It’s always exciting to see the continual swelling of fruit all around us, but there are many insect and animal pests around to spoil the party.

While certain “clean” sprays have their place, it is always better to try to remove insect pests by mechanical means - a good squirt with the hose or a squish with your fingers. Large outbreaks may warrant a spray response, but do keep in mind the populations of beneficial insects that will likely feast on your pest problem.

If you have small trees and are eagerly awaiting a limited harvest then netting is often required.  It is important when netting your trees that you are not restricting vegetative growth, as contorting and breaking new growth will in most cases reduce the following year’s harvest.

Often our healthy trees will put out a lot of new shoots, and pruning this new growth while it is young can encourage more fruitful trees next season; it’s also much easier to snip new soft growth than lignified woody branches. While you are in the orchard you may also want to remove any excess fruit at a young age to offer optimum nutrition and moisture to the rest of your harvest. You can do this simply by reducing the number of fruit per bunch or branch. For example, a bunch of five or six apples may be reduced to two or three. It is certainly worth experimenting with this.

So long as our irrigation systems are functioning well and our vegies and fruiting plants are heavily mulched, we may again enjoy a long growing and harvesting season this summer.

HAPPY PICKING!

Drew Cooper, Edible Gardens

ediblegardens.com.au