Reports on our Community Orchard

14 years ago

I thought I would give a quick report on our community orchard. I posted earlier this year and received several helpful comments/e-mails. We received a $15000 grant, split between a garden, orchard, and farmer's market. I am on the orchard committee. We bought 40, 5-7 ft. feathered trees from Adams County. Terrific experience so far. They were quite helpful with varieties. One apple they have has a shelf life of 11 months!

In a couple of weeks the community meets on a Saturday with a landscaping expert. He is giving a demo on underground drip systems and installing it for the fruit trees. He wanted it in before the trees came. In April, we get together again to plant. Does anyone have experience with a community orchard?

We began with a community garden last year. It was beyond successful. Our goal was to feed those in need. Even after everyone picked and picked for personal use, we were able to bring weekly boxes of vegetables to the local Needy Foods organization. We are hoping the orchard is as popular. It is a perk of living in a rural town

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Comments (9)

Michael
14 years ago
Ksfruiter: congratulations. In our town, As may be the case in your town the vast majority of trees are anywhere from past their prime to ready to fall over in the next big wind. My family's legacy has been to plant trees wherever we lived and I am trying to continue that. Hopefully I'll still be around to reap the harvest off the fruit trees for many years to come.

Hope your efforts work well for you this year and in the decades to come.
olpea
14 years ago
Glad to hear the committee is setting up on-going management of the orchard with the drip system. I assume the orchard is somewhere in Edgerton? Has the committee talked about a spray program yet?
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Hi fellow KS fruit grower from north-central KS: As one who is trying to grow fruit trees on city property (through my own sole initiative) I have a coule of suggestions. First, consider what you want out of the orchard. For instance, maximum production, minimal input, pesticide spraying OK or not. Will access to the orchard be controlled or not such as through fencing. Is the produce going to be free for the picking at any time or will you be planning events like a cider pressing that requires a lot of fruit at once? By all means, look into the soil first both it's depth, physical and chemical characteristics. From there you'll should then look into rootstocks for the varieties you decide on. I'm no expert on rootstock selection and will leave that to others. As far as varieties go I'll leave that to others, perhaps Olpea will weigh in on it. There are some varieties that are at least tolerant to a fungus called Cedar Apple Rust (CAR) which you likely have in your area if there are eastern red cedars in your area within a mile or more of the orchard. It is a serioous disease of apple that must be managed through fungicide sprays and/or planting resistant varieties. My Freedom tree is very tolerant of CAR and has not required any sprays in 5 years, my Jonafree (sold as resistant to CAR) is very susceptible however and must be sprayed. There ar other varieties with very good resistance to CAR such as William's Pride and Liberty I am told, no doubt there are others. I'd say more but it is time to eat lunch and run. Feel free to e-mail me, I'd be interested to know more about the grant. Michael
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kansasfruiter
Original Author
14 years ago
Is Edgerton a town? I am guessing somewhere in Eastern Kansas. We live in southwest Kansas. Amazingly enough, our committee addressed the City Council and they are paying for all water usage for the garden and the orchard. We are excited! Spraying...well that is a different story. If you have any advice, I would love it.
Jenny
olpea
14 years ago
Sorry Kansasfruiter now I remember you from about a year ago. I had confused you with Kansasapple, which is guy who is occasionally on this forum and owns an orchard in Edgerton KS.

Southwest KS has a pretty different climate than what we have here so I can't give you any specific advice. It's pretty dry and you may be able to get by with little or no spraying. My advice would be to have someone monitor for fruit pests once the trees start producing, and if needed develop a spray program at that time.
kansasfruiter
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks Olpea. I love this forum. You, Micheal, Ace, and others have been so helpful and supportive. Really, the only disease I saw this last year was CAR. I look forward to chatting with you all again this year.
kokopelli5a
14 years ago
I think that's a wonderful idea. I wonder why more places don't do that. Can you imagine what it means to a child of three, four or five to have the experience of grasping and picking a piece of fruit?

A true story from my town: Master gardener type was planting an Apricot tree in a newly renovated city park. Tourist lady: "Aren't you afraid the homeless will eat the fruit?"

MG: "I certainly hope so."
glib
14 years ago
Congratulations to the OP and Michael for your community-oriented planting. That's the spirit. I am, too, starting a community garden this year with a bunch of people. Vibes are very good so far, but wish me luck! I will keep a smaller garden on my own, just in case!
dirtslinger2
14 years ago
Which apple variety lasts 11 months? That's great.
estreya
14 years ago
Pictures! I'm craving pictures! :)

Reports on our Community Orchard

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Reports on our Community Orchard

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