It's summer . The orchard gives and will continue to give until the first frosts. But the harvest is proportional to the health of the tree and the maintenance given to it. Winter or green pruning, fertilization, preventive and/or curative treatments and further upstream, the place of planting, the composition of the soil, the rootstock are just as decisive for success, often measured in kilos. of harvest.
What care should be given to fruit trees, in a logic of natural gardening , when the fruit trees have already been in the ground for several years?
We must first admit that a tree only gives what it can, even if we can reach an optimum with some care. Fertilization is a parameter of great importance. It is not enough to feed a tree at the risk of doping it in certain elements. Fertilization is natural, understand with natural products (compost, manure, organic fertilizers, etc.) in appropriate proportions .
Watering, while important for fruiting under certain conditions, is rarely essential for the life of a tree. After three years of planting, it should be able to manage on its own with the climate it experiences. It is always possible to help him during a strong heat wave.
As a general rule, I would recommend a treatment in winter , with paraffin oils to rid the bark of wintering parasites. Added to fertilization in relation to the vigor of the tree and the type of soil, all the parameters are brought together for optimal health of the tree.
It remains to adapt the sizes, and the few preventive treatments against fruit parasites (slurries, decoctions and other pheromone traps), and your orchard will be a source of vitamins, bursting with flavors, and will awaken in you the pleasures of yesteryear sometimes forgotten.
apple tree
