* 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 and compilers - Important note:
Branch Events
A warm welcome to all new members. We hope to see you at our next field day and AGM. These are casual friendly events so dress for the outdoors. Don't forget a hat and sunscreen - er, warm coat and dry boots? Tree Croppers are a tough breed so field days are usually held wet or fine. Hot drinks are generally provided, but bring your own mug and food.
Future events: Mid winter dinner and auction.
The auction is not to be combined with the pruning day as it made the day too long.
2008 August
MID WINTER DINNER AND AUCTION. Saturday 16 August, from 3.00pm
Senior Citizens Hall in Utuata Street, across the railway line at Waikanae and first left.
This year the auction is being held in conjunction with the mid-winter dinner. The hall will be open from 3.00pm for the Committee and from 3.30pm for everyone else. Time for a cup of tea before the auction due to start at 4.30pm followed by a mulled wine and then dinner. Please bring a main dish and a sweet for a potluck dinner. There is limited oven space but crockpots etc can be plugged in. Crockery and cutlery are all supplied. The past two of these events have been well supported so come along and have a good evening.
The after dinner speaker is Eric Cairns whose topic is:
Tree Cropping Woodlands and Multiple Tier farming with food crops.
2008 July
Winter Pruning with Colin Spicer, 10.30am Sunday 6 July 2008.
Combined Field Day with Central Districts and Wellington-Horowhenua Branches.
Meet with Dianne and Fred at Roslyn Road, Levin.
Colin is a retired horticulture lecturer who is happy to share his knowledge and experience in an entertaining style. Many of you will have met him before and will want to take this opportunity to refresh yourselves on the difference between vegetative and fruiting buds and what we're trying to achieve with winter pruning on a range of trees. We've had the opportunity to see the trees at Dianne and Fred's property as they've matured, and see how Colin and others have shaped them into attractive and productive specimens.
After lunch we will walk across to where there is a range of fruit and ornamental trees ranging from newly planted unpruned trees, some too old and neglected, and most things in between. This is your opportunity to see some trees which might look like yours rather than the near perfect shapes in the pruning books.
As always BYO lunch and cup. Hot water/tea/coffee will be available.
2008 May
Otaki Small Farmers Field day 24 May
This has become a fixture on our branch calendar so prepare to be there.
We need people to talk to the passing public and help promote Tree Crops to potential members.
There is also an opportunity to sell some of your trees or produce. Eric Cairns is coordinating this stand.
Fig field day
11 May 2008, 11am start, Mangaroa Valley Road, Upper Hutt..
We will look at some of the fig training structures being experimented with at this property, some other R&D, and the range of genetic diversity in the NZTCA collection. (Supplemented by powerpoint slide displays).
There are approx 150 accessions at this property, many of which are difficult to distinguish between.
Are they the same or different?
Does it matter?
If so, why?
Do we need to import more fig material into NZ?
Lunch time discussion will debate a proposal to commit branch funds to support a major R&D programme. One suggestion is using analysis of DNA to identify fig varieties, and possible geographic source of figs within NZ . Another possibility is post harvest sanitation to improve storage life of figs (hot water and dry heat are both possibilities to achieve 1 month shelf life).
The background to this was outlined in the last Newsletter and was to be debated at the AGM, but members felt there was insufficient information or time to make an informed commitment.
Also on this day, a plant sales table is invited for potted plant stock or produce (or books etc) of interest to tree croppers.
2007 November
- What:
- TCA field day and end of year barbecue
By popular request and if you missed the previous green wood working day there! - When:
- Sun 4 Nov, 1pm start, barbecue begins around 4pm
- Where:
- Moonshine Road, Pauatahanui - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- Field day - BYO provisions for barbecue, ample cover in the (unlikely) event
of damp weather. Remember to bring along gumboots, as there
will be a stream crossing.
Wendy and Trevor bought a tree cropper’s subdivision from their neighbour Mike. Mike had planted walnuts, damson, stauntonia, hazels, willows and so on about 20-25 years ago, then rebuilt next door. Wendy and Trevor inherited a “permaculture” type property, which they have further developed.
Wendy grows heritage seeds for Koanga Institute Seed Savers and heritage berry fruit that many of you will have seen for sale at our plant auctions. Wendy uses home made Hurdles in the cottage garden (using green wood working skills). Trevor, a silversmith, is very keen on tool making and green woodworking. Wendy is an accomplished basket weaver and teaches kete making. Their collection of weaving flaxes is protected by QEII covenant. Their neighbour Mike also has a QE II covenant on a ..? Come along and find out!
2007 September
Field Day Report
Grafting workshop
About 20 keen grafters turned up. Stewart brought along the M106 rootstocks, and there was more than enough heritage apples varieties to work with. Many thanks to Maurice Dellow who had made most of the scion wood available, and to Stewart who bought the root stocks and passed them on at cost.
Eric demonstrated various grafts on practise bits of willow, which is soft and easy to cut. If the stock has bark that will slip/lift, tee budding is an option, even in spring. Chip budding could be done at any time of the year that the plant was in active growth. Eric preferred to bud in late summer. This is quick, reliable, and does not require cold storage of the scion wood. Whip and tongue grafts were hard to master by free hand cutting (but relatively easy if shaped with a sharp plane), and were required for hard to graft species such as walnut (winter hot box grafting). The easiest and fastest graft was the vee graft where the scion is wedge shaped on the bottom end and a slit is formed on the stock. The inverted form of this is the saddle graft, which sheds water better.
Eric recommended the saddle or cleft graft as being the easiest
to master and very suited to apples and plums, but the dormant
apple wood was surprising tough and hard to cut. A nice long vee
shape is required on either the stock or scion, and a sharp block
plane or smoothing plane could be used to achieve this safely.
Whatever graft style is used, the most important part to
remember is that the cambium layers in the scion and stock have
to line up on at least one side of the union. Stretchy plastic tape is
used to cover the union and pull the cut surfaces together. Strips
of plastic bag may be used in lieu of grafting tape. The softer
parafilm type is good for budding but is not usually strong enough
to pull hardwood grafts together.
A fixed blade “Stanley” knife was the recommended cutting
tool, obviously with a very sharp new blade. Alternatively, a
very sharp pocket knife with a long straight blade could be
used “guillotine fashion” to cut the vee on a raised chopping
board. The retractable blade types, including box cutters, were
not recommended as the blade is inclined to slip when under
pressure.
Kitchen knives and cheap stainless “Swiss army” knives generally do not have hard enough steel to be properly sharpened. The old fashioned carbon steel blades (e.g. Solingen, with a locking blade) were satisfactory. It was important for the blade to be free of oil, if an oil stone was used for sharpening. The reasons for grafting and selection of rootstocks were discussed; i.e. most orchard varieties do not come true from seed and may not grow from cuttings. Clonal rootstock provided a uniform orchard that facilitates management. Rootstocks may be disease resistant (e.g. woolly aphis, root rots etc) be semi dwarfing or be suited to certain soil types or wind exposure. Rootstocks can also influence the amount of health promoting chemicals such as flavonoids in the fruit. Seedlings (except for peach) are generally too variable to be useful as rootstocks. The tree has to be closely related to the rootstock. eg pears, medlar and quince on quince stock, crab-apple and apples on apple stock, and plums, peaches, nectarines on plum or peach stock, cherry on cherry etc.
Wendy Evans demonstrated making flax flowers and flax preparation. She is taking registrations for a 2 day course on kete making (weekend days a fortnight apart – small fee applies). Wendy regularly teaches flax weaving and has 12 years experience in the craft.
- Apple Grafting
- Where:
- Mangaroa Valley Road, Upper Hutt - will be signs posted.
- When:
- Sunday 2 September, 11am start
- Details:
- Field day - Eric has been advised that apple rootstocks may not be available until late August so...
BYO lunch and cup. Hot water/tea/coffee and band aids supplied.
(Mangaroa Valley Road leads off the east end of Whitemans Valley Road and is not to be confused with Mangaroa Hill Road starting from Maoribank)
There will be lots of daffodils and bluebells flowering under the deciduous trees, and at some stage a brief guided tour, depending on how long is required for the grafting.
As an added bonus, Wendy Evans has offered to do a short course on making things with flax (eg flax flowers). This could lead on to kete weaving at a later date. Flax will be supplied. For those who would like to participate in the flax weaving, please bring 4-6 “clippy pegs”.
For those who would like to learn grafting, please bring a Stanley knife with a new blade or a really sharp pocket knife (box cutters are not usually good enough) and grafting tape which is available from rural supplies such as Farmlands. Some of you have ordered apple rootstocks and scion wood, but there will be a few spare. Practise pieces will be on willow. Make sure that your scion wood has been stored in the fridge (not frozen and not dried out and not mouldy) so that it will not be so close to bud burst as the rootstocks.
Cleft, saddle, whip and tongue, four flap and rind bark grafts will be demonstrated, along with chip budding.
2007 July
Pruning Demonstration and Plant Auction
Before the main pruning demonstration and auction at Dianne and Fred’s property, a smaller number of tree-croppers descended on Stewart Dixons property (below) to have an update on the fig training trial previously installed by Eric Cairns. The trial includes 5 different training systems and a range of fig varieties. Fig growers from as far away as Marlborough came to have a look, offer some advice and discuss their own techniques with Eric and the few others.
There was a good turn out for the main pruning demonstration, including some members from the Central Districts Branch. After an introduction by Eric and a reminder about dealing with codlin moth (see below for details) and silver leaf, the pruning demonstration began with Jennifer Hutson taking us through pruning apple trees. The others who gave demonstrations were: Eric, who did stone fruit; Ray Hollis, who pruned some olive and feijoa trees and Jean Hollis who pruned the fig tree. Even though there were plenty of demonstrations going on, hardly a dent was made in the number of trees Fred and Dianne have on their property. Along with the tips and trick of pruning techniques, people offered advice about their favourite pruning tools, whether they were secateurs, loppers or saws.
While he was demonstrating olive pruning, it was interesting to hear about Ray and Jean Hollis’ experience of producing organic olive leaves for nutritional supplements, which involves stripping all the leaves from the tree (not so good for the tree) as well as the harvesting process of olives for oil and for eating. The weather managed to be kind and between demonstrations, lunch was had by the pool, although no-one was tempted to have a dip.
Clockwise from top left: A large gathering of interested tree croppers at the pruning demonstration; Jennifer Huston pruning an apple tree; Eric Cairns doing some 'up-high' pruning; Eric Cairns pruning; Demonstration of the nut harvester.
The auction was success with a total profit of $1017. These funds will go towards funding research and development. On sale was a great range of plants – ranging from organic seeds and herbs to fruit trees to natives. Many thanks to all who provided items for sale, it's a great way to share, support the organisation and if you bring something along to be sold, perhaps make some pocket money! Thanks to Arthur for running the auction, Eric, Stewart and Irene for keeping up with the pace of the sales and to Annette for the dealing with the confusing task of keeping track of who bought what!
A big thanks from all of us to Dianne and Frank for hosting the pruning day once again.
- Pruning Demonstration and Plant Auction
- Where:
- with Fred and Dianne, Roslyn Road, Levin - will be signs posted.
- When:
- Sun 22 July, 11am start
- Details:
- This field day will provide tips and tricks as well as a full demonstration of pruning a variety of different fruit types. There will be separate pruning sessions by a range of experts for various crops. These include pip fruit, stone fruit, figs and feijoas.
Following the pruning demonstration there will be the annual plant auction. The plant auction will start at 2pm, sale on commission or plant donations gratefully accepted. Please notify the auctioneer before the start of the auction as to whether your plants are sale on commission or not.
BYO lunch and cup. Hot water/tea/coffee will be available.
And remember to bring a paper and pen to record your purchases.
Additional note:
We have just set up some training support wires for a fig trial comparing these options at Stewart and Carol's. If anyone would like to see these and discuss fig pruning/training, please meet at Stewart and Carol's at 10am on 22 July at Roslyn Road - just across from Fred and Dianne's.
- Mid-Winter Potluck Dinner
- Where:
- Senior Citizens Hall, Utuata Street, Waikanae - will be signs posted.
- When:
- Saturday 14 July 2007 from 6.00 pm
- Speaker:
- Frank Lindsay
Following the successful mid winter dinner last year your committee have decided to do it again. This time it is in the Senior Citizens Hall in Utuata Street, Waikanae. To get there turn towards the hills at the Waikanae Traffic lights on the State Highway One, take the first turn left past the church and follow the road past the tennis courts where there is plenty of parking and the entrance to the Senior Citizens Hall.
The evening is to begin sharp at 6.00pm with mulled wine and to eat by 6.30pm. Please bring a main course or a sweet dish. If you bring a main course please either bring it hot and ready to eat (there is limited oven space available) or as a cold platter.
This was a great evening last year and was a great chance to get to know members better.
Often at field days there is a lot to do and see and we don't always get the chance to socialise.
Our special guests and after-dinner speakers are Frank & Mary-Ann Lindsay, beekeepers extraordinaire of Johnsonville, and stalwarts of both the hobby and industry beekeeping fraternities. Frank and Mary-Ann have the happy knack of presenting their extensive knowledge and experience in a unique, friendly and entertaining way. Bees are critical to the success of most of our horticultural and agricultural enterprises, yet have never been under greater threat. Bee entertained, bee informed - you won't bee disappointed.
To get you in the mood for all things bees there's an informative article below by beekeeper Nick Milne who conducts pollination in the Wellington/Horewhenua area.
BLUEBERRY NUTRITION FACTS
The American blueberry (Vaccinium) has long been recognized for its flavor, nutrition, and health benefits. Early settlers valued the blueberry as a major ingredient in foods and medicines. They ate blueberries off the bush and added them to soups, stews, and other foods. Native Americans in colonial times gathered blueberries for winter storage. They dried the fruit and combined it with cornmeal, honey, and water to make a delicate pudding known as “Sautauthig.” The juice of blueberries was also used for medicinal purposes: to treat coughs, as a relaxant during childbirth, and to combat the “runs” thanks to a substance contained in the berries called anthocyanin. This substance has mild antibiotic properties, especially against intestinal bacteria that cause diarrhoea.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Human
Nutrition Center have found that blueberries rank No. 1 in antioxidant benefits, compared to 40 other fresh fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants help neutralize harmful “free radicals” that can lead to cancer and other age-related diseases. The total antioxidant capacity of blueberries (24 mcgmol Trolox equivalents per gram) is twice that of spinach and three times that of oranges. This extraordinary fruit is also rich in pectin, a soluble fibre that has been shown in several research studies to be effective in lowering cholesterol.
Blueberries are available year-round in many forms including fresh, frozen, juice, puree, concentrate, and dried. Fresh blueberries are higher in vitamins A and C than frozen or canned. A cup of blueberries provides nearly a third of the RDA for vitamin C. It would appear that most of the vitamin C is lost as a result of freezing and canning.
REF: http://health.learninginfo.org/blueberry.htm
POLLINATION- AN INTEGRAL PART OF APIARY AND ORCHARD LIFE.
By Nick Milne, Southern Sun Apiaries
Effective pollination of orchards has always been important for the production of fruit. This has invariably involved the use of bees either through local feral (wild) hives or the contracting of a beekeeper to relocate hives into the orchard.
In the past many beekeepers have preferred concentrating on the production of honey to pursuing pollination and other income streams as there is much extra hive work required in getting hives ready for pollination.
Currently the price of pasture honey is low and compliance and disease control costs have increased. This has led many beekeepers to look for additional sources of income. Some beekeepers chase the lucrative manuka honey crop but in our beekeeping operation we have moved from straight pasture honey production into pollination services (both locally and in Tauranga), queen bee breading, propolis production and limited manuka honey.
In the past many orchardists relied heavily, if not exclusively, on feral bees for the pollination of their orchards, however due to the prevalence of varroa to the north island (and increasingly the South Island) the numbers of feral hives have decreased significantly.
One of the increasingly common practices is for large areas of land to be planted in the same fruit, with any grass mowed or sprayed. This decreases the appeal of an area to foraging ferals. This is particularly visible in the Tauranga area where vast tracts of land have been planted in kiwifruit vines.
Unfortunately for the orchardist the relocation of hives into orchards for pollination is not as simple as just throwing them all on a truck and driving them into the orchard. There is often a large amount or preparation required to boost hives up to the required standard for effective pollination. Each type of fruit requires hives to be at different minimum levels of strength. These standards are determined by the number of frames of brood (unhatched eggs or larvae), and the number of frames of bees present in a hive. These standards are determined by how attractive the particular fruit is to foraging bees. For example, blackberry produces nectar and pollen and is more attractive to a bee than a kiwifruit blossom that only produces pollen. Hives for kiwifruit pollination therefore require a higher amount of brood and bees.
After surviving winter, many hives are depleted of bees, and require boosting through the addition of brood and the feeding of sugar syrup (which provides food and stimulates the queen to lay more eggs) in the months leading up to pollination. All hives must be also be under treatment for varroa (chemical strips are placed in hives for 2 months in spring and autumn to keep varroa under control) when placed in orchards. The exception to this is hives placed in organic orchards where strips are removed while hives are in the orchard.
The timing, number and location of the hives within a given orchard is determined by the orchardist, sometimes with the input of a pollination consultant. Although bees will forage up to 4km from the hive, they will naturally go to the closest source of nectar and pollen available. It is common for an orchard requiring 30 hives to take these in multiple drops which allows numbers of bees in an area to be steadily increased as flowers open thereby ensuring fresh bees are constantly present.
Southern Sun Apiaries has built up an excellent reputation with the orchardists that we supply hives to so it is very unusual for us to be audited by an outside beekeeper. Auditing can be an effective way for orchardists to ensure that hives are supplied at the agreed upon standard. In addition some orchardists will ask for pollen traps to be placed on selected hives to determine the pollen being collected by the bees (different plants have different pollen colours). This helps determine the effectiveness of the pollination.
Pollination is has costs for the beekeeper. In addition to increased vehicle and labour costs in preparing and delivering hives, hives in pollination may swarm, queens may be lost, and frames or equipment can be damaged. The timing of the pollination is also important. In some cases there is an overlap between the end of pollination and the beginning of the honey crop, so in many cases a beekeeper must weigh up the value of the guaranteed pollination income against a portion of honey income.
The demand for pollination hives is likely to increase significantly in the future. It is estimated that more than 50,000 hives will soon be required to pollinate kiwifruit in the Tauranga area alone. Many beekeepers are turning their thoughts to pollination as they seek a way of safeguarding their businesses against low pasture honey prices while gaining income at a time of the year when cash reserves are traditionally low.
REF: Nick Milne
2007 April 13-15th National Conference 2007 - reviewed
2007 February
- What:
- Next green wood working day
- When:
- 9.30 am to 4.00 pm Sunday 18 February 2007
- Where:
- Hosts Trevor and Wendy - Moonshine Road, Pauhatanui - will be signs posted.
- Details:
- We now believe we have enough basic equipment to share at field days for people who would just like to give it a go. Those of us who are already converts really enjoy turning round wood into something useful. We enjoy creating articles that do not resemble mass produced items from a chain store.
For those with ambitious projects in mind, please book with Trevor to ensure availability of space, materials and equipment. In the event of very wet weather, contact Trevor as this event could be postponed one week. Casual observers are encouraged to turn up after 11.00 am. BYO lunch.
- What:
- AGM and summer BBQ at Te Horo
- When:
- 1.00 pm Sunday 11 February 2007
- Where:
- Hosts Lyndia and Peter - The Old Dairy Factory, Rahui Road Otaki
- Details:
- The AGM will be at the Otaki property, as yet unnamed but formerly The Old Dairy Factory, next to the railway crossing in Rahui Road Otaki. Some of you will remember the site of the former Olive Press there. Lyndia has been converting the building into a Boutique Hotel in a Mediterranean style. This has involved extensive earthquake strengthening. She has also been landscaping the grounds in edible gardens and also with Mediterranean crops. There is an excellent figuerie doing well on rich Otaki loams and some of the San Pedro figs and Oakura figs will be ripe.
There'll be a tour round the property at 1.00 pm. The AGM will start around 2.00 pm. The after-match function, from about 3.00 pm onwards, continues with a BBQ and swim at the beach house, Sims Road, Te Horo Beach. BYO barbecue supplies and your togs.
Earlier Branch Events and Reviews to 2006
Other Branchs' Events pages -