Home / Orchard
OCT
Waratahs
It's a while since we've seen waratahs near our waterfall, but they have blossomed again this spring.
FEB
Help!
We need European Earwigs! They have a voracious appetite for the aphids that make that sticky white fluff over the apple tree branches. Seven earwigs can clean up a tree in 3 weeks in good conditions (but remember we have 3000 trees). We've had heaps of earwigs in the stonefruit this summer, but they're just not walking over to the apples. We'd much prefer them to control the aphid than us to spray the trees with an insecticide. So if you have more than you need in your garden, bring them up on your next picking trip. We'll happily give you 10 cents for each healthy and active insect, and mark the tree where you put them so we can track how well they do!
MAY
Natural soil fumigation
Apple trees don't like to be planted were other apples have previously grown, so the soil needs to be 'cleaned' before replanting. Last summer we trialled a non-chemical method of fumigating the soil using mustard and sorghum crops which were ploughed in to build up the soil structure with green manure. It seemed to work. The new apples planted last winter are growing reasonably well despite other setbacks. Here's this year's first crop of mustard.