Biodynamics: Top Fruit

Types of Tree

Whatever merits may be claimed for fruit harvested from tall spreading apple or pear trees, standard and even half-standard trees are no longer popular and in any case are not really suited to a small or medium-sized garden. The tendency is to favour some type of bush tree or cordons, but fan-trained trees are very useful on south-or west-facing walls and palings. Fans are more suited to peaches, cherries, plums and pears than to apples. In small gardens especially cordons are a boon; they can be planted close together along a border or boundary and provide an opportunity to grow a wide range of varieties in a small space. There are two or three ways of training and pruning bush type trees, but this is not the place to describe them in detail. Trees can be bought as one-year-olds (maidens), or as two-or three-year-olds. In the first case the purchaser has to try to form the framework of his choice and will have to wait longer for his first fruit. Two-year-olds will have the first rudiments of a framework and in three-year-olds the main branching system will be fully developed. Espaliers are also out of favour; they are difficult to train satisfactorily and are very expensive to buy; their place has been taken by cordons.

All fruit trees are budded or grafted onto root stocks of wild or semi-wild species which are themselves propagated vegetatively. Trees grown from seed are seldom true to the parent type and take much longer to come into bearing. In recent years many refinements have been introduced into the production of root stocks and it is now possible to buy trees which will grow to the size required and no further: it was the discovery of a dwarfing stock which made the cordon a possibility. A reliable nurseryman will advise you on the type of stock that is necessary for your particular needs; he will have the same variety of apple, for instance, grafted onto several different stocks—so make sure you get the right one.

Planting

Most nurserymen lift their stock in November, as soon as most of the leaves have dropped, and this is also the best time to plant out so that the new roots have a chance to develop before the next leaves come out in the spring. It is, however, best to get the holes ready before this, in July or August, to allow for a certain amount of weathering, warming and aeration to take place. The soil removed from the hole when placed in small mounds nearby will also be enlivened. With a spade take out a hole 60 cm (2 ft) square and 45 cm (18 in) deep. If the land is under grass, remove the turf with a few centimetres of soil to a radius of 90 cm (3 ft) round the planting point and stack this separately—it will come in useful for filling the bottom of the hole later on. When digging the hole put the darker-coloured topsoil in one heap, the paler subsoil in another. Square holes are better than round ones because in the latter case there is a tendency for new roots to go round and round the sides of the hole like a flower pot, instead of out into the surroundings. Later on, when applying the autumn spray of 500 to the rest of the garden, keep some for treating the holes and heaps of soil.

The trees should be planted in their holes as soon as possible after receipt from the nursery, but it can be fatal to do this if conditions are very wet or frosty. Either leave them in their packing in a sheltered place or heel them in until a favourable day occurs. Before planting examine the roots carefully; remove any that are damaged, making a clean cut just behind the damaged part, and shorten any that are too long to go into the hole without bending them. The actual planting is best done with two people on the job, one holding the tree in position, the other filling the hole. First put a thin pole over the centre of the hole to indicate the ground level. It is important to plant the tree at the same depth as in the nursery; shallow planting will leave some of the roots exposed, while deep planting is liable to cover the grafting union, leading to undesirable root formation from the scion and to the danger of rots entering. Loosely tie the upper roots to the trunk above so that they do not get dragged down in the early stages of filling, and put the tree in position. Fill only with topsoil and turf to which some compost should be added at intervals; there is no need to overdo the compost—half a bucketful per hole is enough if the soil is in good heart. On poorer or newly reclaimed land the amount of compost should be increased and two or three handfuls of bonemeal or hoof and horn may be added. Gently firm the soil over the roots as the work proceeds and make sure there are no air gaps left round the tap root. Release the upper roots at the appropriate time. There will not be enough topsoil to fill the hole completely; make up the deficiency from an outside source or by drawing some in from the surroundings, replacing it by spreading the heaped subsoil. Finally, tie the trunk to a stout stake to prevent windrock and apply a mulch over the surface. Make the tie in figure-of-eight form, one loop round the stake and the other round the trunk; an old nylon stocking is very good for the purpose as it is strong and will not chafe the bark. There are, however, advantages if the stake is driven into position first and the tree then planted against it: in this case special care must be taken to see that the soil is packed firmly between stake and tree and that no air pockets are left there.

After-Care

If a row of cordons or a few isolated trees have been planted along a border or close to areas under regular cultivation, there is not much to worry about except to give them an annual mulch in early summer, perhaps with a little compost, and to keep them clear of weeds. Instead of a mulch white clover to supply a little nitrogen can be established as a permanent cover, either from seed or more easily from runners. When a small orchard is being established on open ground, it is possible (perhaps even desirable) to intercrop with vegetables such as potatoes, brassicas and broad beans for a couple of years before planting a permanent sward. The compost and the use of the 500 and 501 sprays given to the vegetables will help the young trees also, but the areas immediately round the trees should be mulched annually. On the other hand a succession of green manure cover crops may be grown, alternating legumes with mustard, rape and rye. Some of the top growth from these will supply material for mulching, the rest being worked in before sowing the next cover. By either of these methods a truly fertile and living soil is made ready to take a permanent sward in the third year. The latter will consist of a mixture of grasses and clovers sown in late summer or early autumn; its exact composition of species will vary according to local conditions.

If planting has been done on meadow land, it is advisable to keep the cleared rings cultivated for a year or two with mulches and some compost. The mulch will be supplied by cutting the grass and this should be done two or three times a year, just before the grasses come into flower. Young grass and other herbage is much richer in nitrogen than any which has flowered. Spray the whole area with 500 in spring and autumn, and with 501 at least once in early summer when the young tree branchlets are in full growth. In all cases, after planting new fruit trees make a firm resolve not to allow any fruit to develop in the first year; pinch out all fruit buds as soon as they appear. It is also wise to limit fruiting in the second year.

Pruning

For detailed descriptions of the various methods of pruning the reader, if inexperienced, is advised to consult one of a number of excellent books or manuals. A few general remarks, however, may not be out of place here. Most fruit trees if left to themselves will develop far too many long and spindly growths, with the result that there will eventually be a lot of poor quality undersized fruit because they have been starved of air and light. The aim is to obtain a compact shape with evenly spaced branches carrying plenty of fruiting spurs. For summer pruning especially it is best to choose a period of waning moon for the work, a time when the plant sap is not rising so strongly. This is not so important for the main pruning carried out during late autumn, when the trees have lost their leaves and have gone into a dormant period. Whenever wood that is more than two years old is cut out, the wounds must be treated against the possible entry of fungi; although commercial products are satisfactory for this purpose, the fruit tree paste is better because it stimulates the cambium to cover the wound more quickly. Another point not usually mentioned in the text books is the following. When a young growth is shortened back to an outer bud, it often happens that the next bud below it develops into an unwanted side growth. The remedy is to nick out this bud with the point of a secateur blade or thumbnail, thus diverting energy into the wanted fruit buds lower down.

Tree Paste

Rudolf Steiner likens the trunk of a tree to an elongated mound of soil, hollowed out in the centre. It is not therefore altogether surprising that something akin to a soil treatment is recommended for the trunks and main branches of fruit trees. This consists of applying a paste made up to the following formula:

1 part dried blood
2 parts kieselguhr (diatomite, a form of organic silica)
3 parts clay
4 parts cowdung

It is not necessary to adhere strictly to these proportions; they are a rough guide and in fact the dried blood, though desirable, is not absolutely essential. If kieselguhr is quite unobtainable, very fine sand may be substituted. Any kind of pottery clay can be used; alternatively one may be able to get it from garden subsoil, from a new roadside cutting or perhaps from a local brickworks, depending on circumstances. As the clay has to be kneaded and worked into a slurry, a lot of hard work is saved if it can be found in an already finely divided state. The clay has a threefold purpose: it acts as a sticking agent for the paste, it seals up small crevices in which insect nuisances may be lurking, and it is a mediator between the cosmic and earthly forces. The slurry is made either with rain water, stirred 500, dilute equisetum tea or very dilute liquid manure. A mixture of the last two has much to recommend it. Having prepared the clay slurry, the dung is then worked in with the other ingredients. The dung should not be very fresh, so it will have to be obtained from a manure heap or by collecting pats two to four weeks old from a meadow where cattle have been grazing. A final refinement is to add pinches of the compost preparations 502–6 with a few drops of 507. More liquid may have to be added to bring the consistency to that of porridge made with fine oatmeal. Before putting the paste onto the trees, work over them with a wire brush to remove any loose bark, lichens or moss which may be present. Put on old clothes as some splashing is inevitable, especially if dealing with old standard trees. Apply the paste liberally with a whitewash brush, working quickly from the top without any attempt at artistic effects. The work is best done in late autumn, but any time in non-frosty weather up to the end of March is satisfactory.

Treatment of Mature Trees

Once trees in an established sward have come into bearing there is very little to be done in the way of soil treatments. The trunks should be kept clear of vegetation to a radius of 23–30 cm (9–12 in). The sward can be kept close cut with a rotary mower, in which case the cut grass is left where it lies to rot down and provide worm food. If allowed to grow longer it will have to be cut with a scythe and the hay is either used as a mulch or removed for composting with other material for eventual return to the orchard. The mulch may be applied in circles round the trees just below the ends of the outer branches where most of the feeding roots are working. Another method is to rake the grass into straight rows in the root feeding area; the second cut can then be placed in rows at right angles to the first. An occasional dressing of compost to the whole area is beneficial, but do not waste it around the bases of the trunks because the active roots there will mostly have died out. Spring and autumn sprays of 500 to the whole area are advisable. Ideally 501 is sprayed three times—first, when the tree has made its first leaves and flower buds are showing, second, when the fruitlets are the size of hazelnuts, and third, when the fruit is beginning to ripen. This is rather a daunting programme for most gardeners unless the times coincide with spraying other crops. The most important spray is the second, but if August is dull and cold the third becomes almost essential if good quality fruit is to be harvested.

Another job when a tree has set a heavy crop is to thin out the fruitlets when about the size of a walnut, but this does not apply to plums and cherries. It has been shown by experiment that one apple to 20 leaves gives the best results; there is no need to count every leaf on the tree, just do it on one or two branchlets to get the right feeling.

Insect Nuisances

When thinning apples, some fruitlets will almost certainly be found to have small holes on the sides with a little brown mess around them. Remove all of these and put them aside separately for burning because they contain a sawfly larva. Removal at this stage prevents a second generation from developing and will save quite a lot of fruit from being spoilt later on. If left alone the attacked fruits will eventually drop off and allow the mature larvae to pupate in the soil. Dropped fruit should also be collected, but it does not take the larva long to emerge when it has reached its goal, so constant attention is necessary. Another rather similar apple and pear nuisance is the codlin moth larva which enters the developing fruit later in the year (midsummer onwards) usually through the eye. It reveals it presence by frass which may be difficult to spot amongst the old sepals, and occasional inspections are advisable. The mature larvae of this species come down the main trunk looking for a secluded place to pupate and hibernate. They can be tempted by tying a roll of corrugated paper 15 cm (6 in) wide three times round the trunk about 60 cm (2 ft) from the ground. The paper is taken off in October and burned. One further apple nuisance is the winter-moth. The females are wingless and so must crawl up the trunk of a tree to lay their eggs on flower buds and young leaves. They can be trapped by putting grease bands on the trunks and any stakes when the codlin moth traps are removed. In both these cases make sure that there are no tall weed stems which can be used as ladders to and from the lower branches. A last but rarer nuisance is the woolly aphis which appears as blobs like cotton-wool on fruit tree trunks. The blobs can be destroyed by applying methylated spirit with a paint brush, and further attacks may be prevented by sowing nasturtiums under the tree.

Diseases

The chief worry for apple growers is scab which appears as small round dark patches on the fruit (and leaves); some varieties are more susceptible than others, Newton Wonder being one of the worst offenders. For a commercial grower such blemished fruit become worthless and he has to undertake a complicated preventive spraying programme which can in fact be achieved by bio-dynamic methods. The home grower, however, need not be unduly troubled because the spots are only skin deep and do not affect the flavour or, more than to a minor degree, the keeping quality. Nevertheless, some precautionary steps are advisable and here again silica in one form or another comes to our aid. A prior necessity is to ensure by good pruning that plenty of light reaches all parts of the tree and that air can circulate freely. The normal sprays of 501 will provide some help. Supplementary treatments include equisetum tea (preparation 508) sprayed on trees and ground soon after fruit has set, perhaps repeated a fortnight later, and a spray of waterglass (sodium silicate) about the beginning of August at the rate of 1 oz. per gallon (10 g per litre). The same solution of waterglass can also be usefully applied to the soil when growth starts in the spring and again in July. These treatments will also help against possible attacks by rust and mildew. It must again be emphasised that the major factor in disease control is a healthy, vigorous microlife in the soil.

With plums, and to a lesser extent other stone fruit, one must always be on the look-out for silver leaf disease which can be a killer. The symptoms are unmistakable: the leaves on some twigs and branches take on a silvery sheen and then sooner or later die. Immediate action is necessary if the tree is to be saved. After cutting out the affected parts, examine the cut carefully and if there is the slightest sign of brown discolouration in the wood, cut back farther until all trace of this has disappeared. Paint the cut with a preservative and burn all the diseased parts at once. The danger of attack by silver leaf is greatly reduced by pruning all stone fruit trees in the summer rather than later in the year. More recently it has been discovered that quite a common micro-organism called Trichoderma viride can parasitise the silverleaf fungus and eliminate it provided that the infection is caught at an early stage. The Trichoderma has to be treated in such a way that it can be taken up by the sap of the tree, and it is marketed by a Swedish company as SB Binab T.

Peach leaf curl is a very common trouble on the young leaves of peaches, nectarines, cherries and almonds. They are invaded by a fungus which causes them to turn crimson and curl up. It is difficult to eradicate completely even by using the latest types of fungicide. Some gardeners have claimed good results after planting garlic round the trees, but this is not a fully reliable treatment. As with most fungus diseases, the seat of the trouble is likely to lie in the soil; so if the disease has been present in the previous year, the first thing to do is to give a loosening cultivation early in the spring when the buds are just beginning to swell. This is followed by regular spraying with equisetum tea (508) every 10–14 days combined with two applications of the waterglass soil treatment.

Fruit-Eating Nuisances

Blackbirds and thrushes must be suffered gladly for their joyful singing and other benefits which they bestow, but they can be restrained from undue avarice in various ways. Sometimes they may merely be thirsty, so see that there is always a bird bath handy for them, especially during dry weather. Early apples always tempt them, but their annoying habit of taking a few pecks from a lot of fruit can be counterd to a certain extent by picking the first damaged fruit and leaving them on the ground; the birds will usually prefer these to sound ones still on the tree. Cherries are very vulnerable, but some branches can be saved by pulling an old nylon stocking over them; if grown fan-trained against a wall they are easily netted. Old nylon stockings, cut into two pieces, are also very effective in thwarting wasps with their aggravating habit of making a small hole just below the stalks of unripe pears: on cordon pears in particular half a stocking can be tied to cover at least one and often two or three fruit. Squirrels are quite impossible to deal with; they rip the stockings off cherry branches and they use a low strawberry net like a trampoline, bouncing it up and down until they can reach the fruit.