varied on time, depending on whether they were the "hard cooking type" pear or the softer eating pears. The hard cooking type pears remained edible on the trees for almost 2 months. This is an important thing to consider and factor for your area. Leaving the fruit on the tree allows you to eat what you need and save more for later- kinda like keeping animals alive till your ready to eat them- storage "on the hoof", this is storage "on the branch." Also, in normal times, it's nice to know you have a window of opportunity to pick and process fruits. Sometimes work schedules will not allow taking a day or two off to can fruit.
* Organic growing was not producing what we needed as far as tree growth, health of the trees and fruit production. While we attempt not to use any pesticides, we have in times past used them and will in the future if it means saving a tree. We use commercial 10-10-10 fertilizer every spring along with about 20 lbs. of cow manure at the base of each tree. We have had good results from this mix.
* When planting, allow for a hole that's 1 and 1/2 times the size of the roots of the tree. I prefer container grown trees. We have an excellent local nursery that provides 2 and 3 year old trees for around $7.00 per tree. We've even had trees produce the first year we bought them. Make sure you do NOT add fertilizer into the hole that you plant the tree in to. Doing this will damage the delicate feeder roots, the small hairlike roots.
Our video page
Has a six part series on Growing fruit trees to further your study.
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