Establishment

Tips

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The manager of the orchard

needs to know much more about

keeping a successful orchard than

what we can include in this manual.

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" Make sure she is reading up, taking

classes, watching videos and getting

 the mentorship from seasoned

orchardists as needed."

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With that being said, here are some tips: 

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The variety of fruit tree is of the utmost importance to a successful, productive and profitable orchard operation.

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Great care needs to be taken to select varieties that thrive in the environment, and that will produce a fruit that is desired by the available market.

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The poor selection of varieties could cost an orchard up to 80% of its potential profit.

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Young orchards need regular applications

of organic fertilizer, compost, water, biodynamic preparations and compost tea spraying.

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Irrigation is recommended for any young orchard and will greatly help with establishment and reduce the amount of losses.

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Pruning should be carried out in young orchards to improve tree structure, minimize wind damage and increase fruit bearing area.

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Each species has its own optimum pruning strategy. Be sure to be on top of this. Most tropical fruit trees should have their first structural pruning by the second or third year.

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It is important to establish a good Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program as young trees are susceptible to many different pests.

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Healthy soil is critical to healthy plants. Regular applications of compost tea, biodynamic preparations, and compost are very important. Adding mycorrhizal fungi to your orchard’s soil will benefit your plants’ productivity. Planting instruction

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Keep your grasses and weeds cut back,

and mark your trees with a tall painted stake.​

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It is important that grasses and weeds

are being kept low through good and

thorough mulching.

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It is easy for a young fruit tree to get ‘lost’ in tall grasses, and then potentially cut down when the grass is cut.

Case Study

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5-acre Guava farm in Southern California

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The average annual costs for production in a guava orchard in Southern California for the first four years of management was $8,500 per year and thereafter is around $11,500 per acre per year (not counting marketing and sales costs) and average gross sales (wholesale to a distributor) are  around $28,000 per year. These numbers are for  year 4 and beyond, when the fruit trees have started  producing close to capacity.  

"Those numbers assume a small family farm, so no management costs are included, as the profits from the operation would be collected

by the farmers."

Water

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Supplemental watering during the first few years will assist tree establishment greatly.

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"The timing and quantity of water applied varies with tree size, soil, weather and time of year."

The following offers a rough guide: 

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Trees should be irrigated one to two times a week in heavy clay soils like those at PEG.

"Because of the geology of the soil at this particular piece of land, plan on irrigating the trees for their lifetimes. Most orchards do not need this, but the extremely thin layer of topsoil over karst geology means that even deep­reaching roots are not able to reach the water table."

Mulching around trees can assist water conservation, particularly in the absence of irrigation, and the continual buildup of organic matter in these thin soils will improve their water holding capacity.