Thanking You Letter: For The Visit To The Garden & Providing The Recommendations For Growing Healthy Fruiting Trees & Shrubs Plus Other Plants & Food. Thank you Uncle Ed for sharing your beautiful appreciation For Living Systems. A glimpse of my Garden With Fruit & Ornamental Trees through your eyes was an incredible gift. 🙂 Elisha, Kelly, Olivia & Zakk Kittson 🙂 Okanagan North, BC
Reply: Greetings: Elisha, Kelly, Olivia & Zakk Kittson, Okanagan North, BC. Orchard, Vegetable, Berry Fruit & Ornamental Plant Growing Recommendations Part A] In The Tree Fruit Orchard~ Nutrition First May 30,2013 2 pages P1
Bark & Wood Chips Plus Fish Meal & By Products Are Composted For High Fibre & Organic Matter Soil Enhancement Plus Nutritious Plant Food.
By far, the most important item on the to do list, is to build up the nutritional capacity around each Fruit Tree. Some of the Fruit Trees are having a struggle in extremely dry conditions. If the Tree is not healthy, the capability of the Fruit Tree to continue to grow plus develop & hold fruit is low. A Healthy Fruit Tree is able to withstand the pressures of Disease & Insect Pest Attacks.This Nutritional based system is the first course of action verses applying pesticides. Much like for humans, Nutrition comes first well before drugs.
Decomposing Leaves & Grass Make The Rich Soil.
The Main Objective is to improve & increase substantially the Health & the Fruit Capacity of each Tree. Feeding the Fruit Trees with locally produced Organic Plant Food as a product of re-using & re-cycling of the Biological Organic Material from the Kitchen, Garden & Workshop is the best, most economical, productive & sustainable method to improve the Health & Fruit Productivity of the Orchard. Biological Organic Material from the kitchen, chopped up for faster decomposition, is the key Plant Food Ingredient. Decomposed & Fresh Biological Organic & Compost Material chopped up with a shovel goes down first.
Grass Clippings & Leaves Make The Richest Soil.
Lots of Grass clippings to go down next & mixed with the Biological Organic Material from the kitchen. When grass clippings heat up & start to decompose , they substantially shrink in size. Rotting Grass & Leaves make the richest Soil. Wet & dry leaves following to go down & mixed in. The Coarse Material like Corn Cobs, Cut Up Branches & Limbs, Wood & Bark Chips to go on top as The Organic Mulch Material.
Bark & Wood Chips Make Good Coarse Mulch Material, As Such Material Takes Longer To Decompose.
The Organic Mulch Material is extremely important covering to hold in the Soil Moisture. The Plant Food is in an Aqueous or Water Solution that is available & readily absorbed by the Plant Roots.
The Mulch Material should extend outwards to the Drip Line of the Tree or to the extremity of the branches. This leaves the grass-legume cover crop growing between the Drip Lines of the Fruit Trees or between the rows.
The Cover Crop between rows in the Orchard should be a Legume-Grass Mixture like Alfalfa & Crested Wheat or Brome, or Timothy or Orchard Grass.
Wood Savings + Saw Dust Are Spread Over The Strawberry Plants Just Before Freezing Temperatures At The Start Of Winter To Insulate & Protect The Plants. The Woody Mulch Material Is Removed In the Early Spring & Placed In Between The Raised Beds Of Strawberry Plants As A Mulch To Keep Weeds Down & To Conserve Moisture In The Soil Plus Keep The Fruit Dry On The Surface To Reduce Disease & Mold Infection.
One of the advantages of the Alfalfa is that it is very Drought Tolerant. It’s root system can grow six feet down & across if the Soil Profile is friable & allows accessible penetration. The type of grass is depended on the amount of Soil Moisture available to plants in the Orchard with the type of grass listed first being the most drought tolerant & the others in decreasing order of drought tolerance.
The alfalfa is a Legume & thus is able to fix its own Nitrogen, enriching the Soil & providing a food source for the grass, reducing the need for additional fertilizer.
The Mulch Of Bark & Wood Chips, Extended To The Drip Line Of The Branch Extremities, Is Used For Improved Moisture Retention, Plant Food Uptake, Growth & Tree Health To better Withstand Drought, Insect Pest Attacks & Disease Infections.
With the lawn grass already present, Low White Clover, a Legume, can be seeded & incorporated into the grass between rows of the Fruit Trees. The White Dutch Clover comes in small packages that fit into the palm of the hand. The Clover Seed is very small. Each package of Seed can be mixed in a pail of dry sand when seeding to obtain a uniform distribution. The seeding of Low White Clover can be done in the late fall just before the ground freezes or before the snow flies, called Dormant Seeding. If the seeding is done any time after the snow is gone in the spring, it can be done just before a substantial rain to carry the seed down to make contact with the Soil.
The Mulch Of Grass & Corn Husks Is Used To RetainValuable Soil Moisture Making Plant Food More Readily Available For Increased Tree Growth & Better Health Plus Able To Withstand Drought, Insect Pests Attacks & Disease Infections.
Seeding is risky if done in the hot weather of summer when inadequate moisture predominates.
Cover Crop Maintenance In The Orchard
In the Tree Fruit Orchard, the Cover Crop is cut only two times a growing season or year, the first time when the plants are heading or in the bloom stage, that is, the latter part of June & in latter August. The intent of the cutting is to cut the buds, flowers & seed heads to prevent any Weeds from going to seed plus keeping the Cover Crop Plants in a juvenile or green vegetative state. The clippings can be left to rot & feed the Legume-Grass Cover Crop, put up for silage, dried for hay or utilized under the Fruit Trees as part of the Plant Food Source & The Mulch.
The Bottom Limbs Of The Spruce Trees Provide The Equivalent Mulch Cover Over The Feeder Roots For The Essential Retention Of Soil Moisture, Increased Soluble Food Up Take Promoting Better Health & Vigour Of The Trees For Them To Better Withstand Drought Conditions, Insect Pests Attacks & Disease Infections.
Irrigating In The Tree Fruit Orchard & Berry Fruits
Under dry or drought conditions, typical of the summer months in the Okanagan Valley, the Fruit Trees suffer as they cannot get the proper & adequate Plant Food. Continual Drip Irrigation at each fruit tree site between soaking rains is the most efficient way to supplement water for The Trees to grow & be healthy. This is extremely important in a Semi-Desert Type Climate where rainfall can be limited in the growing season. The trees need the Plant Food in a water solution in order to be picked up by the tree roots.
Ed Kayler, P.Ag.
Thank You Letter:
WOW! Thank you soooo much Uncle Ed. I didn’t expect a professional assessment as follow-up, how wonderful ! I’ve started on the mulching project & will keep you posted on Health of the Fruit Trees as summer progresses. Zakk and Olivia love collecting dandelions! Elisha, Kelly, Olivia & Zakk Kittson, Okanagan North, BC.
The Sustainable Lawn 