Traditional orchard management

Whilst a wet day in the Severn vale to be sure, it was still a successful event, with discussion and practical demonstration taking place throughout. Hosted very kindly by Jeremy Phelps at his dairy farm, the topic was presented by the FWAG SW Orchard specialist, Simeon Day.

With teas and coffee in hand, and gathered round in the barn, Simeon started the day leading us through the history and biology of apple trees, including rootstocks and orchard design. I was particularly interested in the idea of chill units, where apples require a certain number of days a year between 0-7C degrees in order to produce fruit, and climate change is changing what varieties of apple we are growing due to this.

This bought us all up to speed, and we then moved on to types of pruning, and the theory behind this management strategy. We were told about restorative pruning in depth, and how we can help revive fruit trees that have fallen into a state of neglect. This all helps maintain a healthy orchard, free of disease, and resilient to our fickle weather and fierce storms.

Next Simeon put some of this theory into a practical context, talking about funding, and how the Countryside stewardship scheme can pay farmers to manage, and restore traditional orchards.

After some pasties, provided by over farm shop, we braved the elements and all made our way to Jeremy's orchard. Here we look at trees at different stages of their lifecycle, and what was good about them, and were there any where restoration was a possibility. Seeing the breadth of ages really gave a full view of orchard management, and the solutions we can use. The field itself also has underlying ‘ridge and furrow’, which offers its unique challenges, and this helped facilitate a discussion on farming with archaeology.

I would like to thank all for attending, as well as to Jeremy and Simeon for being splendid hosts and presenters, respectively. Thank you also to FWAG SW staff for helping to set up.