Orchard Hygiene: Creepy Crawlies & Mummies Be Gone!
Away with you, creatures of the night!
At this very moment, your beautiful orchard is quite likely teeming with all kinds of creepy crawly critters, and there may even be some fungal covered mummies lurking about.
Eeek, ewe, very spooky!
Okay, so maybe it isn’t quite Halloween yet, but now is still a great time to talk about why it’s important to ensure your orchard is not a welcome environment for any of the spine-chilling creatures above.
Enough with the Halloween metaphors already, what are we really talking about here?
🦟 PEST & DISEASE PREVENTION 🦟
Still a little creepy!
If you hope to grow healthy fruit, there are a few very simple and effective steps you can take right now, that will help you become acquainted with the practices of good “orchard hygiene”:
WEEKLY MAINTENANCE DURING THE GROWING SEASON:
1.) Remove any fallen or mummified fruits from your trees as well as from the orchard floor.
2.) Remove pruning debris and leaves that came from your fruit trees.
3.) Dispose of the above either off site, in your curbside compost bin, as far from your fruit trees as possible, in a managed hot compost system at the opposite end of your property, or by closely monitored burning.
Easy peasy, right!? While it may seem counterintuitive to get rid of all this nutrient-rich organic matter, it really is very helpful not to let diseased or infested fruit tree debris lay where they fall for a couple of reasons:
Fallen and mummified fruits often contain disease and large amounts of fungal spores. If left near your trees, they will increase future infections.
Fallen and mummified fruits are often home to pests that migrate into the soil under your tree to overwinter. If these cozy, edible, temporary homes are not removed before the pest migrates, you will see increased pest pressure the following season.