Diagnosing leaf curl in summer
We want to talk about Leaf curl. It's a common fungal disease of peach and nectarine trees (if you have leaves curling in other types of trees it's caused by something else). It may seem strange to be talking about it so late in summer, as it's a disease that shows up...
Can broken branches be mended?
In our long career as fruit growers, we've frequently made mistakes in our fruit trees—just so we can demonstrate the theory of course! The broken branch in this Granny Smith apple tree is a case in point, or this broken branch of peaches... Peach tree with broken...
Five ways to lead an organic lifestyle
Do you like the sound of living an organic lifestyle? For most people, that probably means trying to eat organic food in their diet as much as possible - but it's expensive, right? And what about when you eat out? Or have a houseful of hungry teenagers? As the parents...
Dieback and cankers on fruit trees
One of the signs you may have Phytophthora, or root rot disease, is the appearance of these summer cankers on your fruit trees. Though the disease comes from the roots, the dieback starts at the top of the tree, and these cankers usually become active during summer. A...
Do wind and fruit go together?
We've had some mighty winds over the fruit season. We live in a very windy spot here on Mount Alexander - it can often be completely still in the valley below us, but blowing a gale up here on the farm. Wind has a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to fruit...
3 steps to a new tree with bud grafting
Do you know how to graft? Have you tried, but had mixed success? It's not hard, but has lots of aspects to it, and is one of those skills (like pruning) that needs practice to cement the theory. We love it when people who have been to our workshops get back to us to...
Why are my apples brown inside?
Have you ever gone to pick your beautiful apple crop and found this inside? It's internal browning, and it's pretty gross. When it's this advanced, it makes the apples completely inedible. It's not that uncommon to see it in apples that are picked too ripe or stored...
Your secret weapon against extreme weather
In these days of climate variability, farming is becoming increasingly unpredictable. In the last 20 years we've had the worst drought, the worst flood and the wettest spring on record! Summers have become searingly hot, with temperature records being broken all over...
5 ways to help your fruit trees recover from fire
Hopefully you'll never need this information, but if this summer is anything to go by, fires are a growing risk. We've had a fire in our orchard, so we want to share our experience about how to help your trees recover. Watching the fire burn through the orchard Our...
It’s smoky out there
Gidday out there. I think I've been putting off writing this week's blog because there’s so many different things going around in my head/heart/world this last month. Usually its me on high alert for bush fires and I am regularly leaving my home during summer when...
What are those brown marks on my apples?
We had a great question from one of our Grow Great Fruit members about what causes russet on apples, which describes both the yellow marks (as you can see on the side of this Cox's Orange Pippin apple), and the rough brown marks around the stem end of the apple. A...
Netting options for backyard fruit trees
Fruit damage from birds, bats and possums is high on the list of complaints from home fruit growers. This week we look at various netting options, and how they can protect your crop from most of these problems. The birds left us the stems! The cherry trees we planted...
