OLD FRUIT TREES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 146, 10 September 1927, Page 28 (Supplement)

OLD FRUIT TREES

Many small orchards and plantations of fruit trees are well kept and in a fruitful condition, but there are far too great ,a number that have been neglected and allowed to fall into decay. Some are beyond hope, but others may be restored to fruitfulness if prompt attention is given. Where it is a case of old age, stunted growth and injury from animals and other causes, it is really not worth try-

ing to restore such trees. But if caused by faulty pruning, lack of pruning, bad cultivation or neglect of insect pests and fungus, then, with care, they may be restored to a fruitful state. Renovation includes manuring, pruning, cleaning, eradicating insect pests and fungus, summer spraying, winter washing., and good all-round cultivation. The proper treatment for overcrowded plantations and orchards is to dig up every alternate tree to give ample room for the permanent trees.

The treatment is drastic it is true, but j it is the only way to have healthy trees. Many fruit trees fail through neglect of winter pruning. Some growers believe that standards can look after themselves. Although their treatment is not the same as cordons and bushes, which are spur-pruned, the work of thinning their heads—that is to say, removing crossing branches, cutting out from the centre of the trees the strong growths, shortening branches of a spindly growth, that are unable to bear a crop without breaking—should be carried out yearly. Sun and air can then play upon all parts, resulting in well ripened and nicely finished fruits. After pruning, all fruit trees should be sprayed with a solution to cleanse the trees from moss and lichen, which harbour insect pests.

In cases where winter pruning has not been practised for some years, the heads become thickets, with little, if any, fruiting wood. Apples, pears and plums, not too much crowded, may be carefully thinned. Another cause of unfruitfulness is insufficient manuring, the trees assuming a poverty-stricken appearance, with poor growth and leaves of a yellow colour. Frequently is this state of affairs to be found in grass orchards. Grass should be cleared away from around the base of each tree and mulch of well-rotted manure applied.