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Orchard

Orchard planting

The establishment operation itself — tree quality, timing, planting depth, support and protection — which decides whether a young orchard grows away in its first two seasons or never catches up.

Stage
Orchard
Traditional in
No single tradition — used wherever it suits
What it most changes
Not recorded as moving a sensory dimension
Safety
None recorded

What it is

Planting is the short operation on which a long investment turns. It covers the grade and quality of nursery tree bought, whether it goes in bare-root during dormancy or containerised in growth, the depth it is set at, the firmness and moisture of the backfill, the stake or trellis it is tied to, the guard that keeps stock and wild browsers off it, and the weed-free ground and water it is given while it is establishing. A tree checked in its first two seasons rarely makes the difference up later, because the neighbours that did grow away take the light and the space it would have used.

Why it is used

How it works

Styles it produces

Categories in which this step is characteristic or required. Some name it in their definition; for others it is simply how they have always been made.

More on orchard planting

The physical job differs enormously with the system being planted. A modern bush block is planted as an engineering operation: the trellis or stake line goes in with the trees, drip irrigation is laid at the same time, and the whole field is planted in a few days from nursery stock supplied to a specification. A standard orchard is planted tree by tree, each one with a substantial stake and a guard or cage sized to the animals that will graze beneath it — and the difference between a sheep guard and a cattle guard is not a detail, since a cow will lean on, rub and eventually destroy anything built for sheep. In Normandy, pré-verger replanting into working pasture is done exactly this way, with individual protection heavy enough to survive dairy cattle for the fifteen or more years before the head is safely out of reach.

Timing follows climate rather than convention. In England, Wales and northern France the planting window runs through the dormant season and the usual preference is to plant early enough that roots move before the spring, while avoiding waterlogged or frozen ground. In Quebec, Vermont and comparable cold-winter regions autumn planting risks the young tree being killed or heaved before it has rooted, so spring planting after the soil has thawed is the norm and the establishment risk shifts to summer drought instead. In the drier parts of the North American west, planting without irrigation in place is simply not attempted.

What goes wrong at planting is generally one of a small set of things, and all of them are permanent. Trees set too deep lose the dwarfing effect or rot at the union. Trees planted into a hole dug in wet clay sit in a sump. Trees left without a weed-free circle spend their first seasons losing to grass. Trees planted without adequate protection get browsed to a stump in the first hard winter. And trees ordered late and planted into dry spring soil without water go in already behind. None of these produces a dead orchard immediately; they produce an uneven one, which is a harder problem, because the block then has to be managed for two or three different tree ages at once.

Related processes

Steps that sit alongside this one, replace it, or depend on it having been done.

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Sources

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