* Visitors welcome at all our functions. Come learn about Tree Cropping!
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!
Branch Field Days & Meetings:
Newsletter Editors - Please email full event details [why?]
2010 April
Pecans field-day - Sunday 25th April, 1.30 pm
Bron and Paul invite members to visit their Alexandra property to view a planting of grafted pecan nuts and sundry other tree crops on the recently developed block.
Members are welcome to bring a packed lunch and share provided hot drinks and snacks beforehand at 12.30 with fellow enthusiasts.
Directions: Hillview Rd. via Dunstan Rd, Alexandra.
Says Paul: "Moving from Gisborne to Central Otago has meant adjusting to new climate and soil types in the pursuit of the dream of growing pecan nuts. No amount of ‘homework’ can substitute for..."
Read more, in the February 2010 Newsletter, members-only PDF file...
2010 March
2010 March 25th ~ 28th —
2010 NZTCA NATIONAL CONFERENCE - Christchurch - more details...
FIELD-DAY – Sunday 7 March, 1.30 pm.
Location: The property of Helen, Letts Gully Rd.
Topic - 'Allsorts' - a look at a really varied lifestyle block including Medlar, Pinenuts, Wasabi, Plums and many other interesting varieties.
Directions - 2k from either end of the road.
From Alexandra, turn off Alex./Omakau Rd
From Cromwell turn left at the bottom of the Clyde dam hill into Springvale Rd. Letts Gully Rd~3k on right. Drive goes up hill and over water race.
2010 February
The AGM of Central Otago Tree Growers Inc. will be held on Sunday 7 February at 1.00 pm, immediately proceeding the bud-grafting workshop, at Kane Road, Hawea Flat.
CENTRAL OTAGO TREE GROWERS Inc.
Annual Report 2010.
Alison Stewart, President
Our year started here on Ben's property, where we were shown different composting methods and saw how a very mixed planting could be achieved in a difficult environment. At the A.G.M. a decision was made to change...
Read more, in the February 2010 Newsletter, members-only PDF file...
Bud-Grafting Workshop.
Planning is being finalized for the grafting/budding workshop to be held with Ben Elms on Sunday 7 February. The rootstock has been ordered. We will have a variety of scion wood, especially of heritage apples etc, and members are welcome to bring any cuttings they would like to donate.
This is a hands-on workshop, where you do the grafting!!
This workshop is going to focus on bud grafting. This is where you insert the bud from one plant variety into the bark of another. In this case the bud of the desired fruit variety, into the rootstock.
It is done around this time of year (Jan/Feb) because the bark slips more easily when cut.
Once the bud has been grafted the bud will form a bond with the rootstock, and remain dormant until the following spring, when it will start growing and hey presto a new fruit tree!!
What to bring.
- sharp pruning blade or Stanley knife or similar.
- usual weather clothing precautions. There is a cover for wet weather.
Buds to graft.
Cut some of this year's wood growth, pencil thickness and above, 20-40cm in length. So if you have a favorite fruit tree or an old heritage or unusual variety or you've always wanted a fruit tree a friend or neighbour swears by this is your chance. Bring it along to propagate. Better still bring it along for everyone else to share. The more the better.
Please bring extra to share!!! Remember to label well!!!
Best to cut on the day of the workshop, keep in a plastic bag with a little bit of moisture. And keep it cool!!! Can always cut the night before and refrigerate.
We have Apple MM106 (medium grows to a 3 - 5 metre tree), and Peach rootstock for this workshop. Apple rootstock is compatible with apples and Medlars.
Peach rootstock is compatible with Peach, Apricot, Almond, Nectarine, Plumcot, Asian Plums. (European plums supposedly are short lived and many varieties are incompatible)
Cost is approx $12 for 3 bagged rootstocks - 2 apple 1 peach. (This is to cover material costs). Rootstock numbers are limited. These figures assume 15 people attending. Great if more people attend. We will then evenly distribute available rootstock amongst those who attend.
RECENT WORKSHOP – BUD GRAFTING
Ian Stewart
This once again followed the AGM, at Ben's property at Hawea flat.
As Ben said, this is almost becoming a tradition.
He had gone to a great deal of effort to create an ideal workshop situation, complete with ...
Read more, in the February 2010 Newsletter, members-only PDF file...BROWSING BUSHES
Otto Muller
The recent visit to the Earnscleugh Station has been an eye opener for many of us. It showed, that there are possibilities to grow feed on very dry ground ...
Read more, in the February 2010 Newsletter, members-only PDF file...PEACH AND NECTARINE
Read more, in the February 2010 Newsletter, members-only PDF file...
2009 Events
November 2009
Talk & Walk : Trees - diagnosis and treatments.
Sunday 1st November: Frank Buddingh, Consulting Arborist, who runs arborist practices in both Lawrence and New York, will talk to us about his 42 years of arborist experiences around the world, and also lead a walk to view interesting trees in Cromwell.
This promises to be an excellent opportunity to learn from an expert in tree diagnostics and treatments, and will be relevant to us all - no matter what size our trees.
For a complete description of Frank's area of expertise, see: www.buddinghtree.com
Meet at Otago Polytechnic, Horticultural Block, Bannockburn Road, Cromwell, Room 3, at 1.30 pm Sunday 1st November.
Recent field day – Frank Buddingh
Review by Ian & Alison Stewart - January 2010 Newsletter
Frank trained as an arborist in the Netherlands, lives in Lawrence and has a consulting practice in New York. His presentation at Cromwell Polytech showed that he was well able to cope with audio-visual deficiencies and distracting burglar alarms. Topics covered included:
Roots
There is a balance between roots and what shows above ground. Roots will spread to find water if it is not immediately available-often for surprisingly long distances. Roots do not survive below the water table There is a segmental arrangement between major roots and areas of foliage-if a major root is severed then a portion of the tree above ground served by that portion of the root system will die As a consequence major roots which extend above soil level should not be divided.It is important to spread out any circling roots when a container grown tree is planted-better to cut them short rather than to leave them in a circular shape.
Pruning
The best time to prune for shape is when the tree is young-removal cuts for small branches heal easily and quickly. Low forks are a point of weakness and cannot easily be corrected where a large branch has to be removed. Multiple leaders are to be avoided.When branches have to be removed, they should not be cut flush with the trunk. The cut heals better if it is a short distance out and there is less risk of disease entering the trunk. There is little point in using dressings on cut surfaces.
Diagnosis of disease
Frank uses a high-speed microdrill, which measures wood density and shows it on a chart, the tiny core removed healing quickly and causing no permanent damage. Areas of low density [rot] show clearly. The technique is obviously not cheap and applicable to trees of high amenity value.A careful check of the health of a tree is necessary before major surgery like removal of a large branch, especially where the tree could cause damage if it subsequently fell.
Transplanting large trees
This is done after root trimming [wrenching]. There has been a tendency to confine the root system in a basket which may for convenience be left in the earth after the move. This severely disturbs subsequent root growth and results in premature death of the treeThe afternoon ended with a walk around the Polytech grounds and Cromwell town centre where Frank pointed out various problems caused by inappropriate pruning, graft/host incompatibility, drought etc. We are grateful to Frank for an illuminating session.
Growing figs in Central Otago
Ian Stewart - January 2010 Newsletter
I am very diffident about writing this, in view of Eric Cairns’ excellent handbook on Figs, published by NZTCA-I highly recommend it. Eric’s experience relates to North Island conditions. I find that many local members know little of figs, so perhaps my experience may be helpful. This relates to Dalefield, Queenstown. Alexandra and Cromwell are warmer so my experience may not necessarily apply there.
Figs withstand frost well when dormant, but drop their crop with frost, even where the leaves survive. I have had success only growing against a North-facing wall, although I did note that figs grown at Cromwell Polytech ripened in the open in April.
Figs have two crops - an early or Breba crop [in January here] and a late or main crop in autumn. My main crop only occasionally ripens - I am experimenting with pruning and thinning to try to improve this. Different varieties may produce better Breba or main crops.
I do not know which varieties of figs I grow. I do know from Eric that they are not the varieties that they were sold as. Because of the frost risk, at present I have reservations about anything other than small-scale growing in Central.
Birds can be a problem when they discover ripe figs. Netting may be needed.
Figs root readily from cuttings so my present advice to anyone who wants to try small scale growing is to beg some cuttings from somebody close to you who grows figs successfully [grow the cuttings in sand, water well, and pot-on when roots grow out of the bottom of the pot]
Anyone who wants to try cuttings from my trees just let me know.
Finally, I did note figs at the local supermarket at $40+/kg.
Niwashi Weeder
I recently acquired a Niwashi weeder. This fiendish Japanese tool is a joy to use and greatly faciltates weeding around young trees, shrubs like lavender etc. It gets into places where you would not spray glyphosate - indeed it reduces glyphosate usage by such as me so may be even more interesting to the organically-inclined. It is particularly useful in dealing with misplaced grass and clover, both of which can be difficult to handle.The local stockist will be offering right-hand and left-hand models in February.
See www.niwashi.co.nz.
September 2009
Sunday 13 September 2009 -
"Dryland plantings for a variety of purposes", hosted by Dr Barry Wills.
Meet at 1.30 pm at Earnscleugh Road (former D.S.I.R. nursery site) between Clyde and Alexandra.
‘One of our best field days..ever!’ ...was how one member described this field day.
Seventeen of us met on Sunday 17 September at the previous DSIR nursery in Earnscleugh now leased and managed by Dr Barrie Wills.
The day focused on the dryland plants that Barrie keeps there, and we also visited Earnscleugh Station to view some of the trial plantings. The photo below shows our group in front of dense salt-bush plants (Atriplex halimus) that stand well over four metres high, despite being grazed by cattle.
From the newsletter of Central Otago Tree Growers Inc.
Newsletter Editor: Bonnie Miller Perry
Assistant Editor: Paul Dodgshun
The Permanent Commercial Forest.
By Otto Muller.Some time back when I was visiting family in Switzerland, I also went to visit an old friend from my schooldays. He lived in a village near Zurich, halfway up a mountain. As the train made its way up the mountain I could not help being excited at the forest that was growing on the mountainside. It was what we call a Plenter Forest. This is in a way a natural forest that is managed on scientific basis. My friend Hans picked me up at the railway station. I told him about the forest and how I was impressed with the way it was managed.
He said this was as it ought to be. It was the forest of the Silvicultural Faculty of the University. The science is Plant Sociology, which means the social relationship of trees. There are nitrogen fixing trees and trees depending on the nitrogen that is put into the soil by other trees. There are many other ways that different varieties affect other trees. For example in pre-alpine forest there is two varieties of Spruce. Swiss foresters call the Red and White Spruce. When planted as a mixture, they produce 9% more timber then if either variety is planted by itself. The reason is that one is deep rooted and the other shallow rooted, so they do not compete with each other for the same part of the forest soil.
The Plenter forest was originally used because, for example, in Switzerland some 70 % of forests are protective forests where clear felling is not allowed. The forests protect towns, villages, roads, and railways from avalanches, landslips and rock falls. Experience has shown, that a well-managed forest will provide better protection than a forest where no trees are felled. Experience has shown that a Plenter forest normally produced some 50 % more timber than a plantation forest with clear felling.
However the even greater advantage is the fact, that in a normal Plenter forest there are many very high value species, which command a price, many times that of the usual species. For example in the woodlots of the family farm you also find Elms, which in the mixture are not affected by the Dutch Elm disease.
When travelling through the pre alpine countries of Europe a very prominent forest is one dominated by Spruce and Beech, (Fagus Silvatica) with another half dozen other species. The Beech has a very deep root system and brings a large amount of minerals from the deep soil. This is deposited on the forest soil with a massive amount of leaf litter. The conifers have a tendency to produce an acid forest. The Beech produces a very large quantity of leaf litter, which produces forest mulch with a pH of 6.5 to 7. The birds and other animals mostly are able to survive the harsh winter by digging out beechnuts from the snow. In a forest near our farm such a continuation of succeeding planting of conifers resulted in many hectares of wild blueberries covering the forest floor, which would indicate the pH was less than 5. To us kids this was a delight. We got buckets-full of blueberries. However the face of the chief forester showed everything else than delight.
The conifers grow ahead of the Beech, which has to follow to get its share of sunlight. In time the Beech starts shading the lowest branches of the conifer and they dry off. When there is a strong wind, the branches of the Beech break off the lower branches of the conifer. But the Beech has to grow up in order to get sunlight and contrary to its normal inclination of spreading out, it develops a long trunk, which is clear wood. I took a photo on one of our woodlots on the family farm, where Beeches have 15 meters of clear wood and are straight as a pencil and the conifers have more than 20 meters of clear wood without any branches. All this has been achieved without anybody ever doing any pruning.
The tops of some of the Beeches have bent over due to a very heavy snowfall. It's simply using nature to do the work. There are some Beeches (Fagus Silvatica) on Three Mile Hill in Dunedin, but they have a very different growth form from the ones in European forests.
In the past, it was fashionable to make furniture in dark colour. Today there is a tendency to have brighter colour. The wood of the Beech is a very light colour and it makes a very hard-wearing and light-coloured flooring. It is also used where steam bending is required.
After the war, there was a serious threat to European forests due to acid rain. At one time when I was visiting my brother there was an easterly breeze. This brought heavy acid air from Eastern Europe in the form of sulphur dioxide from burning high sulphur coal in Eastern Europe. On a sunny day without any cloud we could only see a very short distance. A few years later I went through the forests owned by the local government with the chief forester. I knew the forest well from my childhood when I always went to collect mushrooms. The acid rain had killed off one of the main varieties of the forest, what the Swiss called the White Spruce. The White Spruce has needles, which are horizontal like the Douglas Fir, while the Red Spruce had needles hanging down. These hanging down needles allowed the acid rain to move down and drip off the bottom of the needles. In the White Spruce with the horizontal needles, the acid rain did stay and it killed the tree. In this large forest and throughout the country, the White Spruce was killed by acid rain. The Government issued orders that any tree that showed signs that it would die from acid rain should be cut. This was to prevent an invasion of the pine borer. There was a stand of White Spruce of some 120-year-old trees. They had all gone but when going through the forest with the chief forester, there was no appearance of a whole species having been killed off. Other species had filled up any light shaft and unless you knew any individual trees, the forest was just OK.
My nephew, Martin, who runs the family farm, specialises to produce a very high quality beef. He is part of a group of farmers who provide beef to top restaurants, where the price is not a very big factor. That means they get a very high price for a top quality organic beef. He crosses Simmental cows with an Aberdeen Angus Bull. Simmental cows in Switzerland are dairy cows. As part of the conditions to be a member of this organisation, he had to build a loafing barn. This had a very large area of concrete floor and an effluent system that could hold effluent for three months. This is necessary because farmers are not allowed to spread effluent on frozen ground or on snow, because it would end up in the river. Martin got a quote from a contractor. The price was CHF420,000. The Swiss Federated Farmers have an Architectural service. There was a very large quantity of timber in the market because of the acid rain problem that was not interesting for sawmills. The architectural section developed a building system based on round wood. They made the equivalent of our gang nails to suite round wood. They designed a loafing barn for Martin. He got a quote from the contractor for CHF 280,000 (some NZ$400,000).
I was also visiting a science exhibition. The 10-storey building of the History of Science was completely done with all the structural members made from round wood. Tree trunks supported the roof 36 meters long and the horizontal load bearing members from tree trunks cut in half with the topside being machined to keep the floor level. The whole structure was held together with special clamps. There was no vehicle access to the exhibition. You had to walk.
The reason that the Plenter Forest has some 50% higher production is, that with clear felling, the initial production after planting for about a third of its life does not amount to any significant quantity, while the Plenter Forest is always at its maximum growth rate.
With the factor of Carbon Sink, the plantation forest with clear felling looses a lot of absorbed Carbon during the long period until a canopy is formed.
Harvesting in the Plenter Forest has to be done by selective logging. For example every five years, five years growth would be harvested in the same way it was done in our native forest. During the logging operations the forest litter is disturbed and a large number of young trees of a number of varieties start to grow. The management mainly consists of eliminating the young trees that are not wanted.
On very large operations, special seed bearers are left standing to provide high quality stock - Elite Trees. The Plenter Forest needs to have a lot more roading than a forest with clear felling. The local government made a deal with landowners. It would tar-seal all the roads, but in return, all these forest and farm access roads would be open to the public. With this facility, city dwellers are much more in tune with the farmers and forest owners, and are more concerned to assist the farmers with practical policies and legislations.
Thank you, Otto, for writing this fascinating article …ed.
From the newsletter of Central Otago Tree Growers Inc.
2008 Events
2008 March 28~30th - NZ Tree Crops Association National Conference, CROMWELL!
We will need a host of helpers during the event. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Convenors - Bruce Lauder and Lawrie Stenhouse -
2007 Events
2007 April 13~15th - NZ Tree Crops Association National Conference, Unitec, Mt Albert
2007 February
- When:
- Saturday 3 February, 2007, 1:00pm
- What:
- Central Otago Tree Growers Inc - Annual General Meeting / Workshop
- Where:
- HortResearch, 990 Earnscleugh Road, Alexandra - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- AGM followed by an update on horticultural trends / growth areas and a walkabout with afternoon tea supplied. Come be part of the industry; bring a friend
2006, 2005
[no details submitted, but see Event listings in Events Nationwide]
March 2004
| When: | Sunday 7 March 2004, 1 pm |
| Where: | Otago Polytech Crop Centre, Bannockburn Road, Cromwell |
| What: | Annual General Meeting and Crop Centre field day |
2003 March - AGM
| When: | Sunday 9 March 2003 |
| Where: | Conroy's Gully Road, Alexandra |
| What: | Central Otago Tree Crops Annual General Meeting |
2002 December - tour and dinner
| When: | Wednesday 11 December 2002 |
| What: | 5:30pm Crop Centre tour at Bannockburn Road plus drinks and nibbles 6:30pm Christmas Dinner for Tree Crops Members Otago Polytech Restaurant, Cromwell - $25 per person, Limited to first 30, Bookings Essential |
About Us
Central Otago Branch of New Zealand Tree Crops Association.
Central Otago is a rugged, unique part of New Zealand with a climate well suited to growing a large variety of pipfruit, stonefruit, berries, herbs, nutcrops, grapes and flowers...