ORCHARD WORK FOR APRIL.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 3, 15 March 1913, Page 325

ORCHARD WORK FOR APRIL.

W. A. Boucher.

With the exception of the gathering and storing, or packing and shipping, of late varieties of apples and pears, the most important of the summer work in the orchard will have been completed. . Still, as the time for undertaking important winter work is approaching, it would be as well to arrange for procuring such supplies of red oil, bluestone, &c., as may be required for the winter spraying. ' The use . of a red-oil spray for the control of mussel scale, red spider, and woolly aphis has proved very effective, as well as for the control of red spider on peaches, but it may be as well for the benefit of new subscribers to repeat a warning already given in this Journal with regard to the use of red-oil sprays. The winter strength should only be applied' when the . trees are quite dormant. To spray too early before the growth of the season has become properly ripened, especially in the case of peaches, will probably produce disastrous results.

Cultivation.

As the trees of most classes of fruits are now approaching a dormant condition, they will derive no further benefit from the cultivation of the soil during the current season. Soil-working in established orchards may therefore be allowed to cease for a time. x .

Cover-crops eor Orchards

Attention was drawn in the last issue of this Journal to the necessity of planting at intervals a cover-crop of some kind in order to restore to the soil the humus which becomes exhausted after a period of systematic and thorough cultivation. If such a crop has not been planted earlier in the season, rape or mustard may still be sown with advantage for ploughing under in the spring. Both are hardy and will make good growth under conditions which would be altogether unfavourable to other vegetation that might be selected for cover-crops. .

Planting New Orchards.

.There are but few districts in this. Dominion where shelter from prevailing [winds is not an important factor in connection ■ with the

planting of an orchard. If shelter has not been provided, it may even be preferable in some localities to postpone the planting of an orchard .for a season, set out the necessary shelter-belts, and by manuring and cultivation induce a maximum of growth, so that when -‘the orchardtrees are planted the shelter-belts will already have become well established.

There are two periods when the planting of new orchards may be carried out—autumn and spring. Many growers prefer autumn to spring planting, but it must be remembered that in any case the condition of the -soil at the time of planting is a most important consideration. In some seasons when persistent rainfall sets in early the soil becomes and remains wet and cold, just at the time when the planter has intended to set out his orchard. In such instances planting should be deferred until spring. In the meantime the trees should be heeled in, a well-drained, block of land being selected for the purpose.

The preparation of the land for the planting of an orchard should be very thoroughly carried out. Intending planters should never lose sight of the fact that an orchard is intended to' be practically permanent, and that mistakes made prior to planting cannot be easily rectified afterwards. Drainage is, of course, most important. In some instances tile draining to take the water, away from low-lying spots may be necessary, but as much of the land that is now being planted is undulating, thus affording natural drainage, tile draining will not be required to- any great extent. With few exceptions the land should be deeply worked and well subsoiled, for in districts where the rainfall is not necessarily heavy but at times persistent, even hillside land will lie very wet often for some little time if the soil has only been lightly ploughed.

Strawberry-planting

The foregoing, remarks with regard to the preparation of the land for an orchard apply equally well to the preparation of land for straw-berry-culture, if the grower desires to secure the best possible return from his beds. The plants should be set out when the soil is moist, but in good friable condition. In some districts the month of April is the most suitable time for planting, in others the month of May. As in many localities the strawberry is very subject to attack by leaf-spot (Splicer ella ft agarics), during the winter months it is advisable to spray the' young plants soon after they have become well established with the Bordeaux mixture, summer formula.