Urban Orchards : Weeding, watering, and mulching

Contents:
Site Calendar
Weeding
Mulching
Watering
Volunteer Positions
Site Log Form

Site Checking Calendar

This brief step-by-step guide is semi-specific to the climate of the Northeast, so you will need to do some additional research to adjust it to your area. It covers some of what you may see at your site, depending on where you are working and what fruit plants are present. Many of the books listed in our resources section will give you a better idea, especially of insects and diseases.

A good project for anyone starting an orchard program is to rewrite this calendar for your area. Doing the research – by observation and then consulting books, growers or websites – will help you learn what you need to grow your project over the years.

The most important activities are watering new plantings (this and last year's), and keeping weeds under control. However, there is much more to discover, starting in midwinter.

February 1 - April 15

February:
Potential Pests: Take a magnifying glass and do a tree check, starting at the trunk at the soil level looking for evidence of borers (frass or sawdust around base of trunk), then scanning along the trunk, limbs, branches, leaves and fruit to the tips of the branches. In order to know when you need to be most careful checking, how to identify pests by their eggs, and what to do if you find a pest, you will have to be relatively familiar with local orchard pests and helpers (many insects are not harmful to fruit and nut trees, and several will actually help protect your trees). For this you can start with the information available on our site regarding insect pests and diseases. There are also several books and websites that have this information for different locations, but some of the best are The Organic Almanac (Page), Rodale's Chemical-Free Yard and Garden (Bradley), Diseases of Trees and Shrubs (Sinclair), Diseases of Tree Fruits in the East (Jones).

Avoid removing any potential pests until you are sure of what you are removing. Ensure that someone working on your Urban Orchards project is aware of all potential pest discoveries so patterns of infestation (both temporal and geographic) can be tracked.

Tree Fruit: If your project is in an area with snowy winters, and the snow is more than 10 inches deeps, mice may be able to go under the snow and over wire mesh “rodent guards” to get at the sweet bark. If you can't see the rodent guards, it can help to pack down the snow so the mice must risk capture by birds to reach the tree (they tend to tunnel for safety).

March:
hazelnuts bloom at the beginning of the month. Continue making the same observations as in February.

For several fruits, such as apples, plums, pears, cherries, apricots, grapes, and raspberries, this is the time of year to prune. For other fruits with more delicate wood, such as peaches, you will want to wait longer. Know the pruning schedule of your fruit and schedule pruning with site caretakers (if they are trained in proper pruning techniques) or your horticulturist accordingly.

April:
Check the ground around your plants. If there is no layer of straw, wood chips, or manure/compost, a layer of fertilizer may be needed. You may be able to get some type of fertilizer from organizations in your area, or you may have/want to produce your own.

Note that a thick layer of mulch now may delay soil warming, so it's best to apply a more concentrated material, such as 3-6” of leaf litter now (less if using a more concentrated matieral, such as wood chips), and wait until May or June to mulch. If a thick mulch is already present, rake it back until the soil has warmed and then replace it in a few weeks.

April 15 - June 1

Bloom (Late April - May):
You may have fruit trees that are pollinated by bees. If you do, this is the time to see the bees carry pollen between the flowers of trees while gathering nectar. If bees emerge late, the fruit yield that year will be lessened, as happened in the Northeast in 1995 (see appendix article). Some fruits require the pollen from another variety to fertilize a given variety of the same type of fruit. For more information on this, refer to our information on propagation and grafting.

Just after petal fall (May):
Continue watching out for insects that damage orchard trees, as fruit begins to form on some varieties around this time of year. Pay special attention to holes or scars on newly forming fruit.

Late May - June:
Watering: Check for moisture around the ground near the plants. Do they need water? This year's and last year's plantings generally need a heavy watering twice or once a week, respectively. If rain is scarce, ripening fruit plants need water as well. For more information, see our section on planting and initial care.

Fallen fruit (fruit drop): Check the ground around the trees. Usually by mid to late June (earlier for some, even later for other fruits/varieties) the trees drop up to 75% or more of their tiny, just-formed fruit. This is normal; the tree cannot ripen all of its fertilized fruit. Check the fallen fruit. If it has dark holes or scars on it, break it open. If there are worms or insects inside, remove that fruit and check the tree carefully.

Pests & diseases: This is an important time to continue watching for orchard pests and to check for diseases. As with pests, it is important to have an idea of what diseases you should be on the lookout for in your particular area. It is usually easy to tell if a tree is diseased – watch for discolored leaves/fruit, misshapen twigs, growths on leaves/twigs/bark, or any other sign that your tree may not be at its healthiest. It is often hard to know what can be done about the disease without a proper diagnosis. For this see our information on plant diseases or refer to Diseases of Trees and Shrubs by Wayne A. Sinclair, et al.

June - August

Enjoy fruit that have an early harvest, such as strawberries, pie cherries, raspberries, and juneberries!

This is one of the most active times in the orchard. Try to make sure that your sites are visited a few times this month. Pick up and destroy unripe fruit drop to reduce pest populations.

Also, all of the suggestions about watering and fruit drop over the last few months continue to apply, so keep an eye out. The same is true of suggestions from the last few months regarding pests and diseases, but as fruit matures you will have to check it more carefully and regularly for pests.

To dispose of pest-infected fruit, double-bag it and store it for one year to pickle the pests inside, then add it to your compost pile. If you must dispose of it in the trash, double- or triple-bag it in hopes that larvae don't mature to infest someone else's orchard.

To dispose of diseased fruit one must make a difficult choice - composting is risky, as it may not destroy the particular organism, whereas burning will destroy the organism, but is polluting.

Mulch: Check the area under each tree. Is there a 6” layer of fluffy material there (a mulch, such as wood chips, bark, leaves, hay, or rotted manure)? This layer, when present, supports microbes and larger life forms under it (lift it up and look!). It also suppresses weed growth, keeps the soil moister, and reduces temperature extremes. All in all, it improves tree health and resistance to insects and diseases! Just make sure to keep the ground clear about 6” to 1' away from the trunk to discourage borers.

July 1 - October 31

Harvest: The peak harvest season begins in July, so know how to tell when your fruit is ripe and how it is best harvested.

Watering, fruit drop, pests & diseases: Continue watching all of these carefully, as noted in previous months. Just because your fruit is almost ripe doesn't mean it's any less susceptible! Stop watering by September so the ground can harden for the coming winter.

Weeding and Mulching: What weeds are going to seed? This is a good time to prevent them. They can be laid out around fruit plants (as long as they are not touching the trunk) as extra mulch. Is your mulch thick enough to moderate fall and winter temperature fluctuations? Keep your mulch 1'-2' back from the trunks of your trees to discourage mouse nesting, and place rodent guards around the trees if it snows in your area. These should be 1/4-1/2” mesh at least 1' high to prevent under-snow tunneling and gnawing by mice and other rodents.

Weeding:

Weeds are plants that grow vigorously without cultivation. They are invasive in their ability to propagate themselves, by seed or by root, and take over an area to the detriment of other plants. On the other hand, many weeds are quite useful, and when found growing too close to a cultivated plant, can be looked upon not as harmful, but instead as growing in the wrong place.

Negative aspects of weeds:

Compete for water and nutrients.
Shade out and weaken or kill desirable plants.
Some weeds are carriers for certain pests and diseases, or harbor pests that carry specific diseases.
Block air circulation, promoting growth of fungal diseases.
Are often aesthetically unpleasant.

Positive aspects of weeds:

Indicate soil conditions, such as pH, fertility, texture, and contaminants.
Some are dynamic accumulators and increase soil fertility.
Act as living mulch by reducing water evaporation and preventing erosion.
Provide cover and forage for desirable wildlife (such as birds, toads, snakes, and beneficial insects).
Weeds in the umbelliferae (parsley) and compositae (sunflower) families are insectary plants.
Many are edible and more nutritious than store-bought produce (examples include burdock, nettles, lambs quarter pigweed, and chickweed).
Many have medicinal properties (examples include red clover, burdock, dandelion, yarrow, plantain, and mullein).
Are aesthetically pleasing (many wild/meadow flowers are considered 'weeds').

Make sure that you have positively identified any weeds you decide to remove. To accomplish this, consult an appropriate plant identification guide, such as Newcomb's or Peterson's.

When the negatives outweigh the positives...
It is best to weed by hand, extracting as much root as possible. Grasp weed firmly at the base of its stem and pull firmly and steadily from soil. Do not rake or till the soil, as tilling damages a tree's feeder roots (located in the top 6-8” of soil) and exposes more weed seeds to sunlight.

Use pulled weeds as mulch by leaving them fully exposed to the sun in a dry area, away from the trunk of the tree. Water the tree to resettle soil around its roots. Be sure to keep the area around any the dripline (the furthest lateral reach of the plant's canopy) clear, especially of tall weeds.

Other Weed Control Measures:

Mulch.
Plant low-growing cover crops and green manure plants.
Sow low-growing insectary plants to encourage beneficial insects.
Herbicides are toxic chemicals that destroy both weeds and cultivated plants, harm insects and soil organisms, and destroy ecological balance. Please do not use them.
Solarize the soil by covering the soil surface with a sheet of clear plastic. Sunlight will heat the soil, and turn water into steam, which kills weed seeds. Follow clear with black (light-blocking) plastic to fully kill any survivors of the clear plastic. Perennial weeds take longer to kill in this way. Try to use plastic at least 4 mil thick; 6 mil can be reused many times if put out of the sun when not in use. Thinner plastic will get holes easily or rip.

Mulching:

You can mulch using fall leaves (oak leaves are best because they do not compact), pine needles, aged grass clippings, aged horse manure, salt marsh hay, regular hay, pine bark, cedar bark (caution: cedar bark holds water, which can keep it from seeping down to plant roots), or buckwheat hulls.

Benefits of Mulching:

Reduces water evaporation, protects against weed growth, and limits erosion.
Helps moderate soil temperature, keeping it within the optimal range for soil organisms and root growth.
Decay of mulch material increases soil fertility, improves soil structure.
Prevents soil splash-up, keeping fungi spores and bacteria off plants.

Caution: Know the source of your mulch material. Know that mulch is 'clean', free of tree seeds, weed seeds and roots, salt, heavy metals (lead) and other toxins, including pesticide and herbicide residues.

Do not mulch with 'green' material (organic matter that has not sufficiently aged) unless it has been dried . In breaking down organic matter, soil microbes generate a lot of heat, which can actually burn the plant. Microbes also draw nitrogen from the soil, reducing the amount of nitrogen available to plants. Additionally, decaying material may contain or invite harmful insects and diseases that can transfer to your plants. Never mulch with waste from orchard plants unless it is hot composted first. Mulch should not contact the stem or trunk or your plants. Consider plant ground cover or low-growing cover crops as an alternative to mulching.

Method:

For small plants spread mulch evenly around base of plant, to depth of 3-6” if you are coarse material, or 1-2” if you are using concentrated material (compost or aged bark). Mulch no closer than 3-4” from the stem/trunk (mulch should not contact stem/trunk), and continue applying mulch out to the plant's dripline.

For larger trees spread mulch evenly around the base of the plant to a depth of 3-6”. Mulch no closer than within 1 or 1½' of the tree's trunk, and continue mulching out to dripline (or as far as possible).

Timing:

Use fertilizing mulches in “horticultural fall” while average of day-night temperatures are still above 55 degrees Fahrenheit, so cooling is gradual and tree roots can grow more in the fall and early winter. Use non-fertilizing mulches anytime. If winters are cold (frozen soil or soil temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit), rake the mulch away for a few weeks once the average air temperature warms up to around 45 degrees Fahrenheit (this is April-May in New England and other northern areas).

Watering:

Watering can be the difference between failure and success, or between death and 8-10” of new growth (yearly growth is directly proportional to annual rainfall/water). Regular watering will also improve fruit yield and quality. Insufficient water stresses the plant, and increases its susceptibility to harmful insects and diseases.

Method:

Water during dry weather, when there are light showers but no significant rainfall, and the soil is dry 2” below surface. Reduce watering after September 1st to avoid indicuing vegetative growth that will not harden off before freezing temperatures set in, although some soil moisture is needed for heavy fall root growth. Also, fall bearing fruits (apples, everbearing raspberries, nuts) still need water to improve size and flavor.

Water the soil around the base of the tree, but do not water the foliage or trunk (this promotes fungal disease, and can spread disease and insect pests to other parts of the tree).

It is best to water early in the morning, before sun becomes hot and bright (~10:00 AM). Water droplets on the leaves act as tiny lenses, intensifying suns rays and potentially burning leaves. Evening watering is not recommended because plants stay wet overnight, which can promote fungal diseases. It should be done only if water doesn't contact the portion of the plant that is above ground. For this use either drip irrigation or very careful hose or bucket watering.

Water slowly so that the water stays around the base of the plant and soaks into the soil. To prevent water run off, build a 'basin' (brim) of soil around base of plant, 1-2' from the trunk. Water deeply, thoroughly saturating the soil around the base of the plant. This encourages the roots to grow deeper to seek natural wet spots.

Recommended watering schedule for orchard plants:

1st year:

Spring plantings: if the weather is dry, water every other day for the first three weeks. Give about 5 gallons per tree or shrub in 2-6' height range. Larger stock in 1-2” caliper range may need 10-20 gallons. Water deeply twice weekly for the second three weeks, then once weekly from week seven through August. Stop watering after September 1st unless the weather is dry or the fruit is still ripening.
Fall plantings: if the weather is dry, water twice weekly. Stop watering after November 1st. Resume watering in late May, twice weekly for the first three weeks, then once weekly through August. Stop watering after September 1st.

2nd year:

5-10 gallons once weekly during periods when rainfall is under 1” per week (if it's windy, dry, and/or hot, more may be required). Reduce watering 4-6 weeks before first frost, even if weather stays dry.

3rd year and older:

Brambles: keep the soil moist and monitor flavor for bitterness (too dry) or wateriness/bland flavor (too wet).
Vines: 10 or more gallons during fruit ripening.
Trees: 10+ gallons per week during dry weather until the fruit ripens, then at least twice monthly unless tree roots have tapped into dependable groundwater.

Urban Orchards ongoing Team Jobs (This is a structure that has been used at EarthWorks and has been found to be effective for organizing volunteers):

	Job	Brief Description and Typical Time Commitment per site
	Community Outreach	Spread the word about activities at a specific site or sites (events, care, classes), coordinate a Friends Group at your site. May include postering, phoning, door-to-door flyering or face-to-face contact while spending time at your site. Time: 2-4 hrs/month.
	Site Tender:	A 2 Person Team can share these tasks: Check on plants, keep a log of observations, and discuss with one another each month or as needed. Time: 2-4 hrs/month. Perform basic care (watering, weeding, mulching), optionally fertilize, prune, and do non-toxic pest and disease control. Time: 2-5 hrs/month.
	New Planting Organizer	Coordinate specific planting days at new sites. Time: March-April, September-October – initial calls plus 3-6 hrs per session.
	Educator/Teaching Aide	Help at schools and other public places to help teach children and adults how to plant & care for fruit and nut trees and shrubs. Time: 2-4 hrs/session.
	Volunteer Caller	Contact volunteers, volunteer service organizations, or interested employers about activities, events, and tasks. Maintain list of volunteers, report changes to project director. Time: 1-5 hrs/month.
	Writer/Reporter	Writer edits and produces written materials (articles, flyers on classes, plantings, festivals, volunteer opportunities; or plant care material). Reporter produces articles on specific sites or events for newsletter and local papers. Time: 3-8 hrs/project.
	Graphics/Layout	Put together Urban Orchards slide shows, videos, photo books, and graphics and layout of brochures & event posters. Call for current specific projects. Time: varies per project.
	Public Relations	Help widely publicize Urban Orchards work using personal contacts, print, electronic, etc. media.
	Other Opportunities: pruning, hauling (pickup trucks or bike trailers), fundraising, office work. Project directors will train & assist volunteers. Horticultural consultants provide technical support.

The following short-term tasks are offered to people who want to try something out before taking on one of the jobs on the preceding page. These are needed for the current season, but many continue every year while others are replaced by similar ones. We will provide you with needed materials and support - just call us today!

Volunteer Calling – Contact employers, volunteer service groups, and/or individuals about specific activities.
Sign Creation – Design and create signs for use at Urban Orchard sites.
Signing – Post signs at sites.
Poster Creation – Create attractive posters announcing events or classes at sites.
Postering – Put up posters at libraries, garden centers, hardware stores, laundromats, copy shops, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, and others with public bulletin boards.
Fruit Directory – Find new locations of publicly accessible fruit, nut, and berry plantings.
Stock – Seek donations/throwaway plantings from nurseries. Edible fruit, nut, berry varieties or native, wildlife plants only.
Reporter – Report on sites/events for sponsor organization newsletter or web site.
Curriculum – Develop, edit, propose curriculum for schoolyard orchards.
Teacher Aide – Assist teacher at schoolyard activities. September-June.
Cook – Use urban orchards fruit to make preserves, chutneys, dried fruit, etc. for sponsoring organization events. June-November.
Documentation/Photo – Document activities for publicity. February-November.
Brochures – Create attractive brochure; translate brochures into Spanish.
Video – Develop promotional and instructional videos.
Fundraising – Develop and/or carry out fundraising projects (membership, corporate, grants) with sponsoring organization.
Planters –- Work with residents to plant at sites. April, May, October, November.
Pruners –- Prune trees, shrubs, and vines during busy late February-early April pruning season.

Site Log Form

EarthWorks uses a simple form to keep track of our orchard visits. It is simple enough that volunteers can easily add to it and feel confident that their information will help us plan any work or maintenance that needs to be done.

Download the form in PDF format here.

Urban Orchard Site Visit Log

Site name: _______________ Your name: _________________ Phone #: ( _____ ) ______ - _________

Listing of fruit and nut trees, shrubs, and vines: ______________________________________________________

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Filling out this log will help us anticipate events more accurately in future years, and help us get to sites in time to monitor pests and diseases if they arise. The more specific you are, the more helpful your observations will be. Please call ( _____ ) ______ - _________ and other caretakers with a brief report after each visit.

A Few Things You May Notice – When exactly do they happen in your experience?: Insect eggs on twigs (Feb-Mar; list features and/or types); Green tip on terminal (end) buds (late Mar.); Leaf emergence flower buds show color flowers in bloom flower petal fall (all in Apr-May); Drooping twigs or holes leaves (insects) (May-Oct); Scars or holes in fruit (insects) (May-Oct); Diseased (deformed or spotted) leaves, fruit (May-Oct); Sap or sawdust at base of tree (borers) (Jun-Sept); “Fruit drop” (lots of fruit falls off tree, usually in June); Dates different fruit is ripe (June-Oct)

Date

Observations

Steps taken (if any)

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Please call in your observations to ( _____ ) ______ - _________ ASAP!