Planning Your Low-impact Orchard: From a Newbie Organicist

On the eve of graduating from Goddard College in August 2009, I was introduced to a classmate, a student in the health and sciences program. “I have some land in upstate New York,” she said. “Would you want to try to do something with that?”.

She was being generous, I knew, wanting to help me get started in local foods and was willing to put up her land to send me in that direction. I turned down her offer then, but ever since I began picking apples for income and became re-acquainted with farm work, I started thinking carefully about the plausibility of starting an orchard. I probably would not get a second offer from my classmate, but I also began to generate ideas about developing a low-impact farm, which sold easily marketable fruits.

Orchards are a good money-making venture because the fruits borne from the trees are economically versatile; fruits can be eaten and sold as is or manufactured into something else (i.e. dried fruits, apple newtons, peach granola bars). As such, orchards will always find a consumer along the food market chain in supermarkets, in factories, and in restaurants. Chefs have stimulated the taste buds of their eaters by putting Granny and Cortland apples into salads; fruits have also been turned into variations of the fig newton.

In this article, I explain the steps in preparing and planning for a low-impact orchard. I also make the case for a bio-diverse orchard of nashi (Japanese pears), lychee, and peaches.

Know your Soil: the Early Stages of Planning the Low-impact Orchard

Low-impact farming consists of working with the strengths of your natural resources and employing the principles of organic agriculture. The first rule of thumb I learned in my ecological agriculture training program was to know your soil, and this means understanding its texture, nutrient, and pH (potential hydrogen), levels.

All soils are comprised of a combination of three types: clay, sandy, and silty. Texture is defined by the percentage of each, combined, and gives insight into the drainage capacity of your soil. Thus, if your soil is clay loam, it will more likely have moderate drainage because clay tends to retain water. Soil with higher sand or silt content drains water better.

The best way to determine the texture of your soil is to perform a ribbon test. Excavate samples of soil from sections of your proposed farm land, using a soil sampler tool that can be bought in any major store with a gardening department (i.e Home Depot, Sears) or on-line. Getting a wide sample and noting from what section of your farm land the samples came, on a hand drawn diagram, will give you a more accurate idea of your soil type. Put this soil in different containers, add a little water to moisten, and squeeze a handful between your fingers. If the soil clumps together easily and retains the structure, it is high in clay content. If if crumbles a bit, it has a somewhat proportional content of silt, sand, and clay. If it falls apart and fails to retain its structure, your soil likely has a high sand content.

The next step is to identify your nutrients. The most common nutrients found in soil are carbon, sulfur, nitrates, and potash (or phosphate). You can either send samples to a university lab, which will cost between $15 to $30, or buy a testing kit, yourself. For the novice, a children’s kit containing capsules and containers that allow you to read the levels of each nutrient might be a cheaper investment. The instructions are very easy to follow.

Finally, test for pH. This reading tells you how much hydrogen (an alkaline gas) ions are concentrated in your soil. You can also purchase an inexpensive kit in a garden store or on-line. A pH reading of 5.0 to 8.0 means that your soil is alkaline (or not very acidic, at all). Lower than 5.0 indicates high acidity.

The fruits you decide to grow on your farm should work well within the parameters of the soil texture, nutrient content, and pH level. Some people might also want to know how good the quality of their soil is.

Testing Soil for Quality

Some start-up farmers might not want to put in the money to test soil for levels of microorganisms and for toxins. I suggest doing this step if you want to make sure that toxins don’t enter your fruit. Most common soil toxins are lead, arsenic, and PCB. Few microorganisms might indicate intensive use of fertilizers in the past. Use of mulch and compost as you progress in your farming will likely rebuild your soil quality. Three years is all it takes before your soil quality improves.

Planning the Bio-diverse Orchard

If you are lucky enough to live in a four season climate, like New England, you can grow nashi, lychee, and peaches quite easily. The reason is that these fruits originated in China, where the latitude and climate are similar to that of New England. These fruits are memorable for their distinctive sweet nectar and plump flesh and should, therefore, do extremely well in local markets.

One virtue of combining these fruits together is the similarity of their ideal growing conditions. They grow well in relatively alkaline soil of 5.0 (lychees) to 6.5 (peaches). Nashi do well in pH levels of in between the two. All trees also grow better in well drained soils that are moderately hydrated so as to minimize blight threats, and all require full sun. Farmers recommend buying dwarf peach trees because they are hardier and fruit much earlier than full sized trees.

I recommend planting lychees and peaches together, but in alternating rows to increase chances of root survival and also because both are sensitive to blight and extreme weather (i.e. early frosts and winter frost bites). Inter-cropping them in the same section of your farm enables you to put a plastic sheath over the crop section to protect them against early frosts, sort of like a make-shift greenhouse.

Nashi is a hardy plant that holds strong during the winter months and their growing needs complement those of lychees and peaches. The one drawback about cultivating nashi is the labor that goes into them. Thinning is highly recommended to generate more fruit. Compared to European cultivars, nashi are harvested best at their ripe peak.

Nurturing the Soil

Some farmers recommend heavy use of fertilizers to promote healthy growth in the first two years of cultivation. I prefer using natural mulch and compost made from kitchen scraps. The soil areas around the base of the tree should also be free of weeds as much as possible, as weeds tend to compete with the tree for nutrients. Weeding also keeps the root stock of the tree rich and healthy. Mulching and weekly weeding sessions are a good way to keep weeds to a minimum.

Keep in mind that each of these fruit trees have variations. The best way to identify complementary variations is to read further about planting guidelines either through the links provided above or with your own preferred set of books.

A good source for identifying what beneficial microorganisms to use in enhancing your organic farming techniques is Arbico Organics. They have an on-line catalogue with well-explained instructions on natural organisms that enhance the growth of your plants.

Source: Gershuny, Grace and Joe Smillie. The Soul of Soil: A Soil Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers. White River Junction: Chelsea Green, 1999.

Camille Tuason Mata completed a Master of Liberal Arts with a concentration in Environmental Studies at Goddard College in 2009. She has aspirations to include small farm planning for beginning farmers on her list of project interests.