Tree health check success!

We’ve branched out with our offering by completing dozens of tree health checks across Warrnambool and surrounds. It was so popular that we needed to add a third weekend session to the line up!

With huge thanks experienced fruit tree grower and grafter Anton Boyd, these health checks will help to improve the vitality and productivity of fruit trees. By ensuring the health of fruit trees, we can maximise the harvest, redirecting surplus fruit to those who need it most.

The health checks covered:

• Assessment of tree structure and overall health.

  Unfortunately one of the apricot trees we checked had seen better days. Stormy weather meant one of the limbs had died in the last few years and there was gummosis on the remaining limb. The person with the tree said they had often winter pruned, which Anton explained is bad for stone fruit as it means there are open wounds on the tree which can lead to disease. We provided some options on how it could be tackled, removing the dead branches and chopping hard to try and contain the spread. It’s important that people are empowered to look after their own trees so we didn’t want to put any pressure on to make a major decision that day.

• Identification of potential pest or disease issues for treatment.
  Coddling moth was a consistent pest across the apple, pear and quince (pome) trees with a few solutions discussed. The goal is to break the lifecycle by interrupting the moths ability to cocoon can also be effective like a corrugated cardboard collar. Wrap it around the tree and change it monthly, burning or destroying the collar and the larvae at the same time.

• Mulching to reduce competition and increase water retention.
  It’s been a dry winter and spring so be careful with limited water resources is evermore at the top of mind. Bringing mulch out to the perimeter of the canopy also helps reduce root competition so it’s a win/win.

• Recommendations for pruning and care
  Most of the volunteers were shocked to learn the traditional ‘prune in winter’ approach can actually be causing less fruit and more water shoots. Stone fruit can also be at bigger risk of pests and diseases because there is no sap flowing, so you could risk losing your tree altogether.
  A big tip was the undercutting, where you prune just below a bud to get the branch to create a spur - a revelation for many! Fruit Rescue friend, Craig Castree has a great article about undercutting on his blog.

Thanks to everyone who came along to our checks and to Anton for sharing his wisdom. We look forward to sharing details about a late summer session soon!