* 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!
Newsletter Editors - Important note:
2010 November
Thirkettles Nursery — Saturday 20 Nov — 1 pm
This is a commercial nursery run by members Jackie and John Thirkettle, producing a wide range of grafted and budded plants for fruit , nuts and ornamentals. There is also an orchard, vege garden and ornamental garden, plus some machinery for the blokes. Grapes, apples, cherries, feijoas, stonefruit, hazel, almond, persimmon, citrus, blueberries, macadamias, avocadoes and much more. Cuppa and sales table to follow. Venue is Paton Rd, Hope. Look for nursery sign at gate.
Nelson Growables — Sunday 14 November at Founders
We will be having a presence at this event, as for last year, to tell the public about the good things that Tree Crops does. Sue and Julie have kindly taken on the organisation of our display. If you can help by being there for an hour or two give Julie a ring.
2010 October
Riwaka Research Station — Saturday 9 October 1 pm
Learn about local research on breeding and cultivation of berries, kiwifruit and pears. They hold the national pear cultivar repository. Now called Plant and Food Research, this long-time research area is in Old Mill Rd, not far from the Riwaka School.
2010 September
Grafting Day — Riwaka — Saturday 18 Sept 10 am
There are 22 large Braeburn trees to be topworked over to heritage apple varieties (one per tree). You will do this. Afterward there will be some spare scionwood for you to graft onto small rootstocks (793) if you wish. Make your own tree to take away. If wet, it will be on Sunday 19
Bring lunch, a small sharp knife and something for the sales table. If you have a pruning saw that would be helpful. There will be hot water, tea and coffee. No dogs, please (livestock). Venue is Eden’s Edge Backpackers at Lodder Lane, Riwaka.
2010 August
Winter Talk — Hope Hall — Friday 27 August 7 pm
Local member Sjef Lamers has 18 years experience as an independent consultant in soil and plant nutrition. He will discuss soil fertility philosophies (both conventional and organic) and the effects of several soil factors on plant growth:
* organic matter
* pH (acidity/alkalinity)
* major nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium)
* trace elements (boron, iron, manganese, copper, zinc aluminium)
* soil structure (drainage, water holding, air exchange)
Sjef is also the Tree Crops Association South Island Vice President, having taken over from Darrell Johnston at the last AGM. He practises as Sustainable Nutrition and helps growers in the optimal production of crops on a sustainable basis through balanced soil and plant nutrition. Bring some finger food for dessert or nibbles to have with tea and coffee. Also bring some delights for the sales table. Proceeds from this will help fund branch activities to make life more interesting and productive for you.
Venue: the Hope Hall is on the main road through Hope, on the other side of the road from number 181, not far from the dairy. Look for a yellow AA sign pointing to Hope Hall and Domain. Drive in to the extensive parking area.
2010 May
Cider in Graham Valley — Sunday 2 May — 1 pm
Barry will explain what he is trying to achieve with the cider, give a brief explanation of the process and reveal what is the difference between a cider apple and other types of apples. At the moment he has six different cider apple varieties (Kingston Black, Yarlington Mill, Brown Snout, Brown Apple, Foxwhelp and Sweet Alford). There will be apple tasting for the adventurous. He will also give a small demonstration of pressing which would give some juice to taste. Then a tour of the orchard. There are also figs on trial. If the editor remembers, he will bring along samples of Fuero Rous, Royal Wilding, Cidero no2 and Black Prince cider apples.
Venue is Graham Valley Rd. It is the first farm from the Pokororo Hall as you go up the Graham. If you hit the gravel, you have gone too far. Meet at the big shed, which can be seen easily from the road.
2010 April
Arboretum at Tadmor — Saturday 17 April — 9:30 am
This combined TCA and Farm Forestry day will feature autumn colours in the mostly deciduous trees of James’s Songlines arboretum. If wet it will be held on the following day (Sunday 18). Bring lunch, boots or gummies, binoculars. Hot water provided. Walking is mostly on tractor tracks. Venue Bushend Rd, Tadmor. This is just over the Tadmor Saddle, about 1 ¼ hour from Nelson.
2010 March
2010 March 25th ~ 28th —
2010 NZTCA NATIONAL CONFERENCE - Christchurch - more details...
Chairman’s Report for AGM
We look back on another good year for Tree Croppers. In 2009 we visited ten properties and enjoyed our midwinter potluck with guest speaker Roy Hart. We concluded with another tradition - our pre Christmas BBQ. Thanks to all involved; property owners for their shared experiences and hospitality, committee members for organising and reporting. We held our usual single committee meeting so much was achieved by phone and email.
During the year we distributed Figs to trial locally and look forward to good information on suitability of different cultivars for Nelson conditions from the participating members. We welcome new members joining us this year and attracted interest with the Tree Crops display at the new 'Growables Fair' at Founders Park.
Conference will be in Nelson March 31 - April 1 2012. We've a working group in place, and venues have been vetted by Heather, Maria and Sue. The Hope Hall ticks most of the boxes - good size, parking, outdoor space and very close to a range of accommodation. Margot has volunteered to be conference treasurer and we've set up a separate account for 2012 conference. Our conference 2010 delegates will be Sue and Maria.
Darrell is stepping down from South Island vice presidency this year, and Sjef Lamers has been nominated to stand. Thanks Darrell and best wishes Sjef.
A sincere vote of thanks to Karen who is standing down as secretary. It has been a pleasure working with you, and we all appreciate how much your efforts have meant to the success of the Branch.
Bob Phillips
2010 February
What You Do With What You’ve Got – Sat 13 Feb 2010, 1pm
The art of preservation through the seasons, a discussion-demonstration, with tastings and exchange of recipes, led by Lois with assistance from Elizabeth.
Please bring your favourite preserves to try, plus any time-saving gadgets or tips to share. There will of course be a sales table.
Venue is Appleacre, Coastal Highway about 200 m on the Nelson side of the Maisey Rd and Westdale Rd junctions.
2010 January
AGM – Saturday January 23 2010, 6pm
The branch AGM will be towards the end of January at Evan and Caroles, Aratia Way Richmond (off Otia Ave).
Bring a contribution for a potluck tea, and bring your own cutlery and plate.
A productive home garden in suburbia in a modest space. Espalier fruit trees and more.
2009 December
Xmas Barbecue – Saturday 5 Dec 6 pm
Heather and Steve are hosting this year’s Christmas function. They say about their property:-
Ours is a relatively new planting – 3-4 years. A variety of hazelnuts – mainly Whitehearts with pollinisers, variety of fruit trees, olives, citrus and berry crops and four friendly chooks (Red Shavers) on a 2 ha newly-landscaped, north-facing block. We look forward to having you all here and look forward to any advice on planting, pruning, pollination, etc anyone can give.
Bring items for sales table, BBQ or finger food. BBQ supplied and some tables and chairs. Bring your own if liked. No dogs please.
Venue:- Pinehill Road in Ruby Bay.
Note:- If wet the BBQ will be on the following day, Sunday 6.
Espalier Trees and Shrubs
Hints and tips from Evan Bartlett
Aims
Maximise use of land and warm situations maybe adjacent to walls or fences
Encourage fruiting by tying down branch to horizontal
To allow for growth and easy pruning
By having an open structure, restricting the incidence of disease, allowing air to flow through and sunlight to penetrate
Use space and structures to take advantage of location advantages, eg a warm site against a fence
How
Plan and construct the support structure before planting
Plant in best position for growth and maintenance; suggest attach but not entwine
Tie down selected branches to allow plant to expand in desired direction
Prune out and thin after planting and tying down
In this work you need take into account the natural development of the selected tree
Reduce problems by
Using ties that won't cut into the branches
Reduce unwanted growth and shape by regular bud rubbing and thinning
Tie down regularly during the growing season
Plan to allow the best access to your plantings
Select varieties suitable for your location eg East face of fence OK for fig and Lobo apple but Peasgood Nonsuch apple not fruiting much
This is a very general outline to cover most plantings and may be modified for particular plantings eg. Runner Beans require a tall structure
Espalier Figs
Figs grow vigorously and long branches become unable to support themselves, particularly if bearing a crop. Thus they need support and regular pruning. It has been observed that a restricted root run will assist in increasing the crop. The number of varieties is limited to those not requiring a specific insect for pollination.
From Nelson branch -- Tree Crops newsletter Nov 2009 number 09/5
2009 October
Macadamias — Saturday 31 October — 1 pm
If wet then Sunday 1 November. Kerry and Paula on Old Coach Rd will be harvesting their macadamias and cracking some nuts. Also hazels, figs, mountain pawpaw, citrus, tamarillo and other tree crop delights. From the Coastal Highway turn up Seaton Valley Rd. At the top, turn right into Old Coach Rd.
2009 September
Grafting at Brandy Creek — Sunday 13 Sept — 10 am
Learn how to graft. Heritage apple scionwood available. Come either from Wakefield over winding metal road (20 minutes), or via Prices Corner and Dovedale (all sealed). Travelling time about 50 min from Motueka or Nelson. On the Wakefield to Dovedale road, about 8 km east of Dovedale School and not far from the Dovedale pottery, is Brandy Creek Rd.
Definitely no dogs! Lambing in progress! Bring lunch, a small sharp knife and something for the sales table. There will be hot water, tea and coffee.
Grafting at Brandy Creek
Perfect weather and a good keen crowd - fantastic! There was a huge pile of willow wood to practise on before doing the real thing. We covered the standard grafting methods of whip+ tongue and cleft, plus (for topworking) rind graft. People then chose scionwood from among many heritage apples (see below) and grafted them onto M9 rootstock. Note that for M9 and other dwarfing or semi-dwarfing rootstocks, tree support is required because of their shallow root system. They also need good feeding.
After lunch three lucky people had a go at topworking stems of a quince (rootstock) with scionwood from a quince with big aromatic fruit (name lost - might be Smyrna). All these seem to have taken successfully. Well done, chaps! There were also topwork examples of previous years, one of which was suitably pruned with an eye to the future shape of the tree. Thanks to Darrell, Rex and Margot for demonstrating and coaching, and to Katrina for bringing some more scionwood.
We have lived at Brandy Creek since 1984 on 21 ha; trees, bees and sheep plus a few chooks. About half the land area is moderately steep hills and much of this is planted in timber trees, mostly eucalypt and Douglas Fir, with smaller quantities of chestnut, cypress and blackwood. There are over 40 varieties of apple (some cider too) also plum, other pip and stone fruit and several sorts of nuts.
Words on apple varieties from Katrina Richards
Dayton - Red skin, crisp and mildly tart, mid season, very disease and pest resistant;
Liberty - Yellow with a red flush and red stripes, firm and sweet, very late season, disease resistant (I think);
Cox's Orange Pippin - UK origin (c.1825), red stripes over a green skin that ripens on tree to golden, fragrant, tart-sweet or sweet, wonderful when tree ripened, fairly early in season;
Tropicana - Found in New Zealand recently and passed on to Tree Croppers for propagation, tropical taste (hence name), reputed to have red flesh when ripe;
Altlander Pfannkuchenapfel - German (1951), literally the pancake apple of Alte Land, crisp and tart cooker, cooks to a lemon puree;
Dunn's Seedling - Australian origin (1890 or earlier), flat shaped, green skin with a pink blush, cooks to an excellent puree, supposedly good eating too.
M9 Rootstock - M9 is Paradise Apple, which was grown in Paris in 1398, its origin is Caucasus, a small dwarf with yellow fruit that is said to be reasonable in taste(Info Sources: Allenton's 2009 Catalogue; The Book of Apples, Morgan and Richards, 1993, Ebury Press, London)(no relation to John Richards).
P's words on more apples. These are all good healthy trees and fruit
Kentish Fillbasket - huge cooker, mid/late, “an excellent kitchen apple”
Fairbelle - yellow ground with few red stripes, pink blush, cooks to tasty pink mush;
Geeveston Fanny - prolific mid/late eater ex Tasmania, red skin, crisp white flesh;
Bramley - the most popular cooking apple grown in the UK, excellent flavour ;
Jonagold - late eater, excellent flavour Golden Delicious x Jonathan 1943;
Telstar - late eater, excellent flavour, GD x Kidds Orange Red 1934 NZ;
Gravenstein - early crisp eater from late 1600's;
Blenheim Orange - dual purpose mid/late, characteristic aromatic flavour, discovered near Blenheim (England) about 1740.
From Nelson branch -- Tree Crops newsletter Nov 2009 number 09/5
2009 July
Midwinter Bunfight — Friday July 24 — 6:30 pm
An entertaining evening at the Mapua Hall (supper room) with Roy Hart and friends. He was Tree Crops Association research officer for many years and has dealt with all sorts of crops in the development stages. Bring along your questions on anything to do with tree crops. Bring some finger food for dessert or nibbles to have with tea and coffee. Also bring some delights for the sales table. Proceeds from this help fund branch activities to make life more interesting and productive for you.
Midwinter Mapua Meeting
At the start of Roy Hart's talk, he asked us to be silent for a short while, so we listened carefully and waited. And what had we heard? The noise of all the trees in New Zealand growing! In a wide-ranging talk, Roy covered all sorts of aspects of trees, which our world desperately needs more of. “Relax and grow trees!” Although plants managed to get along without us for millions of years, we can definitely help them prosper. Roy covered tree planting and after care, soil preparation, shelter, etc. Kings Seeds have seeds for plants to feed parasitic wasps (Phacelia, buckwheat, etc). See www.kingsseeds.co.nz
Roy enthused about crops of South America, many of which have been of enormous benefit to humans (this includes plants other than trees of course) - feijoa, tomato, cherimoya, avocado, pepino, potato, maize, lucuma, squash and many more. He also talked about sacred foods; plants being revered for their great utility. He mentioned the original forests of Kazakhstan containing apples and pears, home of a huge amount of genetic diversity, in apples at least. Roy was brought up in England and he said: “We lived in a little village and we could go into the forest and collect chestnuts, walnuts and hazels from trees which someone had planted hundreds of years before.” Tree croppers are doing this for themselves now. The edible forest.
When asked his favourite apples, Roy said Jazz and Envy (large, sweet, crisp and juicy) which was a bit of a disappointment to your munching editor, who prefers heritage varieties such as Geeveston Fanny. For feijoas, Roy likes only his own selections, of which there were some on the sales table, generously donated by Waimea Nurseries. These are all relatively early varieties:- Kaiteri (very large fruit 150 g or more), Anatoki (medium size) and Kakariki (earliest). Thanks to Roy for the talk and for answering various questions from the audience.
Another feature of the evening was the distribution of sturdy young fig trees, courtesy of River Terrace Nurseries, for local trials. Recipients will grow these and report on their progress. Varieties involved are:- Assaf (from Lebanon, medium sized, fig-shaped), Macedonian (from George Christofski, similar to Assaf) and Preston Prolific (amber brown with amber pulp, mild flavour, ripening in March).
Peter Syms.
From Nelson branch -- Tree Crops newsletter Nov 2009 number 09/5
- Frost Damage
- The worst frost damage to young trees at Brandy Creek has been on one slope which gets the early morning sun. The bare trunks were still frozen when the sun hit them, causing then to split open. This was a surprise to me, as there are colder places where there had been no damage, but those were also shaded by scrub or older trees. Try wrapping the trunks with some sort of insulation material or letting the weeds grow tall!
From Nelson branch -- Tree Crops newsletter July 2009 number 09/4
2009 June
Murray Redpath Visit in early June
Our Tree Crops president and hazel guru will be visiting the Nelson region on hazel activities. More info later. Those of you on the email advice list will get special notice of whatever activities are arranged.
Hazel Day with Murray Redpath
This special event was part of a MAF Sustainable Farming Fund project on hazelnut pollination and variety identification. It was also funded by NZTCA and Hazelnut Growers Association of NZ. Workshops throughout the country have introduced hazel growers to standardised methods of recording flowering data.
There is much to learn, since hazels are quite fussy about pollination. They are self-incompatible and also incompatible with varieties having similar genetic makeup (ie with the same S alleles).
In the handout sheets for the field day was a compatibility chart for the main hazel varieties in NZ (your acquisitive editor has a copy). Also you need the male and female flowers to be open at the same time.
Flowering time varies from year to year according to the weather. They need winter chilling and then heat. Females generally need more chilling and then more heat, so the two can get out of synchronism.
This year some of Murray's pollinisers are dropping pollen about one month early because of the cold weather. A major aim for this project is to record these changes in flowering times over the years. Timing varies with location too, in what seems a rather irregular fashion (at least for Bay of Plenty, Blenheim and Invercargill so far).
Hazels flower in winter (mostly June, July and August) and are wind pollinated. The recommendation is that no crop tree should be more than 20 m from a polliniser. It is likely that two polliniser varieties will be needed for reliable pollination.
There needs to be compatible pollen present to initiate the ovary, which doesn't start growing for a couple of months after pollination. Fertilisation occurs in late spring or early summer, about 6 weeks before the kernel is formed.
The nuts develop the shell first and then the kernel grows to fill the shell. Blanks (empty nuts) occur when tree stress stops kernel growth (lack of moisture, nutrients, etc).
Another complicating factor is the former mis-identification of some varieties. In one case, as I recall, the story was that some imported varieties got mixed up in quarantine and the labels were randomly reattached. Murray said that some trees called Butler (especially in the South Island) are definitely not, although they are prolific and may possibly pollinate Whiteheart.
There will be an internet-based guide to identifying hazel varieties, probably accessed via the TCA and HGANZ websites. Murray has spent considerable effort and time sorting out varieties, including a trip to Oregon last year to see and photograph known ones at first hand.
Field day hosts Phil and Julie have over 600 hazel trees, both 4 and 2 year old, growing on good river silt with few stones, just south of Wakefield. There was good growth seen from the previous season, with some flowers starting to show.
The main crop trees are Whiteheart, with rows of pollinisers Merveille, Alexandra and so-called Butler. (Another potential one is Keen's Late).
They have a portable nut cracker and also an air leg separator, which Phil demonstrated. This is good kiwi ingenuity, being made from odds and ends of pipework with a former dust extractor as blower. It worked extremely well in separating kernels from shell pieces, with only the odd broken kernel coming out with the debris.
Thanks to all involved for a very informative and useful day.
By Peter Syms - From Nelson branch Tree Crops newsletter July 2009 number 09/4
2009 May
Appleby Glasshouses – Saturday May 9 — 1 pm
A fascinating insight into the large-scale growing of capsicum, tomato and possibly cucumbers. Separate glasshouses and packhouses for each. Tomatoes on ropes, bumble bees for pollination. Not really trees, but well recommended by those who have been there. There will not be a sales table this time.
Venue is at Blackbyre Road in Appleby. Park off the road to avoid the traffic.
2009 April
Dick Roberts
Tree Crops and the Nelson community recently lost a keen supporter and inspiration in the death of Dick Roberts, formerly of Todds Valley. A constant advocate of the importance of microclimates, inspired mulcher and grower of a huge variety of subtropicals, Dick was also a professional photographer of world renown. He was branch chairman for a long time and hosted hundreds, if not thousands of visitors at his hilly property, including many wwoofers, who came to work and learn. There will be an obituary in the coming TreeCropper.
And on a historical note ...
This was written in 1963, in an English school magazine:
By the time he is 70 - if his strange diet of peanut butter, raw carrots and cream buns spares him that far - Dick Roberts will be a good example of the absent-minded scientist dreamed up by the writers of boys' books. He was pretty much that way by the time he left us last term. This view could surprise him. He would point out that everything he did was rational and logically planned to the last degree. And so it was; but everything he did was confined between the limits of his scientific method, everything had to have a useful end. He could not spare himself the luxury of wasting time. Not that he missed this luxury, wasting time was an almost incomprehensible concept to him. If he had any spare time after he had finished writing his letters (he wrote about forty letters every week) then he would sleep, deliberately storing up energy against the time when he might need it. Even his parties were scientifically balanced and arranged. But to return. His scientific world - not so much the traditional world of bugs and butterflies, but the world of social science - was so well insulated that he sailed through most of the major crises at school without realising they had occurred. It is possible that he never knew the Headmaster's name, almost certain that he knew none of the Prefects' names, unless they happened to be studying 'A' level biology.
In spite of all the hard work he did in forwarding his own special projects - film strips, slides, Utopia - Dick Roberts found time for a wide front of interests at school. This is something of a paradox, perhaps true nevertheless. He launched himself with enthusiasm into the organisation of school dances and arranged for the boys to have dancing lessons; he tried very hard to make the 2nd XV tackle low and did great things with the Young Farmers Club. Under his guidance the Club was able to supply the kitchens with a great deal of cut-price lettuce and many of the staff shopped regularly at the Young Farmers for honey and eggs. He raised pigs, rats, ducks, rabbits and budgerigars with courage, if not always with success.
He was always frank and straightforward and this gave him some sort of a reputation for being eccentric. He had favourite hobby-horses: sex, eugenics, religion - which he sat frequently, but he rode them lightly with a loose rein and he cheerfully entered them in any lists against the most formidable intellectually or emotionally armoured chargers. And like children's weighted toys, they would always right themselves and bob up again infuriatingly, no matter how hard a knock they took. One thing is certain, Dick Roberts will be remembered and missed.
Almost incidentally, he was a very good biology teacher; not many of his pupils failed their exams.
Gallagher Property — Sunday April 19 — 1 pm
We are Sue and Charlie, 'Stoney Grove' at Haycock Rd, Hope - from Nelson heading south next left after the Hope store into Aniseed Valley Rd, straight through the Paton Rd intersection and then right at t-junction into Haycock Rd. We are the 4th property along on the right.
We have a young orchard, 12 acres, flat, irrigated, very stony ex apple orchard. Our main focus is macadamias (900 trees various ages and varieties) and almonds (1,000 trees, four varieties). We also have a 'fruit salad' block with about 40 different kinds of fruit including the Asimoya trial (first fruit coming along nicely), mandarins, table grapes, cocktail kiwis, passionfruit, blueberries, feijoas, all sorts of stonefruit, avos, ballerina apples and other bits and pieces. We have a nice big shed that we are just about to set up for processing the nuts.
2009 March
Property in Hope — Sunday March 1 — 1 pm
Formerly running the Ace of Spades nursery, Bruce & Lyn live at Haycock Rd, Hope. You will see raised beds of vege’s, a range of fruit trees, all organic. Nothing over seven years old, except about three trees, also a part finished light earth house. The property earns us an income, just. Area is a little under two acres, also three milking goats and free range hens. Situated on the eastern edge of the Waimea plains, almost frost-free micro climate.
2009 February
Limmer’s Patch & AGM - Friday Feb 13 2009 6 pm
In a modest back section garden in the middle of Motueka, Rex and Lois have an amazing variety of productive plants. There are 10 plums, 5 apples, 2 feijoas, 1 tamarillo, 2 strawberry guavas, a dwarf avocado, half a dozen citrus, a giant fig, persimmon, raspberries, black passionfruit, grapes, strawberries, thornless blackberries and a vege garden too. Seven varieties of tomato and more.
Venue: Greenwood St, Motueka. Bring some finger food or cakes or biscuits for supper. Tea and coffee provided.
2009 January
Motueka Hazels, Ginkgos - Sunday Jan 18 2009, 2 pm
Toni and Smoky will demonstrate their Facma hazelnut harvester.
Hazels: 440 trees planted Sept 1999. 660 planted July 2000. The trees are mostly Whiteheart, with Lansing, Butler, Merveille de Bolwiller and Alexandra for pollination. Olive shelterbelt for hazels which are getting blown over in the wind when ground is wet.
The usual mix of fruit trees. Feijoa, pear, cherry, apple, citrus, quince, plum, mulberry, gevuina. Almonds and pomegranates and figs in bags. Ginkgo trial planted Sept 1999. This property was last visited in November 2001. A comment from then:- There are dozens of young (mostly female) ginkgo trees as part of the national trials. The seedlings are well-shaped, but the grafted ones tend to be rather uneven. Nut production is the aim here, but ginkgo leaf extract is another possibility (grow it like tea bushes). This has significant medicinal use in Germany for memory retention and blood flow. There is a group in Gisborne growing ginkgo for the leaves.
Venue: Staples St, Motueka (at the north end of town).
2008 December
Christmas BBQ of Nelson branch will be on Saturday December 13 from 5 pm.
Hosts are Belinda and Bill at Ruby Bay.
Bring food, plates, something for the sales table, party hats.
What to see
Ninety hazelnut trees planted four years ago, 80 of which are Whitehearts and the remainder a mixture of pollinisers. The total first crop was one, the next year two, the following year 33 and last year 330. The trees have survived serial TLC in the form of over-watering, over-pruning, over-fertilising and over-staking. And bring your gumboots as you may wish to trek through a stand of native bush beside the property and provide suggestions for replanting an area that was flattened when an old man pine was felled.
2008 November
Almond trial and macadamia plantings — Sunday November 2 — start at 3 pm
with Ann and Bob on the Coastal Highway SH60 (seaward side).
That's on the Nelson side of Mapua village, between Dominion Rd
and Higgs Road.
Almond trial first plantings 2003, subsequent new plantings to view.
Macadamias are new in, one of three trials on different sites (Coast, Hill,
Inland).
Additionally we have the usual tree crop miscellany; apples, peaches, plums,
quince, figs, citrus, hazels, various berries, kiwifruit and recently
espaliered pears, woodturning etc.
Have a look in the last TreeCropper (issue 55) for a review.
2008 September
Grafting Day — Sunday 28 September — 1 pm
A pleasant site on the water’s edge at Hoddy Road and useful skills to be acquired.
There will be apple scionwood of old varieties. Bring a sharp knife and something for the sales table.
This info on the site and attractions comes from Heather:
The property – Andrew and I have owned this 20 acre block since 2000 and it was in apples and pine trees from the 1940’s until 2005 when apple returns and the looming carbon scheme on pine plantations led to the removal of both these crops. We investigated alternative commercial crops, grapes in particular, but decided we didn’t have enough land to make it viable. So over the last three years we’ve been doing a major clean up on the block, laying out the framework for its future use as a rural residential property with eventually four homes on it. The ground has been worked, turned to pasture and fenced and 80% of it is now being grazed by around 50 Dorper and mixed-breed ewes. We’ve done a lot of amenity and crop planting around the property and we have a large estuary strip which is the next re-vegetation project to tackle.
We’re keen to host the grafting day this year because when the apple orchard came out we left a few of each variety, mainly for paddock shade for the stock. We have Gravenstein, Royal Gala, Braeburn, Cox’s Orange and Fuji. Last year I tried to topwork the Royal Gala but none of the grafts took. We want to use these old trees because they’re big and tall enough to withstand stock and we want to graft on heritage varieties which will be more disease resistant.
Other points –
- an interesting home garden with 25 year old Macadamia, Pecan, Asimoya, different Citrus trees, Persimmons, two great old plums
- sharing info about implementation of a new secondary treatment septic system we’re using to irrigate plantings with great results
- sharing our experiments of re-vegetation on clay soils and different rabbit, stock and frost protection methods
- how we’ve recycled the old orchard irrigation system to get our new amenity plantings around the block off to a good start
- Roy Hart’s apple trial trees of different disease resistant varieties
- remnants of a commercial persimmon grove (dormant when the visit is on)
- some of our ewes will have their lambs by then and our collection of rare breed chooks and Pekin ducks are fun
- the 3 year old shelter belt of Tasmanian Blackwoods, lusitanicas and Sycamores
- a new home orchard planted last year with a wide range of fruit trees in it.
Hoddy Road; turn off the Coastal Highway at Westdale Road.
2008 August
Pruning Workshop in Brooklyn – Sat 16 August – 10 am
Maria and Gordon have a small orchard (plum, greengage, peach, apple, pear, fig, tamarillo, feijoa, etc) and are planning to plant passionfruit as well, so there will be time to look at these. There will be tea and coffee in the shearing shed. Bring your lunch and something for the sales table. You can bring your own pruning tools if you wish to have a go, but there should be sufficient to borrow (secateurs, loppers, saw). Tuition provided by experienced tree croppers.
Other interests there include alpacas and museum (Gordon’s rest home for vintage engines). Venue: Little Sydney Road. Once across the Motueka River bridge, continue straight ahead into Umukuri Road.
Note: If it is wet on Saturday, the workshop will be held on Sunday 17. If there is any doubt please phone Maria or Gordon. There was a visit here in August 2007 but it was too wet to prune.
2008 July
Propagation of NZ Native Plants – Friday 18 July – 6:30 pm
Our midwinter talk will be held at the Mapua Hall supper room. The talk will start sharp at 7 pm, so be sure to get there in time. As before, have your tea first. Bring along pudding for the social coffee and cake session following the talk.
We are fortunate in having as our guest speaker Lawrie Metcalf, who is one of our leading authorities on New Zealand plants, with a dozen book titles to his credit. He'll have copies of some of his books for sale.
His talk will be on the Propagation of NZ Native Trees. A great chance to glean practical propagation tips from an expert; don't miss it.
This will be followed by a visit to the Chris and Cheryl QE2 reserve on the Saturday. Details given at the talk.
2008 May
Olives at Kina – Saturday May 10 – 1 pm
Audrey and Charles - Kina Beach Road in Tasman. Look for the Kina Olives sign at the gate. Follow the 'parking' sign to the top of the hill by the sheds. Main olive varieties are Frantoio, Leccino and Picual (700 trees). There are several timber and specimen trees planted over the last 10 years.
Picking of the olives will be just started, so you can see how this is done. Also Audrey will give a demonstration on how to pickle olives and there will be a tasting of their oil.
2008 April
Mariri – Sunday 6 April
Start at 1 pm at George's place in Robinson Rd, which connects the inland highway (near the Jubilee bridge) with the coastal highway (near Mariri) beside the estuary of the Moutere River. Watch out for the end of daylight saving! The asimoyas will be ripe, as will the figs. Roy Hart will guide us. This property was last visited by TCA in October 1991 so here are a few notes from then.
Area 12 ha, moved on about 1980, scrub-covered. 3 dams, few frosts, clay but little topsoil. Kiwifruit, radiata woodlot about 1983. Walnut, chestnut, black walnut , hazel, citrus, persimmon, feijoa, plum, tamarillo, fig, macadamia, grape, carob, greengage, almond, passionfruit, green tea, pepino, garlic, peacocks, horse chestnut, cherry, sugar cane. Microclimates well used. Waste utilised such as sawdust, scallop shells, fish waste, poultry manure. George quote: "Go silly like me and plant a few plants every day. You'll never regret it and neither will your children and grandchildren."
Hazels with Murray Redpath – Saturday 5 April
Start at 1 pm at the property of Terry and Sandra Westbury, 70 Malling Rd off the inland highway near Redwood Valley. They have hundreds of hazels, mostly Whiteheart, the oldest being 7 years. Pollinisers are mainly Merveille. Their daughter has a natives nursery there also. Murray Redpath has been growing hazels for many years now and is heavily involved in research for TCA as well. Anything you want to know about hazels? Now is the time to ask those curly questions.
2008 March
Ecohouse and Trees — Mahana — Saturday 8 March
We'll visit two nearby properties - 'before and after' scenario.
Venue 1 Start at 1 pm at the new property of Lindsay & Ev, a building in progress - passive solar adobe mudbrick house (post and beam). Wise tree cropper advice is sought on what will grow here - 1.5 ha area north-facing previously pine forest, clay plus topsoil/gully.
Venue 2 at 3 pm to nearby property of Eddie and Pat, in Dawson Rd off Seaton Valley Road. This will be a good comparison with the previous site.
Mahana Sites
(1) As well as the interesting house there are the beginnings of a productive estate, including an orchard of mixed varieties (fruit and nut), a few olives, feijoas (both mixed parentage), small fruits, avocados, grapes and citrus and a large no-dig vege garden, as well as replanting of natives and a few larger exotic trees. Ev will make a plan of the property layout on which you can write your suggestions for future planting.
A welcome contribution to the house would be some blue wine bottles if you have any, full or empty. There will be hot water for a cuppa.
(2) This property is on the same ex-forestry land as above. They bought it in 2000 and planted natives from late that year. It now comprises 2.7 acres of landscaped grounds. In addition to an extensive native walkway, there's a home orchard with a huge variety of self-grafted plums (Louisa, Satsuma, Fortune, etc), plus apples, feijoas, persimmon, pears, tamarillo .... in short - a great Tree Crop property. There's also a great vege garden of course and free range chooks - so no dogs please!
2008 February
Potluck & AGM & Budding — Saturday 9 Feb — 2:30 pm
Bob and Gundula live on the Moutere Highway, just on the Nelson side of Edwards Road, not far from Riverside Community. Nice organic home garden with a mixture of all things good. Interesting self-built home. Huge amount of land improvements. Bring something for the sales table.
Budding demo: with Darrell. So if you have a plum rootstock from the grafting field day that did not take its graft, please bring this along (it needs to be in a pot).
Potluck: bring some food, plates and cutlery. Food-warming available. Hot water too.
AGM: Heads down on this one chaps, unless of course you want to come on to the committee to lend a hand.
Next door is the property of John — an enthusiast for dwarf trees, he buds thousands of apple and pear rootstocks each year and is also into timber (black walnut) and fruit trees. We'll have a look there too.
2007 December
Christmas Barbecue — Appleby — Saturday 1 Dec
Start at 4:30 pm at River Road off the Appleby highway. Donna and Murray have a walnut block planted in a former apple orchard. Walnuts are Vina, Rex, Dublin's Glory and Meyric, about 8 years old. Also there's a firewood block plus many fruit and nut trees. Bring food to share plus something for the sales table. Party hats and sunblock.
2007 October
Grafting Day — Brightwater — Saturday 6 October
Start at 10:15 at Hilary’s and Andrew’s at Mt Heslington Rd. Turn at the Brightwater tavern into River Terrace Rd, then first right into Mt Heslington Rd. BYO lunch and something for the sales table. There will be olive oil tasting with some special prices. After lunch there will be a walk to see Heather & Phil Gibbs, who are rearing partridges and pheasants.
Grafting: first, there will be the opportunity to practise and then try for yourself (graftwood supplied). There will be a chance to topwork some old olives to another variety. Bring a sharp knife of modest size and a deck chair if you want to sit. Please leave pets at home!
2007 August
Berry Benefits Talk — Friday 24 August 7 pm
Industrial chemist Alan Cooke will talk on plant-based nutriceuticals. While everyone knows about vitamins there are many other plant ingredients that might be equally important. Anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and other bioactive materials extracted from plants grown in Nelson. Mapua Hall supper room, coffee & tea afterwards. Bring some sweet snacks. There will be a sales table. You'll have to have dinner before you come.
- When:
- Saturday 4th August, 10am
- What:
- Pruning Workshop in Brooklyn
- Where:
- Little Sydney Road - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Maria and Gordon have a small orchard (plum, greengage, peach, apple, pear, fig, tamarillo, feijoa, etc) and are planning to plant passionfruit as well, so there will be time to look at these. There will be tea and coffee in the shearing shed. Bring your lunch and something for the sales table. You can bring your own pruning tools if you wish to have a go, but there should be sufficient to borrow (secateurs, loppers, saw). Tuition provided by experienced tree croppers. Other interests there include alpacas and vintage engine museum.
2007 May
Waimea Nursery Visit - Sat 5 May 1 pm
John Penny will explain how a commercial nursery works and show us some of the many different cultivars at varying stages. Waimea Nursery will generously put on tea and coffee at the end of the tour. They sell heritage apples and many interesting fruit and nut trees. Get in early for your winter planting!
2007 April
Hazels in Blenheim - Saturday 28 April
Start at 10:30 am at The Nut Ranch, well-known property of David and Beverley, who have been producing hazels for some time now. Venue: turn (southwards) off highway 63 a little west of Renwick into Waihopai Valley Rd. After 6 km or so, turn left into Tyntesfield Rd and look for sign. We will have lunch here (bring your own, of course) and then visit the NZ Seed Oil Company, which produces oils from grape seed and hazels.
2007 April 13-15th Tree Crops Association National Conference, Unitec, Mt Albert
2006 December
- When:
- Sat 2 December, 12:30 pm
- What:
- Thinning Workshop & Picnic
- Where:
- west bank of the Motueka River - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Field day - Thinning apples at the organic property of Jenny on the west bank of the Motueka River. Start at 12:30 pm for potluck picnic (barbecue will be available) followed by the field day. Go upstream on Westbank Rd from the intersection with Peninsula Bridge Rd. Go up the driveway into the young orchard for parking. There are timber trees (E. fastigata, lusitanica, redwood), cattle, sour cherries and even Gevuinas!
2006 November
- When:
- Friday 3 November, 7 pm
- What:
- Old Apples & Genetics Talk
- Where:
- Mapua Hall - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Guest speaker/ slide show with Mark Iley (UK conservator of heritage varieties). Mark is involved in several biodiversity projects with the Essex Wildlife trust - such as saltmarsh habitat restoration, as well as old Essex orchards, the main genetic resource of old local fruit varieties that have otherwise disappeared. Sales table, tea and coffee afterward. You'll have to have dinner before you come.
2006 October
- When:
- Sunday 8th October, 10am
- What:
- Susie's Place, Propagation Workshop
- Where:
- Roses Road, Upper Moutere - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Field day - Grafting, budding and taking cuttings. Maybe even topworking of unwanted varieties with something better. There will be apple & plum rootstocks available as well as some scionwood of connoisseur apple varieties. BYO lunch and a small sharp knife for propagation practice, if you have one (pocket, Swiss Army or even Stanley) as well as something for the sales table.
The property is 40 acres made up of both Moutere hill and flat. Purchased in 2002 the land is mostly leased for grazing. A section of the small creek was fenced immediately after purchase and a reforestation project is doing well in a steep gully, whilst another section is being developed as an amenity woodlot along with some chestnut, sugar maples and pinenuts. The plantings of these last 3 tree types are very recent and have suffered in the drought.
Shelterbelts and home gardens/orchard are also being developed. A passive solar house has been built on the property with sustainable features such as insulated concrete slab floor, solar hot water, rainwater collection and grey water recycled onto the fruit trees.
Designer Firewood
How would you like a load of exquisitely-split firewood, organically grown and dry as a camel's gearbox? An advert in the NZ Farmers Weekly offers this bargain supply of that well-known burner's delight tree Eucalyptus combustiburnii. Eminently suitable for warming your home and hot water this winter. Or perhaps, being a serious tree cropper, you already have your own producing coppice block? Good on yer, mate!
Apple Trials
Our indefatigable Roy Hart is carrying out some trials of black-spot resistant apples at two of our newer members' properties, both on the coastal highway. Just numbers at this stage, no names (the trees that is).
Tree Croppers email List
There is a list of wired-up Nelson tree croppers, who can receive email reminders of coming events or advice of happenings at short notice. If you want to be added to the list, put your hand up. Otherwise, write the coming events on your calendar now!
¦ > > PAAST EVENTS > > >
Pruning Orchard Trees
It was a cool, dry, still day with a very full attendance. Edward's property is a commercial orchard of 46 acres. Tree crops include
Apples (main crop) - many varieties including Cox, Fuji, Braeburn, Pacific Beauty, Royal Gala, Aurora, Pacific Queen, Pacific Rose, Golden Delicious, Russet
Peach
Nectarine
Plum.
The field day comprised:
An explanation of how pruning is used to develop tree shape and how ideas have changed over time.
A viewing of tree support and training methods.
A practical demonstration of pruning on: (1) single leader tree shape for an apple tree; (2) vase tree shape for an apple tree; (3) single leader approach for a nectarine tree.
General Pruning Objectives
Criteria for pruning and training.
The best fruiting is on horizontal branches.
Vertical growth gives strong wood but less fruit.
Pruning should promote a regular supply of fruiting wood, and remove dead wood, or wood past its use by date. Fruiting buds on apple are on 3 or 4 year old wood, on nectarine and plum on 1-year-old wood.
Commercial market requirements
Standard sized fruit
Fruit size depends on the number of buds along each branch and their spacing. Large apples are not as acceptable as bite sized ones, and small fruit is also unacceptable.
This sets pruning criteria for removing excess buds (see below).
Good fruit colour:
Good colour requires light. Originally this was sought shaping the tree as a wine glass; more recently having a single leader and one tier of bearer branches has been found more effective.
Case study 1: Pruning apple Pacific Beauty to single leader shape.
The tree was 8 years old planted on stony ground using 793 rootstock. It is thought the ground had been planted with apples for 80 years, the current tree being a replacement. Trees are individually irrigated. Estimated watering regime is 4 gal per hour per tree for 4.5 hours every fourth day. The period watered varied a good deal depending on weather.
The tree had a single leader rising to perhaps 4 m, with four arms spreading horizontally from the trunk at about waist height. The arms spread out to a radius of about 2 m.
Trees were in rows, about 5 m between rows and about 3.5 m between trees on row.
Along each row on the tree line there were tensioned wires, one at about 1.5m and another at about 3m. The tree trunk was attached to these. This provides support in the vertical plane.
At about 2 m there were support strings from the trunk to each of the 4 main bearer branches - this provides one support in the horizontal plane - particularly necessary for the mature apples. The support strings were generally connection to the stump of old pruning off the trunk, rather than the trunk direct.
For this demonstration tree the basic single leader structure and string supports were in place. Pruning activity involved:
* removing branch shoots off bearer branches that were growing vertically where other growth was available better for horizontal training.
* removing branches coming off the bearer branches that ran tangentially (at right angles to the bearer)
* selectively removing branches at the top of the tree - the objective here was to promote but limit growth at the top, and ensure fruit there was pickable.
* training horizontal branches to be retained, typically folding branches under existing growth or tying them down (nylon tie downs available at Fruitfed).
* reducing branches having fruiting buds so that 3, 2 or 1 bud remained according to distance from the start of the branch, and having about 5 inches between each increment. (note that another later operation may occur which further reduces fruit).
* removing branches that had aged to the point where fruit budding was reduced.
Overall about 60% of branches (excluding main bearers) were removed.
Large pruning cuts were smeared with Bacseal [contains a fungicide - should be available from Fruitfed].
Case study 2: Pruning apple Golden Delicious to wine glass shape
The tree is 1960s vintage, and is one of a few this shape and age and has been retained for gate sales. The tree had 4 leaders giving the wine glass shape and an additional one that really shouldn't have been there, up the centre. An observation on tree shape was that in the 1930s there would have been 7 leaders.
The methods were the same, but the ability to train branches down by interleaving was reduced.
Case study 3: Pruning a nectarine Fire Pearl to central leader approach
Fruit occurs on one-year-old (red tinge) wood. Prune hard for new growth removing 60% of new wood. Other pruning considerations were as previously described.
Our thanks to the hosts for an interesting day out.
-- George Atkinson
2006 Annual Conference of NZ Tree Crops Association
'Cultivating Biodiversity', Masterton, Wairarapa, 2006 April 7-9
2005
[no details submitted, but see listing Events Nationwide]
October 2003
| When: | Saturday 18 October 2003 at 9:30am |
| Where: | Foxhill, then Kikiwa |
| What: | Field day - rights and wrongs - plums topworked to flowering cherries - much more! |
July 2003
| When: | Saturday 19 July 2003 at 6pm |
| Where: | Uniting Church Hall, Main Street, Motueka |
| What: | Potluck Tea - Tasmania Travels |
February 2003
| When: | Friday 21 March 2003 |
| Where: | Shaggery Road, Motueka River West Bank |
| What: | Field day and AGM - 700 varieties of 45 different types of plants producing a wide range of stuff on biodynamic principles |
November 2002
| When: | Saturday 2 November 2002 at 10am |
| Where: | Dick Roberts - Todds Valley |
| What: | Field day - This is a venue not to be missed. Guided tour to be co-hosted by Dick Roberts (guru of the microclimate) and Fanie Venter, a South African botanist doing his PhD on Dracophyllums! There will probably be the last of the (late) tamarillos. Bring your lunch and something for a sales table. New and potential members this is the place for you! All sorts of fruit from sub-tropical to temperate; shelter and trade; timber trees; hot dry slopes; cooler shady slopes; dramatic views. Dick's property is nearly all steep spurs. The north-facing slopes have better grass growth in winter (almost no frost) than in summer (very dry). Avocado, casana, kiwifruit, citrus, casimiroa, cherimoya, macadamia, cork oaks, tagasaste for sheep fodder, babaco, pawpaw, carob, olive, jojoba, pistachio, almond, walnut, feijoa, lucuma, pomegranate, and much more. Be there! |
September 2002
| When: | Saturday 14 September, 6 pm |
| Where: |
Uniting Church Hall, Main Street, Motueka There are food warming facilities; bring plates, cutlery and food - preferably along tree cropping lines. Sales tables with lots of goodies. All the usual traditional stuff. |
| What: |
Potluck Tea - Spray/Chemical Advice
Darryl Wilkins from FruitFed will talk on new chemicals or crop treatments now available. You will need to ask questions to find out exactly what you want to know as there is too much to cover everything. He is very knowledgeable and covers the more limited spray or Safe Green approach. |
August 2002
| When: | Saturday 10 August, 1:30 pm |
| Where: | Toko Ngawa Drive (near Split Apple Rock), Marahau |
| What: | Joe and Hilary have a 12 year-old property out of gorse, with about 4000 natives, citrus, feijoas, tamarillos, olives, sapote and macadamias doing well. There are several other crops not doing well on their lack of soil and lack of winter. Finish with afternoon tea, hopefully before it gets too cold. "Quite windy, good fun" says Roy. |
July 2002
| When: | Saturday 6 July |
| Where: | Stringers Road |
| What: | Farm Forestry day on commercial forestry looking at Radiata post-harvest treatment, planting demonstration, pruning and thinning. important Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) trials, macrocarpas and lusitanicas, both spraying and root-raking in preparation for planting. Quite high investment and the potential rewards of forestry on Moutere clays. |
June 2002
| When: | Saturday 29 June, 6pm |
| Where: | Uniting Church Hall, Motueka |
| What: |
Potluck Tea - Stewart Island Slide Show Those indefatigable travellers Peter and Margot will describe their recent journey to Stewart Island, including Port Pegasus in the far south and the Tin Range (ex kakapo country). Bring plates, cutlery and food - preferably along tree croping lines. There are food warming facilities. Recipes for yummy dishes are appreciated. There will be a sales table too, if you bring something for it. |
May 2002
| When: | Saturday 18 May, 1.30pm |
| Where: | George Harvey Road |
| What: | Olives at Upper Moutere - olive trial progress. Roy Hart will be giving us the dinkum oil on this. Members of the Olive Growers Association and the Hort Science people have been invited too, so it should be a good chance to share information. There may well be a trip to another olive trial area if Roy can tee it up. |