Field Days & Meetings
* Visitors welcome at all our functions.
$5 for non-members (of NZTCA or NZFFA) to attend Canterbury field days - may be deductible from membership fee if attendee decides to join.
This list of events is typical of what you can attend to learn about tree cropping.
Events are advertised by your local branch newsletter, which is included in your membership fee.PLEASE respect our generous hosts' property and other visitors' peaceful attendance. Bring NO pets.
Beware of health and safety hazards which may exist - children must be supervised. Bring sturdy footwear and suitable clothing. Let's all enjoy our day!
Newsletter Editors and compilers - Important note:
Branch Events
2010 March
Sunday, March 29 2010.
Farm Forestry Field Day
The North Canterbury Farm Forestry branch secretary, Gary Fleming, has chosen a cross-section of treeplanting in the Balcairn-Amberley district for a field day, which may be of great interest to TCA members, who are encouraged to come along.
1. The first stop will be Tony's property on Marshmans Road. The plantings here feature a mixedspecies orchard, deciduous shelterbelts, and horticultural trees including olives, hazelnuts and walnuts.
2. After lunch there, the focus will switch to Anton's and Catherine's property, where Gary has planted trials of stringybark eucalypts and redwoods.
The eucalypts are being tested for the production of ground-durable timber for vineyards.
3. The final stop will be at the property of Peter and Shelley on Bruces Road.
The main attraction there is a thinned and pruned stand of silver wattle (Acacia dealbata) in mid-rotation.
2010 March 25th ~ 28th —
2010 NZTCA NATIONAL CONFERENCE - Christchurch - more details...
December 2009
Sunday 13 December 2009, 11 am.
Field Day/AGM: Red Beech Sustainable Forestry Block and AGM
John and Rosalie Wardle, New Road (off Woodside Road), View Hill, Oxford.
John Wardle's Woodside Forest Ltd sustainably farms beech forest north of Oxford, as well as a pine plantation.
The day will no doubt offer an opportunity of a bush walk in the guise of a TCA field day, and include the annual Canterbury Branch AGM.
Members are encouraged to attend and suggest visits, projects, topics for the 2010 events schedule as well as provide feedback on this year's.
Day's Schedule:
Arrive at 11 am, for the first part of the tour.
Lunch and AGM:
The second part of the tour will be after the AGM.
Past Events
Monday 2nd November: Riparian Planting Day
Orton Bradley Park, Banks Peninsula
The Orton Bradley Park Memorial Block has had a planting concept for a number of years. About two years ago Murray Mannall, a keen supporter of the park and its trees, a Canterbury TCA Branch member and owner of Southern Woods Tree Nursery, prepared a planting plan for the wet area [riparian strip] of the block. Box 1 shows the species and the numbers of each species selected, planted on November 2nd.
20 Dacrycarpus dacrydioides 10 Prumnopitys taxiflolia 10 Podocarpus totara 20 Cordyline australis 20 Leptospermum scoparium 20 Coprosma propinqua 20 Phormium tenax 20 Cortaderia richardii 15 Griselinia littoralis
8 Pittosporum tenuifolium 7 Pittosporum eugenioides 15 Plagianthus regius 15 Kunzea ericiodes 15 Hebe salicifolia 15 Sophora microphylla 15 Myoporum laetum 160 Carex secta Murray estimated that about 1200 native plants would be required. His plan consisted of a map of the proposed planting area and a list of natives found in the wet areas of the Peninsula. It was approved by the TCA committee and the Park Board.
The branch funds would not bear the cost of this. The branch decided that it should apply to the Tree Crops National Management Committee for Branch Innovation Funds.
An application was submitted earlier this year and after some negotiation the grant of $600.00 was made to the branch. This grant required the Branch to further finance the project on a 2:1 basis – a further $1200.00.
The original budget was reassessed and the committee decided that it had to reduce the funding by half for this year. It was decided that 2000 plants would be planted this spring.
Plan A was to plant these plants on the 4th Oct 09, after Murray had marked out the placing of each plant. Unfortunately he was not able to proceed on that date due to illness so we had to develop a Plan B. Planting hinged on his recovery to health and so we rescheduled a later planting date. Fortunately the weather (ie. the cool, wetter than normal spring) ensured the slight delay didn't compromise the establishment of the young plants.
Late in October a recuperating Murray was able to mark out the planting site for 400 plants. See the above box for the plant types and numbers of each variety; all these species are very suitable if anyone wishes to plant a riparian strip on their block.
The planting team arrived a 9:30am and started work immediately. The Park manager, Ian Luxford, arrived and secured the fence nearest the road. This fence had been lowered to allow for the felling of two large willows and the clean up that followed.
After about three hours of steady work the team had about 280 plants in the ground and protected with Combi guards and KBC Tree Shelters protectors. They fell short of their objective of 400 planted that day, however, on Tuesday 17th November a small team finished planting the balance of 180 plants.
The 2nd November was pleasant as the temp was a mild 15 degrees C. We'd had some rain a couple of days earlier so the ground which is a loess soil [dust blown by the Canterbury norwest wind over millions of years] was easy to work. No volcanic rock was encountered and work was made easier because we were working in the wetland area of the block.
The weather this spring proved ideal and the delayed planting has made little difference in planting conditions at the site. The continuing occasional rain shower is providing good growing conditions with sufficient spring warmth to allow the plants to bed in.
We look forward to finishing the planting program next year. The area will become a real asset to the Branch and the Park. It will be a border for the memorial Tree Crop trees to be planted within, in the future. The TCA tree area of the site has already some tree crop trees planted; walnuts and hazelnuts. Stuart Pluck and Murray have been providing these trees with tender loving care for a numbers of years now.
The Committee may at some future date be looking for a local – head of the harbour – member or group of members to provide a little time for continuing maintenance of the block. There would be, of course, absolutely no restriction on any member wishing to assist with this project; any help is always welcome and is encouraged.
Orton Bradley Park is on the Banks Peninsula postconference tour itinerary. The Branch hopes that the tour will have time to visit the Memorial block and the walnut / hazelnut block ie. the Hamish Dean block, which is close to the TCA Memorial Block.
Finally, I wish to thank everyone who has given their time and any materials to the project to date; and an extremely large thanks to Murray especially, without whom we couldn't have proceeded this far! The project is now about half complete. Members are asked to look for further notices in future newsletters asking for assistance to complete the project.
In the meantime if anyone would like to help with planting next year please phone me.Mike Caldwell - 22 November 2009
from NZTCA Canterbury Branch newsletter, Issue 60: Summer 2009/10.
Canterbury TCA Projects - Updates:
Fruit Tree Archive:
As of October, over 80 varieties of apple have been identified as needing to be sourced and disseminated in stages as part of the Heritage Archive, with around 20 varieties of pear and 15 plums. As a first stage, the apples have been organised into 'functional groups', which at this point are:
- 1. High Health to Cultivate [eg. for organic systems]
- 2. High Nutrient Contents/Medicinal
- 3. Winter Store Cookers
- 4. Winter Store Eaters
- 5. NZ [incl a few Aus] varieties [named cultivars and unnamed seedlings]
- 6. Rare UK cultivars for Canterbury trial
- 7. Rare UK cultivars for West Coast trial [sites needed]
- 8. Rare French/Belgian/Dutch for Canterbury trial
- 9. Rare German/Czech/Danish/Swedish for Canterbury trial [few varieties sourced as yet]
- 10. 'Boutique' Eaters incl. Russets, for Farmers Markets
- 11. 'Cox-like' comparisons trial
- 12. 'Boutique' Juicing / Cider/ Wine/ Drying applications.
Members should enquire [to Krystina] about any apple group that is of interest to you.
Past Events
Sunday October 18th: TCA Grafting Day
at Southern Woods Tree Nursery. This was the first time the Branch had held a grafting day for some years, and it proved to be a somewhat challenging event logistically, both before and after the event – but the actual day went off without a hitch, ironically! Our tutor who kindly volunteered was Roger, who has been training AgriBusiness horticulture students previously.
Getting hold of suitably sized rootstocks was an issue, which Margaret B. sorted out with great efficiency; and by sheer luck and accident, the Southland Open Orchard Project was discovered while Krystina H. was scouring the web for apple cultivar details. The subsequent sourcing of much of our scion wood for the Grafting Day was arranged from the Open Orchard (at Riverton); together with a number of more locally sourced heritage varieties as well. In total, there were around 40 varieties of scion wood, and three types of rootstock: M9, MM106, and M793. The day was very well attended by around twenty five TCA members.
Unfortunately, the first 'glitch' was the mismatch between the size of the M9 and MM106 rootstocks and most of the scion wood – but more on that later! Nevertheless, the hundred M793 rootstocks were more than sufficient, and after getting everyone to practice on numerous sacrificial poplar twigs, Roger allowed everyone to try their hand at the tongue and cleft grafting of some actual apple scion wood to a rootstock. After a twig was grafted onto its rootstock, it then had to be bound up with special tape to prevent drying out and to facilitate a firm join, and as planting bags and compost were provided – more on that later, as well! - people were able to take away their varieties of choice for a very reasonable fee of $5 per bag.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy the event, it should be said, and hopefully they are having success with their grafted apples sprouting into leaf by now.
(Note that even if the scion wood doesn't take – DO NOT THROW OUT THE ROOTSTOCK if it's started to grow. These can be used in January for bud grafting of any varieties that haven't succeeded as tongue and cleft grafts. Or the rootstocks can be grown on a year and re-used again next year.)
Finally, after everyone had tried their hand at grafting the varieties of their choice, and it was time to go home, the organisers of the event (yes, the same breezily optimistic Margaret B and Krystina H.) quickly cleared away the large pile of poplar twigs off Southern Woods' floor and then had an impromptu last minute somewhat frantic (verging on the frenetic) debate as to what to do with the over 150 very large and robust-looking M9 and MM106 rootstocks remaining, languishing on the floor in four daunting piles, together with the array of scion wood pieces that hadn't been grafted by the end of the event. Each individual was by then no doubt privately thinking “we'll do a smaller choice of scion wood next year...” while debating with the other, and our tutor Roger, as to what to do with all the plant material.
After the hurried debate, it was recklessly decided that:
a) Roger would take all the scion wood and rootstocks home;
b) he'd enlist his ex-orchadist neighbour Mark D. (who knew nothing of this suggestion at this point!) to help graft the remaining rootstocks to the remaining scionwood;
c) and Krystina would turn up at Roger's the next day to help pot the grafts up.At which point everyone thankfully heaved a sigh of relief, Margaret hitched up her trailer filled with compost, bags and plant labels, she, Krystina and Roger got into their respective cars, and all went off in separate directions for a well-earned rest.
However, the next day dawned. Roger's: to the prospect of grafting nearly 200 trees; Mark D's: to the same; Krystina's: to the task of either heeling them in in rock-hard ground or planting them in bags at Roger's; and Margaret's, at Hamner Springs - to the appalled realisation she had all the spare compost, potting bags and labels.
Sufficient to say: that Monday did go down in the memory of each of the participants as something to be regarded as above and well beyond the average call of duty, friendship and, even, membership of the TCA, (to which, it has to be noted, Roger and Mark- I suspect thankfully, after those three days - don't even belong!), one cannot begin to describe adequately the seemingly never-ending line of twigs and roots facing the two 'grafters' that first day - the running out of compost, labels and bags by mid-afternoon, and then the high farce of Krystina stumbling through the front door after a day of digging and planting, rushing to answer a phonecall - from Margaret, who was ringing in concern to ask what we should do regarding the spare compost in the back of her trailer.......!
Tuesday dawned, and everyone turned up again at Roger's. Margaret drove up with the spare compost, and while Roger collated and labelled, and Mark grafted, Krystina and Margaret bagged up nearly 150 apple trees, then loaded them up in triumph at the end of the day onto her trailer, and the boot and floor areas of her car.
To cut a long story short, the arduous and at times hysterically funny three days (yes, the grafting and potting-up stretched into Wednesday), ended up with all the rootstocks utilised, all the scion wood grafted onto the three types of roots (to be used for the Heritage Archive and next year's Winter Tree Sale), and two very grateful TCA committee members would like to sincerely thank two extremely helpful and generous non-TCA 'civilians' – without whom we really couldn't have saved the situation – or the apples.
POSTSCRIPT: All the M9 and MM106 grafts are sprouting nicely at Margaret's, with some of the M793's being slower, but not written off yet. We also have enough local sources of budwood in January to replace any scion wood that hasn't taken on its rootstock. In all we now have around forty varieties either grafted or able to be sourced.
from NZTCA Canterbury Branch newsletter, Issue 60: Summer 2009/10.
July 2009
26 July Sunday
12 noon till 3.0 pm
Mid-Winter Harvest Display and Sale,
Members Social, and Tree Auction
at West Melton Community Centre.
How to get there:
The Community Centre is on the left hand side of SH 73, immediately west of West Melton. It's a creamy-coloured stucco building with a play centre beside and behind it.
Winter Tree Auction Reminder:
If you have any spare seedlings that can be lifted or potted-up for the tree sale in mid winter – ornamentals, woodlot, fodder trees, shelterbelt and hedgerow trees, fruit and nut seedlings -
all types of plants welcome!
NIWA Talk
Tuesday 21 July.
Evening: 7 - 9 pm
TOPIC: Climate Change.
Climate science, adaptation to and mitigation of changes re tree crops; the value of trees as carbon sinks; tree species suitability in global warming scenarios; historical cycles versus anthropogenic changes in climate.
How to get there:
Venue is the Canterbury Horticultural Centre, Hagley Park, Christchurch:
ground floor, the Wattling Room.
...Interested in knowing more? So are we! Join us...
H O W
T O J O I N a n y
N Z T C A B r a n c h . . .
Past Events
May Fielday to 'Waitangi' Block, near Little River
After driving through torrential rain, sleet and high winds from North Canterbury to Banks Peninsula for the field day, wondering whether this really was a sensible thing to do as it was probably going to be pouring with rain and hail all through the visit, we drove towards Lake Ellesmere, not believing our luck that as we approached the property, the weather was, while cold and cloudy, not raining at all. In fact the worst of the weather during the entire visit was an occasional light drizzle.
Lorne's and Pat's 100 acre lifestyle block is situated within a shallow valley opposite Lake Ellesmere, on the way to Little River. The they have been there for over 20 years, and primarily have bred Rare Breeds of livestock as the main economic activity on the block, with tree crops and woodlot as subsidiary activities. The block contains several pasture meadows, a large woodlot, hazel orchard, and a home fruit orchard. In past years lucerne was grown on the block, profitably, but at present all paddocks are in pasture.
On the lake side of an old pine shelterbelt near the house area, 550 hazelnuts were planted - 400 have survived the incursion of the surrounding pine tree roots. The hazels, mainly Whiteheart including pollinators, are 16 yr old and produce 400-600 kilos each year, which earns about $3000. The only labour involved is during harvest, as the nuts are picked by hand. The trees were planted in parallel hedgerows within a square 'block' to stress the trees by overcrowding them - thus making them produce nuts rather than grow vegetatively. Under the hazelnuts the ground is cleared by Shropshire ewe hoggets who eat the hazel suckers as well. The hazelnut block is very easy-care – and pays for itself.
However, this could not be said of several of the Rare Breeds of livestock on the property, in today's recessionary times. Animals such as alpacas and llamas, whilst charming and very attractive, are proving to be a somewhat expensive luxury for today's lifestyle block owners, Lorne said during the tour, and in fact he made the decision to not breed the herd this year, in order to keep down numbers. One thing that is very difficult for Lorne is to find good homes for the animals he breeds, and as a result he has reduced both the number and range of animals he now keeps. Other rare breeds such as Enderby Island rabbits (of which only three have been retained), four extremely rare donkeys that have very stubbornly refused to breed at all so far, and a breeding trio of Arapawa Island pigs are being kept 'for posterity' on the block, the piglets of which Lorne either finds a very good home for, or eats!
The most economically viable livestock on the property are the four breeds of sheep currently being raised and evaluated by Lorne. The Arapawa sheep are a feral NZ breed, active, intelligent and very protective of their young – the flock tends to clump together as they range through a paddock. Their fleeces are blotched with brown and cream patches, and the breed is very resistant to internal parasites, foot rot and flystrike.
The Shropshire sheep are an old UK breed, extremely common in NZ many decades ago, but which proved to be too woolly in the face and prone to flystrike and footrot. In fact Lorne has found that Shropshire sheep are five times more likely to suffer flystrike than his Arapawa flock. Nevertheless, the breed has a highly useful function on Lorne's property, as it's the only breed that can be allowed through an orchard, for example the hazel block, with the confidence of knowing the animals will eat the grass down, but not ringbark the trees.
The Karakul sheep, from Kazakhstan, also have fleece of attractive colours, and have very lean meat, as they belong to a category of dry climate sheep breeds called 'fattail' sheep – the animal's fat is stored there, not in the body tissues. Being a dry climate breed, Karakul sheep are prone to foot root under unfavourable conditions.
The fourth breed of sheep are Gotland Pelt sheep from Scandinavia – a rather slim, elegant, long-legged breed, with black faces and legs, and variously coloured pelts that are used for felting. The Gotland Pelt rams are very hard to keep under control, Lorne mentioned, probably as a consequence of being a very curious and fearless breed, who are quite happy to approach strangers and check them out. The most useful aspect of seeing the four sheep breeds in flocks of approximately the same size, was the comparisons that can be made of health and utility. It was obvious that each breed had its own strengths and disadvantages.
We then walked across one of the paddocks to the edge of the block, where there is a plantation of 4000 well tended pines, and 1000 Eucalyptus obliqua and nitens. They have been pruned up to provide a 34m clear trunk, and will be ready to harvest in another five or ten years. Some Tasmanian Blackwoods are planted in a pine shelter belt but these were not visible above the pines.
Retracing our steps towards the house we walked past the small vineyard which produces wine, then through to the well sheltered orchard on a warm sunny slope above the house. It became clear seeing all the citrus varieties flourishing just how much warmer the microclimate is at 'Waitangi' than that of mid and north Canterbury generally – of particular note was an unnamed Loquat tree grown from a seed, which had proven to be an especially productive variety, with the fruits (over 2000 each year) ready in Oct .The other fruit trees were a mixture of apples, cherries, quince and plums, with berrryfruit being grown in a fruit cage to foil the birds.
As the homestead site itself is over one hundred years old, there were very old macrocarpas and pines on the property; whilst around the house site many varieties of eucalyptus, as well as a superb mature Chinese Elm, had been planted by a previous owner who had Australian connections. The beautiful large old Victorian house decorated with wife Pam's fort art handiwork. The grapes and other orchard fruit eg. quince are used by Pat to make wines and liqueurs, which impressed the small hardy group of tree croppers as drinks became stronger during the post-visit lunch. Coupled with Lorne's often hilarious anecdotes (some of which involved psychic wild birds from Lake Ellesmere) about their life (sentence) on their lifestyle block, this was a highly entertaining and informative visit, which the unfortunate weather that day did not dampen or mar in the least.
from NZTCA Canterbury Branch newsletter, Issue 58: Winter 2009
...Interested in knowing more? So are we! Join us...
H O W
T O J O I N a n y
N Z T C A B r a n c h . . .
April Fielday to Cider Orchards, Dunsandel
Our visit to Camla on a beautiful sunny Sunday the 19th April was all and more than most of us had anticipated. We went to see a cider and fruit juice producing orchard and small factory. As well as that, we were shown a bountiful property with many other cropping trees and plants and various happy animals to complete the scene. Mark manages Camla for owners, Annabel and Peter. Mark's property adjoins Camla and we saw both. As we waited for people to arrive we were introduced to a 38 year old horse and a possessive donkey that had to be put in his place.
Thereafter we began our tour with the 2ha orchard of Cider apples: Kingston Black and Sweet Alfred. Growing on their own wood (ie. not grafted) brings all kinds of silvicultural and management difficulties. Growth which is too rampant in the excellent Templeton silt loam soils, leading to pruning and spraying issues as well as, more importantly, trees that tend to split and fall over. However they produce great quantities of fruit, in fact more than can be used in the three pickings they have for the cider operation. The Sweet Alfred has very high sugar and juice content, great cider qualities but is barely edible as a fresh apple. The Kingston Black, which tend to be biennial bearing, is a small red apple, quite tasty to eat. The two varieties are blended in proportion to the required cider type.
In the factory the freshly picked apples are mashed by machine and pressed through cloth by a wooden press. The cider (of which there are now two varieties, with a new sweeter sparkling one as well as the traditional English style) is fermented in stainless steel vats. This short sentence skips lightly over the knowledge and experience applied before the cider is ready to drink. But drink we did (well some of us). Camla also produces bottled apple juice from delicious fresh apples. They have a small bottling plant, a pasteurising vat and a bottle-capping machine.
Elsewhere on the adjoining properties were walnut trees producing good numbers of nuts for the tree size; olives- mostly consumed by the peahens and pine nuts just beginning to produce.
Mark also showed us a well- established 4ha block ha of hazels now 10 years old, well shaped and producing nicely. He controls big bud mite by hand and has some appearing in one corner of the plantation only. The other significant pest being the aphid is naturally kept down by ladybirds except in the odd unusual season.
An important and commercial crop of asparagus is produced from two large plots, harvested by 6 pickers in the season. All other work on the asparagus beds is done by machine – spraying out weeds and cultivation. He has grown an improved variety which withstands the high summer temperatures better than the more prolific but temperature-sensitive one. You can't have it all it seems!
Mark has been gradually replacing walnuts for apples on his land. He pointed out the remaining row of Fuji now growing an abundant under storey of elderberry, blackberry and other plants including long grass making a home for pheasants and quail. Not that there was a shortage of fowl, with a boom in the peahen population this year (up to 50), some majestic peacocks of course, promising-looking turkeys, guinea fowl and domestic hens. As we crossed the generous lawn we could take in the old homestead, an imposing colonial building surrounded by large very old Oaks, Ash, Douglas Fir and Eucalyptus.
Beyond this was an orchard of Fiesta apples which is the juicing apple. Again there was much surplus fruit. Sue, (Mark's wife who accompanied us on the tour adding information to that from her husband) helped us pick bags of lovely apples to take home. The Fiesta apple is sweet, crisp and tasty. The trees needed no spray and grew naturally very tidily on MM104 rootstock. The only drawback to Fiesta being commercially useful is its propensity to bruise very easily. Its other characteristics however would make it a wonderful backyard fruit tree.
We thank Mark his wife Sue and the owners of Camla for a wonderful few hours to talk about and see what can be done on the great soil with abundant water supply and an enthusiasm for planting trees.
(Fiesta aka Red Pippin [Kent, UK 1972]. Parentage: IdaRed x Cox's Orange; RHS Award 1987)
from NZTCA Canterbury Branch newsletter, Issue 58: Winter 2009
...Interested in knowing more? So are we! Join us...
H O W
T O J O I N a n y
N Z T C A B r a n c h . . .
July 2008
Thursday, 24th July, 2008 at 11.00am
Canterbury Farm Forestry Field Day
20 yr old exotic plantation on a small holding of heavy clay downs. Tree Croppers are welcome to Mike's place a few kms from St Johns Church Horarata on the road to Coalgate.
The "Farm Forestry" sign will be out.
Sunday 6th July at 1 pm:
Hazelnuts - Pruning/flower data collection field day,
property of Declan and Robyn, Fernlea, at Fernside, Oxford Road
(Main Rangiora/Oxford Road, 6.5km west Rangiora) -
This field day notice doesn't leave much time to notify NZTCA members but
has been organised as a result of a couple of excellent days over the
HGANZ AGM in Queen's Birthday weekend.
NZTCA members are welcome – the
flowering time assessment is part of the Sustainable Farming Fund project
supported both by HGANZ and NZTCA.
Murray Redpath is coming down South again and has organised a fieldday as follows. If time permits we may tack on a look at Dehusking and sorting equipment. Details on the day.
“On the Monday of Queen's Birthday weekend I visited Declan and Robyn
at Fernlea (the property formally owned by Keith and Kathy).
Declan has continued to prune the trees after the field day
there in 2006 and has got about a third of the trees completed. I was
pleased to see that the trees have responded as I had hoped and thought
that it would be an ideal site to follow up the discussions we had on the
Saturday and Sunday of the AGM. We will be able to show members what
Terry's trees will probably look like next year.
“The first block that I pruned in 2006, where I was supposed to have used a
chainsaw, was not pruned hard enough and that shows up clearly now. So I
will definitely be using a chainsaw this time.
I hope that we can get an idea of times to prune the various size trees,
as we will have some major pruning (chainsaw and follow up similar to
Terry's) and some will be a quick follow up on smaller trees that only
need the equivalent of an annual prune.
“We hope to have various items of pruning equipment on display including small chainsaws suitable for orchard pruning.
“Flowering data collection:
I will be modifying the recording forms slightly as a result of comments
made during the AGM weekend and will email those out by June 27th so
growers can use the next weekend to see if they make sense using their own
orchards. I am hoping to discuss them with some overseas researchers but
many will be attending the Hazel Congress so I will probably have to wait
until later in July. However, we can get feedback from our members on the
6th. There should be plenty of pollen flowing and some of the varieties
there, such as Campanica, should be almost finished the pollen drop so we
can see how we get on assessing the end of pollen shedding.”
November 2006
- When:
- Sunday 26th November, 2pm
- What:
- Field Day and Christmas Get-together
- Where:
- (see below) - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Field day - two venues:
At 2:00pm we will begin at Bill's & Marie's place on North Eyre Road, (the Darjon Winery is very close by). Here we will see a property of mixed nut plantings, some over 10 years old.
At 4:00pm we will gather at Krystina's place on Pittville Street, Loburn North to catch up on her Permaculture Project some of us saw last November and have a Christmas BBQ. Bring your own food to cook and something to drink. Lets hope for a sunny day.
October 2006
- When:
- Sunday 29th October
- What:
- Visit to Geraldine, including Barkers retail shop and factory and the Waihi Bush Flax seed oil Company
- Where:
- (see below) - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Field day - Full details on exact times and places will come via email. The details will also be on the NZTCA website, here.
September 2006
- When:
- Sunday 24th September, 11am
- What:
- Ashburton Visit
- Where:
- Dobson St West, Ashburton - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Field day - visits to NZ BioGrains, Oil Seed Extractions Ltd, and Trotts garden.
August 2006
- When:
- Sunday 27 August, 1:30pm
- What:
- Property of Bob and Lyn
- Where:
- Station Rd, Loburn - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Field day -
Station Rd, Loburn. North off Carr Rd. There is plenty of parking along the driveway. Bob has suggested the following programme.
1:30 Meet at the Winters place, a 100yr old Loburn Homestead
1:30 ~ 3:00 Cow paddock turned Orchard. The result of 5yr development including:
· a native section (26 species)
· mature firewood section
· mixed species shelterbelt
· timber planting of oaks, Leylands & Robinias
· Almond orchard
· Pistachio orchard
· Olive orchard
· House supply fruit orchard
Also many old trees, some over 100yrs old.
3:00 ~ 4:00 Review of Almond Trial
conclusions and discussion
finish with a cup of tea
July 2006
- When:
- Sunday 16 July, 11am
- What:
- SAVE THE APPLE TREES!
- Where:
- Lincoln Bio-Husbandry Unit - will be signs posted.
- Details:
-
We have an opportunity to give the connoisseur apple trees at the Lincoln Bio-Husbandry Unit a future and learn something about pruning at the same time.
Bring your own gear — secateurs, loppers, chainsaws, the more people the more pruning we will get done.
At the moment the future of the unit is looking very doubtful. We hope it can be saved and used to the advantage of all growers in Canterbury.
We will start at 11am, bring your own lunch, if it is fine there will be a BBQ for your sausages.
To get to the orchard, travel past Lincoln University along Ellesmere Junction Rd towards Springston and look out for NZ Tree Crops sign on the left about 2km from the roundabout.
16 July Tree Crops Field Day at the Heritage Apple Orchard, Biohusdandry Unit
- from the Canterbury Branch newsletter; review by Krystina Hill
The Heritage Apple Orchard at the Bio-Husbandry Unit (BHU), Lincoln, has long been associated with the Canterbury branch of the TCA, in fact, three of the four founding members of the TCA were academic staff at the adjoining Lincoln University. So, when the Canterbury branch of TCA discovered by chance that the funding for maintaining the BHU had ended, leaving the Unit without funds or staff to winter-prune the apple trees this year, the committee stepped in, and volunteered to change the venue of the TCA Field Day arranged for July, (which had been planned to deal with winter pruning of fruit trees), to the heritage apple orchard instead. Many thanks to Mike Caldwell, who generously allowed us to postpone the FieldDay at his property.
The condition of many of the apple trees has been a concern for some years; some have damaged trunks at the base, others are leaning at a very dangerous angle, with their roots wrenched as a consequence. Obviously some varieties are much more vigorous than others, and had been planted too closely together, so that by now a considerable degree of overcrowding has occurred. Nevertheless, most varieties are in good health, despite being unpruned, unsprayed and unfertilised for at least the last four or five years - and are in fact a very good demonstration as to the robustness of these old cultivars under a non-intensive, organic, style of cultivation, with a herbal ley of primarily Wild Carrot as the orchard ground cover.
The Sunday of the Field Day dawned grey and drizzly, but everyone present hoped the weather forecast could be relied on and the clouds would clear later. After a quick meeting in the BHU's 'shed', at 11 am some fifteen or so committee and TCA members trooped down the lane towards the orchard, clutching chainsaws, pruning saws, loppers and secateurs of all shapes and sizes. Honourable mention should also be made of Linda Gardner, (Quality Tree Company) who generously gave of her time that Sunday, in order to help supervise the pruning and advise as to the vigour and growth habit of any apple cultivars that members were unfamiliar with. Many of the heritage apple trees in her catalogue are originally from the BHU orchard, and she has played a major part in making heritage apples available for sale to the public over the last few years.
On reaching the apple orchard, it was evident that even though the trees hadn't been pruned for cropping for a number of years, on close examination there was much less dead and diseased wood than had originally been feared, and re-shaping many of them to enable easier picking of the crop would be the best and fastest option. After a rather stern talk regarding the correct and incorrect pruning of apple trees, with multiple exhortations “to leave no stubs” (of pruned branches) due to the danger of introducing disease into the tree, and promoting useless whippy water shoots that are completely unproductive, the team 'set to' on the first rows of apples. Both Ivan and Linda had a layout plan of all the varieties along each row of trees, which made it easier to work out how much each tree should be pruned, with the proviso that no tree should be hard-pruned by more than a third of its framework, in order not to shock it into a subsequent demise!
Very sensibly the members with chain saws 'attacked' the tallest trees, while those of us with pruning saws and secateurs dealt with the smaller ones. There seemed to be a very good distribution between people who more or less knew what they were doing, and pruning beginners, so that there was always someone close by who could be asked about a finer point of pruning. An early outcome was the success of the TCA's minor mission to have the huge plum tree in the centre of the orchard spared from Ivan's chainsaw. Ivan was persuaded (without too much difficulty, it has to be said) to prune rather than fell the tree, especially after it was pointed out that in fact the plum tree was probably acting as a fruit decoy for the birds, who eat the plums and consequently leave many apples to ripen - which probably explains why it had been planted right in the middle of the apple orchard. The plum tree was carefully pruned to allow more room around it for the neighbouring apple trees, and now has a very elegant umbrella shape.
By the time lunchtime arrived, half the apple orchard had been pruned, and the sun had come out as well. Members adjourned to the BHU's 'shed' and, sitting around a huge plywood sheet 'table', with the help of home-made fruit cake, discussed pruning progress, future prospects for the BHU, and what place the heritage apple trees had in the general scheme of things. A TCA member correctly pointed out that keeping the trees just for the sake of it wasn't particularly sensible long-term, while others suggested that there was an intrinsic value in having a 'ready-made' genetic library of old varieties on nominally public land, rather than on privately owned lifestyle blocks. Discussions then arose regarding one of the present aims of the national TCA membership: to locate and establish living repositories of old fruit tree varieties in NZ, when in fact the present collection at the BHU is just such a South Island repository already.
After lunch, the suggestion was made that the pruning could begin from the other end of the orchard, and progress towards the middle, so that the greatest amount of trees could be dealt with that day. Everyone agreed that the idea was sensible, together with letting those with the chainsaw having first access to the ladder, enabling the taller trees to be dealt with systematically as had occurred before lunch.
By this time a number of volunteers were obviously developing a more than cursory interest in the varieties they were discovering in the orchard, with several people independently suggesting they would be very keen to have follow-up visit during the harvest season, in order to check on progress of the rejuvenated trees, and taste the actual apples. After canvassing all the volunteers and Ivan, it does seem likely that a fruit tasting visit will be organised this coming summer at some point, and hopefully the now elegantly spreading plum tree will fulfil its function of distracting enough wild birds, so that the heritage apple trees can provide a good selection of tree-ripened fruit to taste.
Members can hopefully enjoy the refreshingly sweet, crisp pink flesh and red skin of a Discovery, followed by a more complex Cox-like taste of Sunset; delight in the firm, winey flavour of a Reinette de Thorne, or bite into a NZ-raised (1934) Telstar. None of these varieties will ever find their way onto supermarket shelves, but their taste alone makes them worthy enough to be included in a home orchard, or for medium-scale organic cultivation. One particular variety, Hetlina, of which there are three trees in the orchard, was notable by having a very strange growth habit - in that it grows very slowly, into a perfect main leader 'pyramid' shape, requiring no training pruning at all, it seems. (Hetlina has been found to have strong anti-cancer properties in recent research by a TCA member.) Other varieties in the orchard include several un-named privately bred cultivars from Timaru, possibly the only such trees still in existence; Laxton's Fortune, a nicely compact variety from the UK (1904); Lundbytorp, an old dessert variety from Denmark and a good keeper, and the very late (and very vigorous) dessert variety Tydeman's Late Orange - Linda's particular taste favourite - and still offering, in mid-July, snacks to fortify oneself while pruning it.
By 4pm all the apple trees had been pruned; only four needing slightly more work to reduce their overall height. I think I can speak for all those present that everyone found this a very satisfying and successful outcome to the day; and the humorous comment to Ivan that far from being an eyesore and a disgrace, his apple orchard was now probably the best-pruned within the Lincoln University grounds, was actually not far from the truth.
Very many thanks to all the volunteers who took part in this very worthwhile Field Day, and I'm sure we're all looking forward to the summer BHU apple tasting!
May 2006
- When:
- Sunday 21st May, 12pm
- What:
- Commemorative Planting at Orton Bradley Park
- Where:
- Charteris Bay - will be signs posted.
- Details:
-
Meet for lunch at 12.00 pm, Picnic area 2.
At 1.00 pm go to the planting area. We will plant Commemorative Trees for Ross Jamieson, Roland Clark, Leo Watson and a 30th Anniversary for TCA.
The tree crops area is to the left of the main entrance halfway to the turnoff onto Castle Peak Road. Look out for the Tree Crops Association sign.
Report: Memorial planting at Orton Bradley Park
by Margaret Brenmuhl
After a committee meeting , we were joined by a good group of tree croppers. We had a picnic lunch and moved on to the Tree Crops block on the outskirts of the park along the main road.
Our concerns about stock getting into the block were reinforced as the horses ran out from among the trees. We fixed the weak point in the fence but agreed the Orton Bradley Park management would have to be much more diligent about keeping the trees secure. There was evidence of the damage the stock have done.
However buoyed by natural optimism we planted the trees Murray Mannall of Southern Woods had brought along. Stuart had been there earlier and sprayed out several spots for planting. There was some discussion about what should go where but with so many helpers how could we go wrong. Only one tree was planted twice.
A walnut tree was planted for Leo Watson who spent many years on Tree Crops committees and supporting events. A gingko tree was planted in memory of Ross Jamieson who was an inexhaustible source of tree knowledge. For Roland Clark, whom we remember as Nor’Wester a staunch tree planter in Canterbury and a man also willing to share his knowledge and experience with others, we planted a variety of hazels, his special interest. A copper beech represented the 30th Anniversary of the Canterbury Tree Crops Association
If you want to find the Tree Crops block, drive past the main entrance and turn up the little road next on the right. Cross a stile on your right and over a stream you will see the plot.
The trees are no higher than one to two metres at this stage. Hopefully the trees will be safe from the horses from now on.
2006 Annual Conference of NZ Tree Crops Association
'Cultivating Biodiversity', Masterton, Wairarapa, 2006 April 7-9
November 2005
- When:
- Sunday 20 November, 2pm
- What:
- Permaculture and Christmas barbecue
- Where:
- 2pm: Meet at the property of Krystina, Loburn North - will be signs posted.
- Details:
-
Travelling north from Christchurch, pass through Rangiora and over the Ashley River Bridge. You will be on Cones Road. Turn left into Dixons Road, then round the righthand bend into Whiterock Road. Continue to Loburn North (on Loburn Road), turn left into Chapel Road, and then finally right into Pittville Road. Look out for the Tree Crops Association sign.
Krystina will speak to us about the concepts of permaculture and self-sustainability, and will show us her own 0.5 ha property. She has been developing the property for 4 years, and feels it is just coming to the end of its set-up phase.
4pm: Christmas barbecue at the property of Keith and Denise, Swannanoa.
A barbecue will be provided and there will be hot water for tea and coffee. BYO everything else.
Keith and Denise's property is on Tram Road. This is west of the intersection with Two Chain Road, on the north side of Tram Road.
Contact person: Bill Ellery
October 2005
- When:
- Sunday 9th October 10:15am
- What:
- Tree planting at Orton-Bradley Park and visit to Purau orchard
- Where:
- Meet in the main carpark at Orton-Bradley Park at 1pm. Optionally, take a picnic lunch over to eat beforehand, in the picnic area at the top of the valley. Orton-Bradley Park is at the head of Charteris Bay, on the road between Teddington and Diamond Harbour - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- We will plant the trees that were dedicated to Roland Clark, and to the celebration of the NZTCA 30th Anniversary. We will also replant a tree dedicated to Leo Watson, as the current tree has been damaged by livestock.
At 2:30pm we will visit the property of Joke, Port Levy Road, Purau. The property is up Port Levy Road from the main road around the coast. There is a long driveway and some off-road parking. Joke has hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds as well as her home fruit orchard.
Contact person: Bill Ellery.
August 2005
| When: | Sunday 28 August 2005, 1 pm |
| What: | Workshop on weed control and new members' day |
| What: |
Workshop start time: 1pm The workshop is being run for us by Dr. Tim Jenkins of Connect Agriculture. Tim will cover alternative forms of weed management including mulching options, thermal weeding, understorey design and livestock input as well as strategic reduced use of herbicides. Meet at the Horticultural Teaching Lab at Lincoln University (see map below). The workshop will include both discussion in the lab and hands-on in the orchard at the Biological Husbandry Unit. Information for new members: 3:30pm Return to the Horticultural Teaching Laboratory. Afternoon tea will be provided, followed by speakers on topics of interest to new members. The first speaker will explain the aims and activities of NZTCA and the benefits offered to members, and the second will outline suitable tree crops for Canterbury. |
June 2005
| What: | Workshop on soil fertility and presentation to David Murdoch, recipient of Dr. Don McKenzie Award |
| When: | Sunday 26 June 2005; Workshop start time: 1pm |
| Details: |
An opportunity to learn about soil fertility, in a workshop run for us by Dr. Tim Jenkins of Connect Agriculture. The workshop will cover: determining suitability of your soil for tree crops and how to optimise the soil's performance, designing the tree crop system with emphasis on understorey management and fertiliser strategy, interpreting soil tests, and setting up monitoring using soil tests and foliage analysis. Meet at the Horticultural Teaching Lab at Lincoln University (see map, next page). The workshop will include both discussion in the lab and hands-on in the orchard at the Biological Husbandry Unit. Presentation start time: 3:30pm Return to Horticultural Teaching Lab. Afternoon tea will be provided. This will be followed by a presentation to David Murdoch in honour of his receiving the highest award given by NZTCA, the Dr. Don McKenzie Award, for his services to Tree Cropping . A number of David's colleagues from the early days of the walnut and hazelnut trials are planning to attend. |
April 2005
| When: | Sunday 3 April 2005, 1 pm |
| What: | NZTCA Almond Trials field trip, North Canterbury |
| Where: |
1.00pm: Meet at the established orchard of Jim and Paula Hodges, 142 Mertens Road (this is not one of the trial orchards; the trees are several years old). Mertens Road is about 2km west of Rangiora on the Rangiora-Oxford Road. Heading towards Oxford, turn right into Mertens Road. 2.15pm: Meet at Denise & Keith Jordan-Smith's property, at 1440 Tram Road. This is one of the trial blocks, with 2 year old and 1 year old almond trees. There are also olives and hazels to have a quick look at if you choose. Drive in, park in front of shed or go past hedge and park in olive paddock. 3.30pm: Meet at Bill and Marie Ellery's property, at 424 North Eyre Road. This is one of the trial blocks, with 2 year old and 1 year old almond trees. There are also hazelnuts on the property. Drive in and park on grassed area by the bend in the drive. Travel time between orchards is about 10 minutes. Contact person: Keith Jordan-Smith |
February 2005
| When: | Sunday 20 February 2005, 12:30pm |
| Where: | Orton Bradley Park |
| What: | Orton Bradley Park and AGM Contact person: Bill Ellery 12:30pm: Those who wish can meet for lunch at the designated picnic area (go past all the buildings and on up the valley). Coin-operated gas barbecues available. BYO everything else. Toilet facilities available. 1:30pm: Meet at Orton Bradley carpark (on your right, just before the buildings) for the Canterbury Branch AGM. The AGM will be held in one of the nearby buildings if wet. 2:30pm: Two trees will be planted – one in honour of the 30-year NZTCA Anniversary, and the other as a memorial for Roland Clark (one of the founders of NZTCA) who recently passed away. 3:00pm: We will go for a tour of the plantings at Orton Bradley Park with tour guide Ross Jamieson. |