Thank you for this. Planted peach, apple, and pear trees a couple of years ago and this was the first year with significant fruit. However, every bit of it was marred in appearance (apples), eaten by worms (apples), fruit fell off (some pear fungus), deer, squirrels and raccoons (peaches) , boring insects (peaches), and fungus (peaches). So now I understand that in natural terms everything was working perfectly: animals were getting fed, seeds distributed, pollinators getting pollen and insects laying eggs in fruit to feed their larvae. But as another member of the natural world, I need to use what God gave us, the tool of foresight. So next year I will take action to see how I can at least end up with some edible fruit.
I absolutely adore your demeanor. Your truth speaks volumes about the quality of your character. My only gripe is that I can't leave more than one thumbs up. Thank you for your mentorship. Huge fan of your content.
I appreciate seeing your "fails" as well as your accomplishments. Even better is being able to hear you troubleshoot what happened. We 've planted fruit trees since 2013, and realize the way we planted the initial trees (with hardware wire around the root ball to protect from moles and ground squirrels) was not conducive to a tree being able to grow fast enough! It's all an experiment, as far as our little orchard goes, but I like learning from others' mistakes better!
The apple trees maggot fly traps need to be bright red (not oragne, yellow, or any other color) baiting the flies to come to the trap and be caught. Other colors are less effective as they show as an unripe fruit for the flies and moths - verus the totally red and ripe apple fruits. If there is any ability to also go to the grocery store and buy up some applesauce (without cinnamon) or boiled and thickened apple juice into apple syrup - and paint small lines of apple sauce (apple juice syrup) on the trap with the actual apple smells of ripe apples between the Tanglefoot glue lines - then you will draw in and trap more apple flies and moths etc.
I'm glad that I watched the whole video and discovered that you have sandy soil. I just bought an acreage with sandy soil and people told me that would never be able to grow fruit trees on it. I trust the fact that all the native trees are more than 40 feet tall and the soil is dark like some topsoil that you usually buy. Thank you for all the tips.
It has been fun raising things that other people say can't be grown here. Like our 5 fig trees growing in the orchard here in Zone 6A (mid-Missouri), producing figs most of August and September.
Great info as always! I've interplanted Blackberries, seaberries, elderberries, rhubarb and Comfrey so far to my starter orchard (apples, plum, apricot, nectarine, and peaches). Excited to grow bigger next spring!
I had a concern about wild birds bringing disease to outdoors flocks but that has obviously not been a problem for you. I am so pleased to see that. It's a pleasure to watch your channel.
We got goats a few years ago, and last year we put some of their manure in our orchard around the trees. There was a noticeable difference in the growth since then. I really like the idea of putting your birds in the orchard to clean things up and drop their nitrogen. Thank you for your videos!
I have a 22 year old Asian pear tree I planted it the day after I buried my mother, pear trees run in her family. My grandmother had a pear tree. My aunt had a pear tree, and they would get a lot of production out of it, for the family would make all kinds of preserves Jellies turnovers anything you can think of out of the pair so I planted one in honor of my mother and last year we got the biggest harvest ever and the Paris were massive. It took us three days four days to get them Paris down so I can preserve them which I did for the first time ever I made pair scrap (Jelly) was great. I did a pair butter Can pear slices made pear, baby food, all natural all organic but this year I need to prune the pear tree. It was hard to get Paris last year. It’s overgrown. I have someone coming out tomorrow to come and give me a quote. I was also gifted this a fig tree a crab apple which I’m excited about I’m gonna actually plant that at my sons house and a what kind of berry it’s a berry different kind of a berry it’s purple so I love to plant trees but I live in the city I don’t have much space but my son is all live close by and if they will allow me to plant trees at their house, fruit trees I can care for them as best as I can, the gifts that you get in return from them are the best 🍐 🍎 🌱🌱(Fruit)
Very informative. I also have a problem site. I'm doing a reforestation project and have various soils to work with.. mostly DIANSAUR DIRT due to stripped top soil. It is a most difficult site but are amending as best as we can by applying earth worm. And alsike clovers to help with this situation. Really enjoy your videos. Thanks so much. Respectfully Robert MacDonald Wildlife control service Alberta. Canada 🇨🇦
I am very much enjoying you sharing how you are improving the fertility of the soil! Though I do have one question: Can you say what makes the soil "weak"? Have you had a soil sample analyzed.
I never thought about using chickens and geese in an orchard. I just planted 1,000 daffodils around the fruit trees to keep deer away since every part of the plant is toxic. Would Geese and Chickens eat the daffodils? Or just keep them away while they are in bloom? Thanks for sharing. This has been inspiring.
U should try all natural fertilizer for your soil. You don't want to feed your plants. Instead feed and repair your soil, in turn feeding and creating better trees! The easiest way to make better soil is to add compost with wood chips on top. Then add: Worm castings, blood meal, bone meal, azomite dust, and volcanic rock dust. Add all of that to your compost and in your beds! Your soil will thank you! My food forest loves it!
Stefan, I had a bad year too. For you,Was this largely due to the heat? Or water issues? I noticed hot fruit rots faster, and traps need replacing more often. Did you have any plans (or innovative projects) to prevent loss in other hard years? Or does hot weather just require more diligence from the orchardist?
You inspired me to plant a permaculture orchard last year. I'm very grateful for all of the knowledge you've shared. Do you use electric poultry netting in the winter or do you have different fencing to ward off predators?
You’re welcome. Yes we leave the electronet up and charged all winter. No problems in winter with snow. The fence can ground out when there is melting or puddles in spring plus that’s when the predators emerge and are really hungry. I would put them in a predator proof shelter for the couple of weeks in melt, at least during the night.
I love your videos and learned a lot of things along the way, best wishes and expecting a lot more educational content from you. Thanks for your effort and greetings from Macedonia!
I put in fruit trees spring 2021. I actually got peaches this year!! I probably should have pinched them off. 😕 My question is about the limbs that did not have any leaves all summer. Should I cut them off?
The fact is that to restore a soil that was used for monoculture you need time. For sandy soil i find that wood chips, dead branches and wood in general is the best to cover and fertilize the soil, even big logs of wood are perfect. I would place one big wood log for each tree.
@@StefanSobkowiak My soil is sandy and for my experience you need compact woody biomass to keep the right humidity levels and fertility. Instead of grass. It also attract lot of bugs and insects under the logs.
Merci pour ce vidéo! Vous êtes une grande source d'inspiration pour moi. Je vais commander cet hiver mes premiers arbres fruitiers pour ma forêt nourricière! J'aurais une demande spéciale pour un vidéo dans le futur. Vous avez déjà fait un vidéo sur les cultivars de pommes que vous recommandez, mais je serais curieuse d'en savoir plus sur vos cultivars de poiriers, pruniers et cerisiers.
Thank you so much Stefan! I have seen most of your videos and the Pruning course. I have one question: do you recommend thinning of the fruit? Please let me know if I have missed a video dedicated to this topic.
I just started to watch your amazing, inspiring and educational videos. Kudos and thank you! I have a question: what is your take on mosses and lichens growing on trees? By my observations here in zone 7 (Slovenia, Europe) trees with such "green and grey" trunks don't do well.
@@StefanSobkowiak Thank you. Would you say that cause for slowed vegetation is probably stress because of some deficiency or other reasons? If such trees are abandoned and without renewal prunung, would they slowely deteriorate or beeing attact by pathogenic fungi?
Do you have Young Agrarians there in Quebec? Consider layering the business opportunities on the permaculter farm and partner with people who want to farm birds and you won't have to do that job anymore. They might even raise a couple of steers on that building site and you could each have beef for the freezer.
I really appreciate all your insight, on all of your videos. Can you do me a favor? Will you say your last name more… people need to hear it more often. Out of all the vids I’ve watched of yours I think I heard it once. Very humble. That’s good. Please say it more 😊. Also would you be willing to do a video specifically on pears. Pruning, training, best cultivars… thanks from growing zone 3a!!
Just wondering when you mentioned all the alfala (nitrogen-fixing plant) in the entire orchard and vineyard area - why you didn't cut, mow, cut and drop all the alfalfa and allow it to naturally decompose - and put down those extra nitrogens and deep minerals of fallen alfalfa (that the ducks and geese could also eat) - but have a protective layer of fallen alfalfa protecting the tree and vine roots from the cold, winter, winds, snow, and ice.
Any tips on starting my own rootstock? I can't seem to find any places that sell it cheap and I want to rapidly expand my operation cheaply. Is cutting down a tree and doing the layering method the best way?
If you have a very healthy rootstock you can cut it back and bury it, the new shoots will root in the soil you banked around it. Look up “stool bed” or “stool bed layering” it’s the nursery term used to describe the technique. You can also cut cuttings of this year growth and root cuttings from them. It all starts with great mother plants.
Rule of thumb : (1) no cedar, redwood, or sequoia or gum/eucalyptus, juniper tree mulches, (2) vegetable garden 2-4 inches pile it on !, (3) vineyard 4-8 inches - dont be shy, and (4) orchards 8-12 inches (!!!!) - and you will see in 1 year a inch or more of black gold soil forming in these areas with decomposed tree minerals, salts, nutrients, loamy black soil, ... and all the worms and beneficial nematodes will come running from all over the neighborhood to your plot of heavenly-tasting land keeping the landscape well tended, clean, eaten, aerated, and clean soil. Mulch covers the roots from sunshine making vertical water shoots cool, shaded, and moist (not soaked), keeping the plants FROM MAKING !!! vertical air shoots on the branches (signs that the plant is telling you - more water !!! and more sun shade !!! (water shoots), more soil aeration - can't breathe !!! (air shoots).
Would like to know who builds those cripper rollers,was planing to build one but no time or enough skill. Since i may not be able to afford the Master Class I thank you for the inspiration and knowledge that you have me given me over the years. The one question that I would like to ask is why not publish your own book?
Are there any small thornless honey locust? The ones I've seen claimed 70ft tall. I have a small home setup now. 11 semi dwarf trees, 4 vines, 6 bushes. Wanting to add some honey locust before I double the tree count (right now I'm 2 - 4 apple/cherry/peach in each row . Sounds like a good time to put a break of locust in before I add more fruit trees. But being a semi dwarf orchard a giant tree block would not be good.
No, we have a few right next to one (less than 2’) and have not seen a difference. I know perma pastures farm uses it with good results. Try it and let me know in 10 years how it works out.
You mention in a few of your videos all the types of birds you’ve had. In one video you said, “We have just about every time of bird except for Guinea fowl.” Why did you decide against Guinea fowl? What contributed to that decision? I have a small backyard orchard and am thinking of getting some Guinea Fowl. I’d love to know your reasoning.
Which is better as nitrogen fixing and edible shrub: autumn olive (elaeagnus umbellata) or goumi berry (elaeagnus multiflora)? I have enough space for three nitrogen fixing shrubs in partial shade and I'm unsure which to plant, I can't have both because I need them to cross pollinate to have any decent fruit.
I'm looking for a variety which produces very late apples, which you collect around this time of year. Can you please recommend some very late varieties? I live in 52N latitude climate. Thanks a lot
Wish you would clean out the fruit trees root "footprint" of all grass and other stuff. Then put down 8-12 inches of wood chips (for an orchard or orchard row. Otherwise, make an entire (starting plant) 3 foot RADIUS in 8-12 inches wood chips (orchard depth, 4-8 inches vineyard, 2-4 inches garden) in keeping out grass and weeds, but also providing future black gold soil, and overwintering soil protection for the roots. Then, like the pear tree with the pear slug, one can sprtiz down Tanglefoot or such fly trap glues onto the surface of the wood chips and this will stop snails, slugs, ants, beetles, earwigs, etc. from crawling toward the tree. Also, instead of Tanglefoot, one can SPARINGING !!! dust potash wood ashes (high potassium alkaline lye powders) atop the wood chips - and this will stop any slimies from sliding over this caustic surface and burning their littke footies (!). The fact that you have such massive lichen on your small trees, not brought in by landing birds with infect feet - you have infected soil with lichen spores. Having the proper spraying of natural iodine kelp will keep down soil blight virus (single cell soil soil virus) and other bugs crawling up and infecting the bark and cambium of the vines and fruiting trees and shrubs.
Going to try what you suggest plus really pile on the wood chips and mulches. My husband never likes grasses, etc. growing under the fruit trees. Tiny orchard, 12 trees, is 6 years old, will try to go fallow next summer and hope for some fruit the 8th year. I trust this is THE John Lord!
@@charlesburkhart800 From all aspects, this appears to be the (2022) 6th year of the biblical 7 year cycle, so (for clarity) one fallows in the chronological time period (2023) of the cycle - and NOT the age of the trees (6 years of age ...). Its unexplainable how this happens, but explainable when you watch the trees, vines, and vegs/herbs doing this - and then restart in the 1st year again. I have a lady here in East Bay SanFran that I got to put 2-4 inches on her garden, 8 inches in her vineyard (grapes and blackberries), and then 12+ inches in her orchard. Next year, there was 1 inch black gold soil in the vineyard (!), ~1/2 inch atop the garden, and crazy 1+ inches in the orchard. All the weeds that did come up had loose roots - and easy to weed - and potentially bird poop-delivered for volunteer seedlings. No airshoots or watershoots of any plants, shrubs, or trees. The natural rain cycle was sucked up by the wood chips, intense summer heat delayed by the wood chip surface, while the humid undercover kept the roots moist and cool. Remember, fertilize in Fall for Spring growth - NOT Spring fertilizing leading to massive Summer plant growth of stalks and leaves (and little fruit production). That means digging a ditch around the tree's "drip line" in the wood chips down to the ground surface under the outermost perimeter of the tree's twig and leaves "rain drip zone" - where the actual roots of the tree "ARE." Put in the fertilizer and cover back up with chips and mulch. The Fall/Winter rain/snows will water irrigate the fertilizer to the roots in the further Spring rains. If you use ammonia (!) ... dig outside of the entire outer area - away from the roots "drip line" and pour 1/2 dilluted (NH4) ammonia sparingly across the ground surface (will tweak your eyes and nose for sure). Cover back up with wood chips and mulch. Nitrogen will help break down mulch and wood chips and their plant minerals, salts into further delicious black gold soil. Where the roots have grown out from the tree from its young age, that is all dead zone for minerals and nutrients - thus roots and the remaining bigger roots going toward the tree don't produce roots in that area anymore. So ferililzation in the dead zone is worthless - and can lead to root rot etc. So only fertilize at the "drip line" and outward for spectacular plant and tree growth. One can also make their own ammonia and wood chips or plant mulch, or lawn grass cuttings, and clean ground surface, chips/mulch, drizzle ammonia, chips/mulch, drizzle, chips/mulch, until top layer of chips and mulch. Put tarp over the mound of composting material in the Spring and uncover and distribute in Fall. The pile will heat up, cook, decompose, and provide additional proto-soil for any garden, vineyard, and orchard use in the same Fall fertilizing period - and also covered over.
@@charlesburkhart800 If you grow white or red clover across the orchard (vs alfala) both nitrogen-fixing cover crops- that is a different matter than tall-high alfalfa vs ground level clover. Both can be chop and drop - but clover is more maintainable than a hayfield - and if you have clover - you will also have honeybees etc pollinating your orchard as well - 2 for 1 fix. Clover more compostable (without much fiber) while alfalfa is major fibrous plant with less compostable nitrogen folaiage.
@@Scott-zb6eo The very reason to get all of the local landscapers etc to come and drop their "clean" chips, grass, or mulch leaves in piles - and save their garbage dump costs.
Timing is important and or stocking rate. A lot of birds in a small space for a short time or fewer birds for a longer time. Timing of grass stage is equally important, during full active growth period grass will stand right back up but it’s going dormant so lays down well now.
As always, I enjoyed strolling through your farm with you, Stephan. Have you ever grafted with success? Flomatonfamous has me itching to try grafting. What say you?
@@StefanSobkowiak I have 100ac in Maine and I’m putting a 3-4 ac orchid. Your videos are a big help. You know anything about grafting to wild black cherry? I have a lot of the in the space I’m using.
I have one I want to overgraft to sweet cherry this year. Look it up, I’m sure someone has tried it and see what they put onto it. Worth experimenting since black cherry does not sucker and is a long lived tree it could make a great rootstock. Have fun trying. Thanks for binge learning.
@@StefanSobkowiak iv seen people do it but after two years the graft dies but they all used sweet cherry and I think the black doesn’t send enough sugar because black cherry isn’t that sweet. You try sweet cherry and I’ll try tart zone 3 cherry. I think tart cherry will do better.
Near the end of the video, he says he has sandy soil. It's probably well-drained and the potassium and phosphorus are lacking. But the fruit trees seem okay, so maybe it's something that only affects the earlier plants he started with.
I thought you shouldn't keep turkeys and chickens in the same enclosure because turkeys are highly susceptible to blackhead disease and chickens commonly have the roundworm in their intestines that are the source of the protozoal infection that caused blackhead. Thanks for the video.
We’ve done this for years and the key I think is to keep moving them to clean pastures. Those problems should be regarded as symptoms of a closed system where the birds are always on the same ground. That’s a recipe for all kinds of disasters.
Don't plant a tree with a soil router ... dig out the entire space of the root ball diameter (not the depth as most fruit trees are shallow depthed horizontal - not vertical) and provide a greater softer soil for the tender new rootlets to get into the new soil and nutrients and tree/shrub growth. Making a hard soil router hole and planting a tree will only have 1-2 years until the roots hit the hard soil - and die off the entire tree.
I've heard this also! It's like the soil router "polishes" the insides of the hole, making it difficult for the roots to penetrate. A tip someone offered: if you're going to use a router, then with a sharp hand tool, scratch up the insides of the hole. Supposedly that breaks that polished seal and the tree roots can expand.
@@classicrocklover5615 Their and your statements are correct - but doing a proper tree planting is NOT using a router at all. If anything, get out the old garden rototiller and just dig a massive hole until the tines are totally buried in the dirt - and keep mulching the soil until it is fluffy and air filled. A good tree planting is not some YT vids of others using a router and planting an orchard of bare root fruit trees in clay and rocky soil - and ever expect them to live (!). It is like pushing a human body into a baby MRI - (been there, done that !) and it is insane - especially with bare roots or root bound trees in pots/containers. There needs to be (at least) 1-2 feet of surrounding dirt all mulched and free in its perimeter for any tree planting (and to the proper depth of the horizontal roots of that tree species) - and a massive watering thereafter to settle in the soil. None of that is accomplished with a router. Check out some of the YT Dave Wilson Nursery (Central Valley CA) and what soil and how they plant and prepare their trees for shipping. Loose-loose soil.
Killing all fruit destroying robins is another tip. Use a trombone sprayer and saturate the first maturing mullberries with triple strength insecticide.
It takes labor, lots of labor to grow and use the harvest. Tenfold that if you plan on trying to sell some. Do not plant more than several trees if you are not an independently wealthy type with tonnes of free time and energy and/or access to free/cheap labor willing to do manual labor. A wage earning grunt should not get too ambitious with his plantings. I have an orchard/garden of my own. It is my solid opinion that youtube cheerleaders do not reflect reality very well. The fact that there are few to none people calling them on that just shows that very few people do a squat other than watching youtube and such.
Then you need to go back and realize the biblical timeframe or gardening, orchards, vineyards, etc. You said you have a double harvest - which would be the biblical 6th year. While the next year was pitiful - which is the biblical mandated year of no harvest, rest, and fertilization cycle. Years 1-5 prune, grow, harvest, and fertilize. Year 6 double harvest (actually Year 6 and 7) and fertilize. Year 7 - totally fallow - rest and massively fertilize and repeat. Watch the harvest cycles and you will realize this ancient discovery of truth. Do proper pruning, massive fertilizing in Fall, and those grow lands will respond in kind - which is their natural production cycles.
How would you know at which point (year) your particular tree is in? I bought my trees at a nursery in pots and they are entering their third year planted. This year was no fruiting, none, not even blossoms, but I thought for other reasons. I've been putting fruit tree fertilizer stakes down in the spring. Should I be doing something else?
@@classicrocklover5615 The current weather patterns of drought, heat domes, extreme sun and heat, have taken a drastic toll on plants, shrubs, and trees. When plants and trees get too hot, they just refuse to procreate flowers and fruit/nut production. Without knowing what fruit/nut trees you planted, how you planted the trees (grafted or not), and what soil you have - is like asking which blind man is correct on an elephant. Give more information, and if the landscape is shaded, open sunlight, sloped, swaled, rocky, clay, caliche, etc. And at what grow zone, or latitude you are in. You didn't mention whether the potted fruit trees were root balled (which also stunt their growth, whether you scarified or fingered the roots in the soil to loosen them, or bare rooted. So many considerations to analyze. Also you have to reach fruit production years of a tree. You didn't mention how old (or tall) the (fruit) trees were when you bought them in what size of pot (1/2 gallon, 1 gallon, 5 gallon ...) but that they now have 3 years growth. Most fruit trees need 5-8 years of growing to become successful producers. Sounds like you are trying to make a youngster do the work of an adult tree ... wait for it. How far away from the drip ring did you plant tree stakes (inside, or outside, and how many). It sounds like you still have immature trees that need to grow up ... and the weather cycle this year also stunted the trees for possibly 2-3 years (!)
@@johnlord8337 my goodness, I have so much to learn. Here are more basic details: 7 gallon pots when purchased, they all flowered their first year in ground (2020). I am zone 5b, soil is a combo of loam with some clay, fairly good water retention. I dug holes twice as wide as rootball, amended hole with some basic bone/blood meal. 2020 was an almost drought, so I watered 20 gallons to each, every 2-3 days. I planted: 4 apples (of 3 varieties), 2 peaches, nectarines, 3 pears and 1 plum (self pollinating). Everything got fertilizer stakes about 12 to 18 inches from trunk. Everything bloomed, but I snipped off fruit to make it focus on it's root system. Then disaster struck! A buck came in and rubbed /damaged some on the trees. I basically lost 1 of each kind (1 apple, peach, nectarine, pear). The other trees had damage on their trunks but not all the way around so no fear of girdling. I've kept the wounds clean and everything has healed nicely. All dead trees replaced this year, and everyone now has fencing around it. Almost nothing flowered this year. I wasn't sure if it was due to the previous year's damage, lack of a partner, etc. I usually only fertilize in the spring but I think I will do it this weekend. Every tree has 4 cu ft of wood chips around it (pulled away from base). I used watering bags on my new trees and they worked well. The original trees didn't show drought stress, so I no longer water them. The "dwarf" original trees are starting to hit 7 ft, so I am considering cutting the center trunk to force horizontal growth...
@@classicrocklover5615 OK 5b. Some clay good, some clay bad. Clay good for sealing up ponds, or downside ditch of swales keeping water from flowing down - and movement in intended direction of the swale. Sand-silt-clay (sand utter drainage, silt the total best to have, clay holds water). Water retention not always good as roots and rootlets can drown in extended periods of watering, irrigation, rains. Grafted trees (that notch at the ground surface needs to be pointed directly north to shade that graft otherwise it can overheat the root graft and the grafted tree. Check for that issue. What was initial height of 7 gallon potted trees (rooted trees - not bare roots)? Yes - deer, critters, and rabbits will forage fruit trees. bucks rub, deer eat flowers, leaves, and fruit, while rabbits will girdle a tree for the spring sap cambium. Fencing always required for young trees with critters - even dealing with emplacing an underground fencing bolw the size of the whole dugout hole against the (&*&^&&^) gophers, moles, and shrews eating the roots. Water bags are neat, but I go with 5 gallon white buckets w lids that can be visually checked with its many drip holes drilled into bottom and placed near the drip line of the roots - directly onto the ground surface with all the wood chips therearound. Another method is drilling a 2-3 inch PVC pipe down to the installed depth of the planted roots at the outer dripline. Direct method of getting water down to the roots versus watering the ground surface and wood chips. Can also have direct diluted fertilizer/manure tea/compost tea added into the tube direct to the roots. Check via a small wooden rod for water level height - and water accordingly. Fetilize Fall - Harvest Summer. Consider painting 50-50 water and inhouse latex white paint (no other color ! - no enamel - only latex). Spray (female designations for trees) the leggings (trunk) of the tree up to first notch of branching. White paint deters bugs, ants, ear wigs, moths, caterpillars, ... as birds see dark on white - and eat them ! White paint latex also has some antibiotic chemicals and keeps the bark clean of lichen, moss, rain bounce soil blight single-cell virus from getting into cambium. White paint also deters deer and critters nibbling the nasty tasting white paint - deterring rabbits from munching. For any dark-barked trees (all the plum and cherry varieties with purple skin) paint up the limbs as well. This keeps the bark from overheating and sunburning, while the white paint also counteracts any bird infested feet with spores etc getting onto/into the bark. White paint also helps with sunlight albedo (sunlight bounce) back up into tree for greater photosynthesis. If you want to dwarf trees - excellent YT vid Dave Wilson Nursery ... and how to take first trees from 2-3 years pots and plantings and train to remain at 7-8 feet. If you are going to goblet the trees and open up the interior definitely spray the upper trunk and limbs for sunlight protection - but also sunlight bounce. If you do cut bigger branches 1+ inches - old ancestral tree tar paint them !!! Only 1 inch and smaller really ever reseal entirely. Have seen too many modern BS statements of cutting 1-2-3-5 inches and leave open and they get mold, mildew, ants, into cambium and rot out the heartwood. Paint those cuts !!! After the tree tar paint has permanently dried then white paint over the tar and cut further sealing up the area from infection and infestations.
Also rake up the fall fruit tree leaf drop. MULCH and compost the leaves with ammonia overwinter (under a tarp) for protosoil. Put back onto the trees' drip line in the early Spring before the sap runs. Or emulsify and make leaf compost tea and put that down the PVC pipe directly to the roots. Deciduous trees (all the same) produce those red, orange, and yellow colors. Those colors are anthocyanins, Vit A, sugars, and other amino acids. The trees make their own Fall vaccines and Spring tonic for greater Spring rebound and growth leading to flowers and fruit production. Also it makes the ground taste nasty to slugs, snails, sowbugs, ear wigs, ants, termites, beetles, bug larvae in the soil, counteracts single-celled soil blight (rain bounce virus), powdery mildew, molds, fungus ... vit A also provides strong immunity and anti-bug and anti-bacteria compounds. The sugars create an energy boost in the Spring. Keep and mulch (dont rake and toss) those leaves ! If you have any/all craft brewers in your area - gather up all their post-mash. Compost and compost tea the product. High in Vit B complex, post-sugars, -starches, -proteins. Vit B is energy vitamin that trees get the zoomies with. The sugars also assist in early and strong Spring growth, flowering, and fruit production. Putting diluted Karo (white or brown) sugar syrup down the PVC hole (even dilute molasses with trace sulfur and iron) boosts the tree's photosynthesis far and above the normal leaf production of sugars. Put the compost fiber remains around the dripline. Put the compost tea deep to the roots. All the worms and beneficial nematodes will come running for this sweet soil from all over the nearby neighbors - chewing on the soil, making further loamy soil, black gold soil with the wood chips et al. If you can get fresh kelp (iodine and trace sea salt minerals), or a kelp meal and spread that around the tree. And kelp tea as well. The iodine also helps sanitize the area - while the sea salts (1500+ mineral salt compounds assist the tree in all of its enzymatic processes. Just calcium is known in the human body to have 40,000 enzymatic processes. Same magnesium, and other minerals. Just think what a tree needs to have a truly healthy and strong fitness bearing fruit-children every year and then recovering in the Fall and Winter to do it all over again each Spring !!!
Christine if you think people who practice permaculture don’t use plastic you’re dreaming. Yes most don’t use it as mulch as I now don’t use it in my new orchard blocks but it served a purpose when I was starting and I would use it again if I wanted to grow more herbaceous perennials. It’s fantastic for low maintenance perennials, flowers and herbs at scale. It’s also the easiest acreage to maintain. Maintenance is a cost.
Thank you for this. Planted peach, apple, and pear trees a couple of years ago and this was the first year with significant fruit. However, every bit of it was marred in appearance (apples), eaten by worms (apples), fruit fell off (some pear fungus), deer, squirrels and raccoons (peaches) , boring insects (peaches), and fungus (peaches). So now I understand that in natural terms everything was working perfectly: animals were getting fed, seeds distributed, pollinators getting pollen and insects laying eggs in fruit to feed their larvae. But as another member of the natural world, I need to use what God gave us, the tool of foresight. So next year I will take action to see how I can at least end up with some edible fruit.
Those years happen. Important to gather the drops to reduce reinfestation.
I absolutely adore your demeanor. Your truth speaks volumes about the quality of your character. My only gripe is that I can't leave more than one thumbs up. Thank you for your mentorship. Huge fan of your content.
Hahaha 2 thumbs would be a nice feature. I'll mention it to my RUclips partner manager. Thanks.
Yeah, he's like that nice uncle that you want to hug every time he visits and hang on every word. He's a great teacher and easy to connect with.
❤@@StefanSobkowiak
I appreciate seeing your "fails" as well as your accomplishments. Even better is being able to hear you troubleshoot what happened. We 've planted fruit trees since 2013, and realize the way we planted the initial trees (with hardware wire around the root ball to protect from moles and ground squirrels) was not conducive to a tree being able to grow fast enough! It's all an experiment, as far as our little orchard goes, but I like learning from others' mistakes better!
Absolutely
Love your teaching style. I always learn more! Thank you!
You are so welcome!
The apple trees maggot fly traps need to be bright red (not oragne, yellow, or any other color) baiting the flies to come to the trap and be caught. Other colors are less effective as they show as an unripe fruit for the flies and moths - verus the totally red and ripe apple fruits. If there is any ability to also go to the grocery store and buy up some applesauce (without cinnamon) or boiled and thickened apple juice into apple syrup - and paint small lines of apple sauce (apple juice syrup) on the trap with the actual apple smells of ripe apples between the Tanglefoot glue lines - then you will draw in and trap more apple flies and moths etc.
Great idea and doable at orchard scale with a turkey baster.
I love edible acres and his channel! Recently found it. Also glad to see you producing videos again
I'm glad that I watched the whole video and discovered that you have sandy soil. I just bought an acreage with sandy soil and people told me that would never be able to grow fruit trees on it. I trust the fact that all the native trees are more than 40 feet tall and the soil is dark like some topsoil that you usually buy. Thank you for all the tips.
It has been fun raising things that other people say can't be grown here. Like our 5 fig trees growing in the orchard here in Zone 6A (mid-Missouri), producing figs most of August and September.
@@charlesdevier8203 Double satisfaction then, you can eat the figs and prove them wrong at the same time. 😁
Great info as always! I've interplanted Blackberries, seaberries, elderberries, rhubarb and Comfrey so far to my starter orchard (apples, plum, apricot, nectarine, and peaches). Excited to grow bigger next spring!
Fantastic, great job getting started.
So much inspiration for my own food forest. Thank you for sharing your information and experience Stefan!
I’m sure appreciating my rocky clay soil now!
I had a concern about wild birds bringing disease to outdoors flocks but that has obviously not been a problem for you. I am so pleased to see that. It's a pleasure to watch your channel.
Archeanna, when are host said, "The geese went off to the Artic." The guy is referring to their freezer.
We got goats a few years ago, and last year we put some of their manure in our orchard around the trees. There was a noticeable difference in the growth since then. I really like the idea of putting your birds in the orchard to clean things up and drop their nitrogen. Thank you for your videos!
That is awesome!
Lol! When you played that chickadee, one of my dogs sat and keep looking and turning his head. Type a hit with the pit-mastiff!
I have a 22 year old Asian pear tree I planted it the day after I buried my mother, pear trees run in her family. My grandmother had a pear tree. My aunt had a pear tree, and they would get a lot of production out of it, for the family would make all kinds of preserves Jellies turnovers anything you can think of out of the pair so I planted one in honor of my mother and last year we got the biggest harvest ever and the Paris were massive. It took us three days four days to get them Paris down so I can preserve them which I did for the first time ever I made pair scrap (Jelly) was great. I did a pair butter Can pear slices made pear, baby food, all natural all organic but this year I need to prune the pear tree. It was hard to get Paris last year. It’s overgrown. I have someone coming out tomorrow to come and give me a quote. I was also gifted this a fig tree a crab apple which I’m excited about I’m gonna actually plant that at my sons house and a what kind of berry it’s a berry different kind of a berry it’s purple so I love to plant trees but I live in the city I don’t have much space but my son is all live close by and if they will allow me to plant trees at their house, fruit trees I can care for them as best as I can, the gifts that you get in return from them are the best 🍐 🍎 🌱🌱(Fruit)
Fantastic amount of work here. Thank you so much Stefan! Your neighbour in Nova Scotia
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very informative. I also have a problem site. I'm doing a reforestation project and have various soils to work with.. mostly DIANSAUR DIRT due to stripped top soil. It is a most difficult site but are amending as best as we can by applying earth worm. And alsike clovers to help with this situation. Really enjoy your videos.
Thanks so much.
Respectfully
Robert MacDonald
Wildlife control service
Alberta. Canada 🇨🇦
Glad it helps your local wildlife. Let me suggest you look at my video on making your soil young again as a way to kickstart depleted soils.
I am very much enjoying you sharing how you are improving the fertility of the soil! Though I do have one question: Can you say what makes the soil "weak"? Have you had a soil sample analyzed.
Weak as in inherent soil fertility and water holding capacity. It’s relative to other areas of your property, some areas are weaker than others.
Thanks!
Always interested in a new source for plants.
I never thought about using chickens and geese in an orchard. I just planted 1,000 daffodils around the fruit trees to keep deer away since every part of the plant is toxic. Would Geese and Chickens eat the daffodils? Or just keep them away while they are in bloom?
Thanks for sharing. This has been inspiring.
I’m not sure but it would be a short period to keep them away.
U should try all natural fertilizer for your soil. You don't want to feed your plants. Instead feed and repair your soil, in turn feeding and creating better trees! The easiest way to make better soil is to add compost with wood chips on top. Then add:
Worm castings, blood meal, bone meal, azomite dust, and volcanic rock dust. Add all of that to your compost and in your beds! Your soil will thank you! My food forest loves it!
You got the great ingredients for a great soil. Yes more people should try it.
Stefan, I had a bad year too. For you,Was this largely due to the heat? Or water issues? I noticed hot fruit rots faster, and traps need replacing more often. Did you have any plans (or innovative projects) to prevent loss in other hard years? Or does hot weather just require more diligence from the orchardist?
We’ve been on an alternate year bearing since 2012 when a late frost killed the whole crop.
Your trees are masting?
Very interesting. Could watch the whole video as not enough.
Blessings, julie
Thanks
Like the feather in your cap. 😄
You inspired me to plant a permaculture orchard last year. I'm very grateful for all of the knowledge you've shared. Do you use electric poultry netting in the winter or do you have different fencing to ward off predators?
You’re welcome. Yes we leave the electronet up and charged all winter. No problems in winter with snow. The fence can ground out when there is melting or puddles in spring plus that’s when the predators emerge and are really hungry. I would put them in a predator proof shelter for the couple of weeks in melt, at least during the night.
I love your videos and learned a lot of things along the way, best wishes and expecting a lot more educational content from you. Thanks for your effort and greetings from Macedonia!
I put in fruit trees spring 2021. I actually got peaches this year!! I probably should have pinched them off. 😕
My question is about the limbs that did not have any leaves all summer. Should I cut them off?
No, best to not prune until the tree bears fruit, best to train the first 3 years not prune.
Canada geese already left my area, and we had -8°C today....
Winter is knocking on the door for me.
The fact is that to restore a soil that was used for monoculture you need time.
For sandy soil i find that wood chips, dead branches and wood in general is the best to cover and fertilize the soil, even big logs of wood are perfect. I would place one big wood log for each tree.
Fantastic. Yes organic matter is vital, biochar should also work great in sandy soil.
@@StefanSobkowiak My soil is sandy and for my experience you need compact woody biomass to keep the right humidity levels and fertility. Instead of grass. It also attract lot of bugs and insects under the logs.
Merci pour ce vidéo! Vous êtes une grande source d'inspiration pour moi. Je vais commander cet hiver mes premiers arbres fruitiers pour ma forêt nourricière! J'aurais une demande spéciale pour un vidéo dans le futur. Vous avez déjà fait un vidéo sur les cultivars de pommes que vous recommandez, mais je serais curieuse d'en savoir plus sur vos cultivars de poiriers, pruniers et cerisiers.
Bonne idée, j’ai moins de diversité dans ces autres fruits mais bonne idée.
Thank you so much Stefan! I have seen most of your videos and the Pruning course. I have one question: do you recommend thinning of the fruit? Please let me know if I have missed a video dedicated to this topic.
Thank you for viewing. No you did not miss one about thinning because i don’t thin fruit. Some years we get too much others we get too little.
welcome back to the living world !!!! no time for retirement !!!
Hahaha 🤣
Great info as usual!!!
Glad to help!
Your videos are very helpful
I’d like to see how you prune your organic orchard
More branches trained than pruned. Look up the pruning playlist.
I just started to watch your amazing, inspiring and educational videos. Kudos and thank you! I have a question: what is your take on mosses and lichens growing on trees? By my observations here in zone 7 (Slovenia, Europe) trees with such "green and grey" trunks don't do well.
Mosses and lichens only appear when the tree slows down it’s growth, usually means the tree could get a renewal pruning.
@@StefanSobkowiak Thank you. Would you say that cause for slowed vegetation is probably stress because of some deficiency or other reasons? If such trees are abandoned and without renewal prunung, would they slowely deteriorate or beeing attact by pathogenic fungi?
Do you have Young Agrarians there in Quebec? Consider layering the business opportunities on the permaculter farm and partner with people who want to farm birds and you won't have to do that job anymore. They might even raise a couple of steers on that building site and you could each have beef for the freezer.
I really appreciate all your insight, on all of your videos. Can you do me a favor? Will you say your last name more… people need to hear it more often. Out of all the vids I’ve watched of yours I think I heard it once. Very humble. That’s good. Please say it more 😊. Also would you be willing to do a video specifically on pears. Pruning, training, best cultivars… thanks from growing zone 3a!!
Good ideas. Thanks
Just wondering when you mentioned all the alfala (nitrogen-fixing plant) in the entire orchard and vineyard area - why you didn't cut, mow, cut and drop all the alfalfa and allow it to naturally decompose - and put down those extra nitrogens and deep minerals of fallen alfalfa (that the ducks and geese could also eat) - but have a protective layer of fallen alfalfa protecting the tree and vine roots from the cold, winter, winds, snow, and ice.
The fowl prefer live fresh alfalfa plus the alfalfa does drop naturally in the fall and doesn’t require any work to do so. Less work is good.
@@StefanSobkowiakit’s nice when you can let nature do the work for you; that suggests that you are also working with nature!
Yay 🎉 finally finished 😊 oh squirrel 👀🐿️
Any tips on starting my own rootstock? I can't seem to find any places that sell it cheap and I want to rapidly expand my operation cheaply.
Is cutting down a tree and doing the layering method the best way?
If you have a very healthy rootstock you can cut it back and bury it, the new shoots will root in the soil you banked around it. Look up “stool bed” or “stool bed layering” it’s the nursery term used to describe the technique. You can also cut cuttings of this year growth and root cuttings from them. It all starts with great mother plants.
Rule of thumb : (1) no cedar, redwood, or sequoia or gum/eucalyptus, juniper tree mulches, (2) vegetable garden 2-4 inches pile it on !, (3) vineyard 4-8 inches - dont be shy, and (4) orchards 8-12 inches (!!!!) - and you will see in 1 year a inch or more of black gold soil forming in these areas with decomposed tree minerals, salts, nutrients, loamy black soil, ... and all the worms and beneficial nematodes will come running from all over the neighborhood to your plot of heavenly-tasting land keeping the landscape well tended, clean, eaten, aerated, and clean soil. Mulch covers the roots from sunshine making vertical water shoots cool, shaded, and moist (not soaked), keeping the plants FROM MAKING !!! vertical air shoots on the branches (signs that the plant is telling you - more water !!! and more sun shade !!! (water shoots), more soil aeration - can't breathe !!! (air shoots).
I wish.
I've had great luck with 50%-50% cedar and ash tree mulch.
Would be any clip of cold weather?
Would like to know who builds those cripper rollers,was planing to build one but no time or enough skill.
Since i may not be able to afford the Master Class I thank you for the inspiration and knowledge that you have me given me over the years.
The one question that I would like to ask is why not publish your own book?
Roller crimper from earthtools. www.earthtools.com/implements-covercrop/crimperroller/. I have a couple of books.
Are there any small thornless honey locust? The ones I've seen claimed 70ft tall. I have a small home setup now. 11 semi dwarf trees, 4 vines, 6 bushes. Wanting to add some honey locust before I double the tree count (right now I'm 2 - 4 apple/cherry/peach in each row . Sounds like a good time to put a break of locust in before I add more fruit trees.
But being a semi dwarf orchard a giant tree block would not be good.
No small ones. Use nitrogen fixing shrubs adapted to your region.
Brother do you have any experience with planting a nitrogen fixer in the same hole as the fruit tree
No, we have a few right next to one (less than 2’) and have not seen a difference. I know perma pastures farm uses it with good results. Try it and let me know in 10 years how it works out.
Do you recommend a roller crimper that goes on your ride on lower?
That’s what I use because I don’t have a regular tractor. They are made in several sizes based on the tractor you have and your aisle width.
You mention in a few of your videos all the types of birds you’ve had. In one video you said, “We have just about every time of bird except for Guinea fowl.”
Why did you decide against Guinea fowl? What contributed to that decision? I have a small backyard orchard and am thinking of getting some Guinea Fowl. I’d love to know your reasoning.
Guinea fowl are the BEST meat BUT the noisiest bird. Does not go well with close neighbors.
Which is better as nitrogen fixing and edible shrub: autumn olive (elaeagnus umbellata) or goumi berry (elaeagnus multiflora)?
I have enough space for three nitrogen fixing shrubs in partial shade and I'm unsure which to plant, I can't have both because I need them to cross pollinate to have any decent fruit.
Can’t say which is better but in our climate autumn olive grows better than goumi. The more you prune, the more N they return to the soil.
love it !!!
I would be so happy too,lookin at a huge load of wood chips.
STEFAN do you worry about the apple seeds? Or am I a nervous nellie and pick seeds out.
Worry? I don’t eat them.
I'm looking for a variety which produces very late apples, which you collect around this time of year. Can you please recommend some very late varieties? I live in 52N latitude climate. Thanks a lot
Check out Trees of Antiquity.
Interested in purchasing some fruit trees and bushes.
Matthieu
Witam, fajny film 😁
you are hilarious
Have you tried mulching these trees with grass clippings?
They get mulched with grass from mowing.
It's all good, but how do you pay for all the expenses?
Direct sales not wholesale and keep expenses low.
how do you have irrigation lines on plastic sheeting
Usually under the plastic, except for a few small pieces of plastic where irrigation ran over it, not a do again.
Wish you would clean out the fruit trees root "footprint" of all grass and other stuff. Then put down 8-12 inches of wood chips (for an orchard or orchard row. Otherwise, make an entire (starting plant) 3 foot RADIUS in 8-12 inches wood chips (orchard depth, 4-8 inches vineyard, 2-4 inches garden) in keeping out grass and weeds, but also providing future black gold soil, and overwintering soil protection for the roots.
Then, like the pear tree with the pear slug, one can sprtiz down Tanglefoot or such fly trap glues onto the surface of the wood chips and this will stop snails, slugs, ants, beetles, earwigs, etc. from crawling toward the tree. Also, instead of Tanglefoot, one can SPARINGING !!! dust potash wood ashes (high potassium alkaline lye powders) atop the wood chips - and this will stop any slimies from sliding over this caustic surface and burning their littke footies (!).
The fact that you have such massive lichen on your small trees, not brought in by landing birds with infect feet - you have infected soil with lichen spores. Having the proper spraying of natural iodine kelp will keep down soil blight virus (single cell soil soil virus) and other bugs crawling up and infecting the bark and cambium of the vines and fruiting trees and shrubs.
Going to try what you suggest plus really pile on the wood chips and mulches. My husband never likes grasses, etc. growing under the fruit trees. Tiny orchard, 12 trees, is 6 years old, will try to go fallow next summer and hope for some fruit the 8th year. I trust this is THE John Lord!
@@charlesburkhart800
From all aspects, this appears to be the (2022) 6th year of the biblical 7 year cycle, so (for clarity) one fallows in the chronological time period (2023) of the cycle - and NOT the age of the trees (6 years of age ...). Its unexplainable how this happens, but explainable when you watch the trees, vines, and vegs/herbs doing this - and then restart in the 1st year again.
I have a lady here in East Bay SanFran that I got to put 2-4 inches on her garden, 8 inches in her vineyard (grapes and blackberries), and then 12+ inches in her orchard. Next year, there was 1 inch black gold soil in the vineyard (!), ~1/2 inch atop the garden, and crazy 1+ inches in the orchard. All the weeds that did come up had loose roots - and easy to weed - and potentially bird poop-delivered for volunteer seedlings. No airshoots or watershoots of any plants, shrubs, or trees. The natural rain cycle was sucked up by the wood chips, intense summer heat delayed by the wood chip surface, while the humid undercover kept the roots moist and cool.
Remember, fertilize in Fall for Spring growth - NOT Spring fertilizing leading to massive Summer plant growth of stalks and leaves (and little fruit production). That means digging a ditch around the tree's "drip line" in the wood chips down to the ground surface under the outermost perimeter of the tree's twig and leaves "rain drip zone" - where the actual roots of the tree "ARE." Put in the fertilizer and cover back up with chips and mulch. The Fall/Winter rain/snows will water irrigate the fertilizer to the roots in the further Spring rains.
If you use ammonia (!) ... dig outside of the entire outer area - away from the roots "drip line" and pour 1/2 dilluted (NH4) ammonia sparingly across the ground surface (will tweak your eyes and nose for sure). Cover back up with wood chips and mulch. Nitrogen will help break down mulch and wood chips and their plant minerals, salts into further delicious black gold soil. Where the roots have grown out from the tree from its young age, that is all dead zone for minerals and nutrients - thus roots and the remaining bigger roots going toward the tree don't produce roots in that area anymore. So ferililzation in the dead zone is worthless - and can lead to root rot etc. So only fertilize at the "drip line" and outward for spectacular plant and tree growth.
One can also make their own ammonia and wood chips or plant mulch, or lawn grass cuttings, and clean ground surface, chips/mulch, drizzle ammonia, chips/mulch, drizzle, chips/mulch, until top layer of chips and mulch. Put tarp over the mound of composting material in the Spring and uncover and distribute in Fall. The pile will heat up, cook, decompose, and provide additional proto-soil for any garden, vineyard, and orchard use in the same Fall fertilizing period - and also covered over.
@@charlesburkhart800 If you grow white or red clover across the orchard (vs alfala) both nitrogen-fixing cover crops- that is a different matter than tall-high alfalfa vs ground level clover. Both can be chop and drop - but clover is more maintainable than a hayfield - and if you have clover - you will also have honeybees etc pollinating your orchard as well - 2 for 1 fix. Clover more compostable (without much fiber) while alfalfa is major fibrous plant with less compostable nitrogen folaiage.
5 acre feet of wood chips would cost around 60k here.
@@Scott-zb6eo The very reason to get all of the local landscapers etc to come and drop their "clean" chips, grass, or mulch leaves in piles - and save their garbage dump costs.
FYI The link you have under the video for the virtual tour of permaculture farm tour gives a 404 error
Thanks for the heads up. Fixed.
How about hawks? Do you have them in area? They love chickens.
Yes we have most of them, keeping chickens where there are trees reduces the risk. They are jungle fowl, not open field hens.
A Quebecois (ke-bek-e-wa) kid ... I have ancestry from that region ... no wonder we came back down into the States - eh !!!
Stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni
Learned yesterday it was an insult about Americans that they then turned into a lil song and took back the phrase to make fun back at the British
The trampling effect the birds, particularly the chickens, have on the grass surprises me for such small animals.
Timing is important and or stocking rate. A lot of birds in a small space for a short time or fewer birds for a longer time. Timing of grass stage is equally important, during full active growth period grass will stand right back up but it’s going dormant so lays down well now.
As always, I enjoyed strolling through your farm with you, Stephan. Have you ever grafted with success? Flomatonfamous has me itching to try grafting. What say you?
Yes we grafted all our trees. Check out the grafting videos. It's a technique that improves with practice. Just start.
Do you have any idea how to grow beauveria bassiana to attack insect?
No
You guys ever try micro sulfur for spray?
No, whey is way better and has a dual action, fungus is outcompeted and it’s a great foliar feed. See my whey video.
@@StefanSobkowiak ok I will. I’ve probably watched 50 of your videos this week thanks
@@StefanSobkowiak I have 100ac in Maine and I’m putting a 3-4 ac orchid. Your videos are a big help. You know anything about grafting to wild black cherry? I have a lot of the in the space I’m using.
I have one I want to overgraft to sweet cherry this year. Look it up, I’m sure someone has tried it and see what they put onto it. Worth experimenting since black cherry does not sucker and is a long lived tree it could make a great rootstock. Have fun trying. Thanks for binge learning.
@@StefanSobkowiak iv seen people do it but after two years the graft dies but they all used sweet cherry and I think the black doesn’t send enough sugar because black cherry isn’t that sweet. You try sweet cherry and I’ll try tart zone 3 cherry. I think tart cherry will do better.
Doesn’t acacia now make shade on your fruit trees?
Yes some, we prune them when it gets to be too much.
Remember: birds of a feather, flock together !
Geez - you like asparagus - or that is a feral forest of asparagus feeding the whole town twice over ? !
Just a bed of asparagus that does very well. Yes in season we can harvest 2-3 5 gallon buckets per day. Definitely more than what we need.
Hi
Can I ask about pear trees?
Sure. Best to ask the first time. I rarely go over replies.
So strange that your pioneer/nitrogen fixers would struggle in poor soil. It would be interesting to know what the deficiencies are.
Near the end of the video, he says he has sandy soil. It's probably well-drained and the potassium and phosphorus are lacking. But the fruit trees seem okay, so maybe it's something that only affects the earlier plants he started with.
@@CricketsBay yeah, he's said in the past that comfrey doesn't grow well for him either due to the sandy soil.
ok your a handsome man.. I respect your knowledge but how can I grow black cherry trees
Well drained soil, seed or plant a tree.
👍
Grasshoppers are eating my peaches! ? 40% shade cloth to cover? Help!
Shade cloth or bird netting will work. Sounds like you have hay fields that have been recently mowed..
Years of rest are good for the land and allow us to work.on other things.
I thought you shouldn't keep turkeys and chickens in the same enclosure because turkeys are highly susceptible to blackhead disease and chickens commonly have the roundworm in their intestines that are the source of the protozoal infection that caused blackhead.
Thanks for the video.
We’ve done this for years and the key I think is to keep moving them to clean pastures. Those problems should be regarded as symptoms of a closed system where the birds are always on the same ground. That’s a recipe for all kinds of disasters.
@@StefanSobkowiak Thanks for the reply. Thanks for all your wonderful videos.
Good question, or attempt at a question maybe? I've read similar though from my hatchery and the internet at large.
Don't plant a tree with a soil router ... dig out the entire space of the root ball diameter (not the depth as most fruit trees are shallow depthed horizontal - not vertical) and provide a greater softer soil for the tender new rootlets to get into the new soil and nutrients and tree/shrub growth. Making a hard soil router hole and planting a tree will only have 1-2 years until the roots hit the hard soil - and die off the entire tree.
I've heard this also! It's like the soil router "polishes" the insides of the hole, making it difficult for the roots to penetrate. A tip someone offered: if you're going to use a router, then with a sharp hand tool, scratch up the insides of the hole. Supposedly that breaks that polished seal and the tree roots can expand.
@@classicrocklover5615 Their and your statements are correct - but doing a proper tree planting is NOT using a router at all. If anything, get out the old garden rototiller and just dig a massive hole until the tines are totally buried in the dirt - and keep mulching the soil until it is fluffy and air filled. A good tree planting is not some YT vids of others using a router and planting an orchard of bare root fruit trees in clay and rocky soil - and ever expect them to live (!). It is like pushing a human body into a baby MRI - (been there, done that !) and it is insane - especially with bare roots or root bound trees in pots/containers. There needs to be (at least) 1-2 feet of surrounding dirt all mulched and free in its perimeter for any tree planting (and to the proper depth of the horizontal roots of that tree species) - and a massive watering thereafter to settle in the soil. None of that is accomplished with a router. Check out some of the YT Dave Wilson Nursery (Central Valley CA) and what soil and how they plant and prepare their trees for shipping. Loose-loose soil.
How do you keep out moles and voles?
Add guards for voles, see my video from last fall. Moles are not a problem but indicator of a worm filled soil.
Killing all fruit destroying robins is another tip. Use a trombone sprayer and saturate the first maturing mullberries with triple strength insecticide.
It takes labor, lots of labor to grow and use the harvest. Tenfold that if you plan on trying to sell some. Do not plant more than several trees if you are not an independently wealthy type with tonnes of free time and energy and/or access to free/cheap labor willing to do manual labor. A wage earning grunt should not get too ambitious with his plantings. I have an orchard/garden of my own. It is my solid opinion that youtube cheerleaders do not reflect reality very well. The fact that there are few to none people calling them on that just shows that very few people do a squat other than watching youtube and such.
LOOKS LIKE THE RABBITS ARE EATING THE NEW TRUNKS THAT WILL KILL THE TREES
First
Then you need to go back and realize the biblical timeframe or gardening, orchards, vineyards, etc. You said you have a double harvest - which would be the biblical 6th year. While the next year was pitiful - which is the biblical mandated year of no harvest, rest, and fertilization cycle. Years 1-5 prune, grow, harvest, and fertilize. Year 6 double harvest (actually Year 6 and 7) and fertilize. Year 7 - totally fallow - rest and massively fertilize and repeat. Watch the harvest cycles and you will realize this ancient discovery of truth. Do proper pruning, massive fertilizing in Fall, and those grow lands will respond in kind - which is their natural production cycles.
How would you know at which point (year) your particular tree is in? I bought my trees at a nursery in pots and they are entering their third year planted. This year was no fruiting, none, not even blossoms, but I thought for other reasons. I've been putting fruit tree fertilizer stakes down in the spring. Should I be doing something else?
@@classicrocklover5615 The current weather patterns of drought, heat domes, extreme sun and heat, have taken a drastic toll on plants, shrubs, and trees. When plants and trees get too hot, they just refuse to procreate flowers and fruit/nut production. Without knowing what fruit/nut trees you planted, how you planted the trees (grafted or not), and what soil you have - is like asking which blind man is correct on an elephant. Give more information, and if the landscape is shaded, open sunlight, sloped, swaled, rocky, clay, caliche, etc. And at what grow zone, or latitude you are in. You didn't mention whether the potted fruit trees were root balled (which also stunt their growth, whether you scarified or fingered the roots in the soil to loosen them, or bare rooted. So many considerations to analyze.
Also you have to reach fruit production years of a tree. You didn't mention how old (or tall) the (fruit) trees were when you bought them in what size of pot (1/2 gallon, 1 gallon, 5 gallon ...) but that they now have 3 years growth. Most fruit trees need 5-8 years of growing to become successful producers. Sounds like you are trying to make a youngster do the work of an adult tree ... wait for it. How far away from the drip ring did you plant tree stakes (inside, or outside, and how many). It sounds like you still have immature trees that need to grow up ... and the weather cycle this year also stunted the trees for possibly 2-3 years (!)
@@johnlord8337 my goodness, I have so much to learn. Here are more basic details: 7 gallon pots when purchased, they all flowered their first year in ground (2020). I am zone 5b, soil is a combo of loam with some clay, fairly good water retention. I dug holes twice as wide as rootball, amended hole with some basic bone/blood meal. 2020 was an almost drought, so I watered 20 gallons to each, every 2-3 days. I planted: 4 apples (of 3 varieties), 2 peaches, nectarines, 3 pears and 1 plum (self pollinating). Everything got fertilizer stakes about 12 to 18 inches from trunk. Everything bloomed, but I snipped off fruit to make it focus on it's root system.
Then disaster struck! A buck came in and rubbed /damaged some on the trees. I basically lost 1 of each kind (1 apple, peach, nectarine, pear). The other trees had damage on their trunks but not all the way around so no fear of girdling. I've kept the wounds clean and everything has healed nicely. All dead trees replaced this year, and everyone now has fencing around it.
Almost nothing flowered this year. I wasn't sure if it was due to the previous year's damage, lack of a partner, etc. I usually only fertilize in the spring but I think I will do it this weekend. Every tree has 4 cu ft of wood chips around it (pulled away from base). I used watering bags on my new trees and they worked well. The original trees didn't show drought stress, so I no longer water them. The "dwarf" original trees are starting to hit 7 ft, so I am considering cutting the center trunk to force horizontal growth...
@@classicrocklover5615 OK 5b. Some clay good, some clay bad. Clay good for sealing up ponds, or downside ditch of swales keeping water from flowing down - and movement in intended direction of the swale. Sand-silt-clay (sand utter drainage, silt the total best to have, clay holds water). Water retention not always good as roots and rootlets can drown in extended periods of watering, irrigation, rains. Grafted trees (that notch at the ground surface needs to be pointed directly north to shade that graft otherwise it can overheat the root graft and the grafted tree. Check for that issue. What was initial height of 7 gallon potted trees (rooted trees - not bare roots)? Yes - deer, critters, and rabbits will forage fruit trees. bucks rub, deer eat flowers, leaves, and fruit, while rabbits will girdle a tree for the spring sap cambium. Fencing always required for young trees with critters - even dealing with emplacing an underground fencing bolw the size of the whole dugout hole against the (&*&^&&^) gophers, moles, and shrews eating the roots. Water bags are neat, but I go with 5 gallon white buckets w lids that can be visually checked with its many drip holes drilled into bottom and placed near the drip line of the roots - directly onto the ground surface with all the wood chips therearound. Another method is drilling a 2-3 inch PVC pipe down to the installed depth of the planted roots at the outer dripline. Direct method of getting water down to the roots versus watering the ground surface and wood chips. Can also have direct diluted fertilizer/manure tea/compost tea added into the tube direct to the roots. Check via a small wooden rod for water level height - and water accordingly. Fetilize Fall - Harvest Summer. Consider painting 50-50 water and inhouse latex white paint (no other color ! - no enamel - only latex). Spray (female designations for trees) the leggings (trunk) of the tree up to first notch of branching. White paint deters bugs, ants, ear wigs, moths, caterpillars, ... as birds see dark on white - and eat them ! White paint latex also has some antibiotic chemicals and keeps the bark clean of lichen, moss, rain bounce soil blight single-cell virus from getting into cambium. White paint also deters deer and critters nibbling the nasty tasting white paint - deterring rabbits from munching. For any dark-barked trees (all the plum and cherry varieties with purple skin) paint up the limbs as well. This keeps the bark from overheating and sunburning, while the white paint also counteracts any bird infested feet with spores etc getting onto/into the bark. White paint also helps with sunlight albedo (sunlight bounce) back up into tree for greater photosynthesis. If you want to dwarf trees - excellent YT vid Dave Wilson Nursery ... and how to take first trees from 2-3 years pots and plantings and train to remain at 7-8 feet. If you are going to goblet the trees and open up the interior definitely spray the upper trunk and limbs for sunlight protection - but also sunlight bounce. If you do cut bigger branches 1+ inches - old ancestral tree tar paint them !!! Only 1 inch and smaller really ever reseal entirely. Have seen too many modern BS statements of cutting 1-2-3-5 inches and leave open and they get mold, mildew, ants, into cambium and rot out the heartwood. Paint those cuts !!! After the tree tar paint has permanently dried then white paint over the tar and cut further sealing up the area from infection and infestations.
Also rake up the fall fruit tree leaf drop. MULCH and compost the leaves with ammonia overwinter (under a tarp) for protosoil. Put back onto the trees' drip line in the early Spring before the sap runs. Or emulsify and make leaf compost tea and put that down the PVC pipe directly to the roots. Deciduous trees (all the same) produce those red, orange, and yellow colors. Those colors are anthocyanins, Vit A, sugars, and other amino acids. The trees make their own Fall vaccines and Spring tonic for greater Spring rebound and growth leading to flowers and fruit production. Also it makes the ground taste nasty to slugs, snails, sowbugs, ear wigs, ants, termites, beetles, bug larvae in the soil, counteracts single-celled soil blight (rain bounce virus), powdery mildew, molds, fungus ... vit A also provides strong immunity and anti-bug and anti-bacteria compounds. The sugars create an energy boost in the Spring. Keep and mulch (dont rake and toss) those leaves !
If you have any/all craft brewers in your area - gather up all their post-mash. Compost and compost tea the product. High in Vit B complex, post-sugars, -starches, -proteins. Vit B is energy vitamin that trees get the zoomies with. The sugars also assist in early and strong Spring growth, flowering, and fruit production. Putting diluted Karo (white or brown) sugar syrup down the PVC hole (even dilute molasses with trace sulfur and iron) boosts the tree's photosynthesis far and above the normal leaf production of sugars. Put the compost fiber remains around the dripline. Put the compost tea deep to the roots. All the worms and beneficial nematodes will come running for this sweet soil from all over the nearby neighbors - chewing on the soil, making further loamy soil, black gold soil with the wood chips et al.
If you can get fresh kelp (iodine and trace sea salt minerals), or a kelp meal and spread that around the tree. And kelp tea as well. The iodine also helps sanitize the area - while the sea salts (1500+ mineral salt compounds assist the tree in all of its enzymatic processes. Just calcium is known in the human body to have 40,000 enzymatic processes. Same magnesium, and other minerals. Just think what a tree needs to have a truly healthy and strong fitness bearing fruit-children every year and then recovering in the Fall and Winter to do it all over again each Spring !!!
Why do you promote permaculture with plastic for weed management?
Christine if you think people who practice permaculture don’t use plastic you’re dreaming. Yes most don’t use it as mulch as I now don’t use it in my new orchard blocks but it served a purpose when I was starting and I would use it again if I wanted to grow more herbaceous perennials. It’s fantastic for low maintenance perennials, flowers and herbs at scale. It’s also the easiest acreage to maintain. Maintenance is a cost.
Likely for the same reason that Elliot Coleman did in the New Organic Grower(or was it four season harvest?), it works.
Your plants are thirsty.
Easily are growing in sand.
What kind of glue is in that particle board?
Looks like you have Japanese B.