Orchard

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Meadow orchard (Streuobstwiese) with view to the Lochenhornle [de] Streuobstwiesen, Blick auf Traufgang und Lochenhornle.jpg
Meadow orchard (Streuobstwiese) with view to the Lochenhörnle  [ de ]

An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive purpose. [1] A fruit garden is generally synonymous with an orchard, although it is set on a smaller, non-commercial scale and may emphasize berry shrubs in preference to fruit trees. Most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular grid, with a grazed or mown grass or bare soil base that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy.

Contents

Most modern commercial orchards are planted for a single variety of fruit. While the importance of introducing biodiversity is recognized in forest plantations, introducing genetic diversity in orchard plantations by interspersing other trees might offer benefits. Genetic diversity in an orchard would provide resilience to pests and diseases, just as in forests. [2]

Orchards are sometimes concentrated near bodies of water where climatic extremes are moderated and blossom time is retarded until frost danger is past.

Layout

An orchard's layout is the technique of planting the crops in a proper system. There are different methods of planting and thus different layouts. Some of these layout types are:

For different varieties, these systems may vary to some extent.

Orchards by region

A peach orchard in bloom [ca. 1950] A peach orchard in bloom (I0005494).tif
A peach orchard in bloom [ca. 1950]

The most extensive orchards in the United States are apple and orange orchards, although citrus orchards are more commonly called groves. The most extensive apple orchard area is in eastern Washington state, with a lesser but significant apple orchard area in most of Upstate New York. Extensive orange orchards are found in Florida and southern California, where they are more widely known as "groves". In eastern North America, many orchards are along the shores of Lake Michigan (such as the Fruit Ridge Region), Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario.

In Canada, apple and other fruit orchards are widespread on the Niagara Peninsula, south of Lake Ontario. This region is known as Canada Fruitbelt and, in addition to large-scale commercial fruit marketing, it encourages "pick-your-own" activities in the harvest season.

In Spain, Murcia is a major orchard area (or la huerta) in Europe, with citrus crops. New Zealand, China, Argentina, and Chile also have extensive apple orchards.

Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire has been called The Town in the Orchard, since the 19th century, because it was surrounded by extensive orchards. Today, this heritage is celebrated through an annual Applefest. [3]

Central Europe

Streuobstwiese (pl. Streuobstwiesen) is a German word that means a meadow with scattered fruit trees or fruit trees that are planted in a field. [4] Streuobstwiese, or a meadow orchard, [5] is a traditional landscape in the temperate, maritime climate of continental Western Europe. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Streuobstwiesen were a kind of a rural community orchard that were intended for the productive cultivation of stone fruit. In recent years, ecologists have successfully lobbied for state subsidies to valuable habitats, biodiversity and natural landscapes, which are also used to preserve old meadow orchards. Both conventional and meadow orchards provide a suitable habitat for many animal species that live in a cultured landscape. A notable example is the hoopoe that nests in tree hollows of old fruit trees and, in the absence of alternative nesting sites, is threatened in many parts of Europe because of the destruction of old orchards. [6]

Historical orchards

Modern orchards

Historical orchards have large, mature trees spaced for heavy equipment. Modern commercial apple orchards, by contrast and as one example, are often "high-density" (tree density above 370/ha or 150/acre), and in extreme cases have up to 22,000/ha (9,000/acre). These plants are no longer trees in the traditional sense, but instead resemble vines on dwarf stock and require trellises to support them. [7]

Now new "Smart Orchards" are being set up throughout the world. [8] The first examples of such orchards are the Smart Orchard at Washington , United States of America by Innov8 and Washington State University [9] and Samriti Bagh orchard created in Maraog, India by Tejasvi Dogra [10] that incorporates the use of various sensors for orchard management. [11]

Orchard conservation in the UK

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruit tree propagation</span> Usually carried out vegetatively by grafting or budding a desired variety onto a suitable rootstock

Fruit tree propagation is usually carried out vegetatively (non-sexually) by grafting or budding a desired variety onto a suitable rootstock.

Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England, particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire, parts of South Wales and France, especially Normandy and Anjou, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest gardening</span> Agroforestry food production system modeled on woodland ecosystems

Forest gardening is a low-maintenance, sustainable, plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems, incorporating fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables which have yields directly useful to humans. Making use of companion planting, these can be intermixed to grow in a succession of layers to build a woodland habitat. Forest gardening is a prehistoric method of securing food in tropical areas. In the 1980s, Robert Hart coined the term "forest gardening" after adapting the principles and applying them to temperate climates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fire blight</span> Disease of some Rosaceae trees (especially apples and pears) caused by Erwinia amylovora

Fire blight, also written fireblight, is a contagious disease affecting apples, pears, and some other members of the family Rosaceae. It is a serious concern to apple and pear producers. Under optimal conditions, it can destroy an entire orchard in a single growing season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruit tree pollination</span>

Pollination of fruit trees is required to produce seeds with surrounding fruit. It is the process of moving pollen from the anther to the stigma, either in the same flower or in another flower. Some tree species, including many fruit trees, do not produce fruit from self-pollination, so pollinizer trees are planted in orchards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pollination management</span> Horticultural practices to enhance pollination

Pollination management is the horticultural practices that accomplish or enhance pollination of a crop, to improve yield or quality, by understanding of the particular crop's pollination needs, and by knowledgeable management of pollenizers, pollinators, and pollination conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meadow</span> Open habitat vegetated primarily by non-woody plants

A meadow is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable conditions, but are often artificially created from cleared shrub or woodland for the production of hay, fodder, or livestock. Meadow habitats, as a group, are characterized as "semi-natural grasslands", meaning that they are largely composed of species native to the region, with only limited human intervention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cider apple</span> Fruit used for making apple cider

Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider. Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or dryness of flavour, qualities which make the fruit unpalatable but can be useful in cidermaking. Some apples are considered to occupy more than one category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agroforestry</span> Land use management system

Agroforestry is a land use management system that integrates trees with crops or pasture. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies. As a polyculture system, an agroforestry system can produce timber and wood products, fruits, nuts, other edible plant products, edible mushrooms, medicinal plants, ornamental plants, animals and animal products, and other products from both domesticated and wild species.

A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a rhizome or underground stem. In grafting, it refers to a plant, sometimes just a stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, onto which a cutting or a bud from another plant is grafted. In some cases, such as vines of grapes and other berries, cuttings may be used for rootstocks, the roots being established in nursery conditions before planting them out. The plant part grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion. The scion is the plant that has the properties that propagator desires above ground, including the photosynthetic activity and the fruit or decorative properties. The rootstock is selected for its interaction with the soil, providing the roots and the stem to support the new plant, obtaining the necessary soil water and minerals, and resisting the relevant pests and diseases. After a few weeks, the tissues of the two parts will have grown together, eventually forming a single plant. After some years, it may be difficult to detect the site of the graft although the product always contains the components of two genetically different plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silvopasture</span> Agricultural practice of grazing animals in woodland

Silvopasture is the practice of integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way. It utilizes the principles of managed grazing, and it is one of several distinct forms of agroforestry.

Applefest is a yearly village-wide food, entertainment and crafts fair, taking place in several towns in Canada, the United States and England.

Heartwood Forest is a planned forest in Hertfordshire, England. The site covers 347 hectares, the largest continuous new native forest in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve</span> Park in Bradley Stoke, United Kingdom

The Three Brooks Nature Reserve is a Local Nature Reserve of approximately 44 hectares in Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire, England. It is named after the Hortham, Patchway, and Stoke Brooks which run through it, meeting at Three Brooks Lake before flowing eastwards back under the M4 motorway as Bradley Brook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park</span> Non-profit outdoor garden

Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park is a non-profit outdoor garden and wildlife facility located in the North Side District of Grand Cayman Island in the British West Indies. The park is owned jointly by the Cayman Islands Government and the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, a group dedicated to preserving natural environments and places of historic significance in the Cayman Islands. Opened in 1994 with only the Woodland Trail completed, the park now also contains the Floral Colour Garden, a Cayman Heritage Garden, a lake, an orchid boardwalk exhibit, and a Blue Iguana Habitat. Also inside the park is a gift shop and a visitor's interpretive center, the starting point from which visitors can enter the Woodland Trail and other garden grounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in British Columbia, Canada

South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on Highway 40 northwest of Lillooet, British Columbia. The park, which is 56,796 ha. in size, was established on April 18, 2001, and It was created out of a portion of the Spruce Lake Protected Area. The park is located on three Indigenous Nations: The Tsilhqot’in, St’at’imc, and Secwepemc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community orchard</span>

A community orchard is a collection of fruit trees shared by communities and growing in publicly accessible areas such as public greenspaces, parks, schools, churchyards, allotments or, in the US, abandoned lots. Such orchards are a shared resource and not managed for personal or business profit. Income may be generated to sustain the orchard as a charity, community interest company, or other non-profit structure. What they have in common is that they are cared for by a community of people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows</span>

Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows is a 117-hectare (290-acre) nature reserve in Northamptonshire, owned and managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. The character of the reserve is defined by flooded gravel pits and wet grassland, providing an excellent habitat for large variety of wetland flora and fauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lallinger Winkel</span>

The Lallinger Winkel is a high valley, 162 km² in area, named after the village of Lalling, in the county of Deggendorf in the Bavarian Forest, Germany.

The flora of Door County, Wisconsin comprise a variety of plant species. Geobotanically, Door County belongs to the North American Atlantic Region.

References

  1. ↑ Luther Burbank. Practical Orchard Plans and Methods: How to Begin and Carry on the Work. The Minerva Group. ISBN   1-4147-0141-1.
  2. ↑ Konnert, M., Fady, B., Gömöry, D., A’Hara, S., Wolter, F., Ducci, F., Koskela, J., Bozzano, M., Maaten, T. and Kowalczyk, J. (2015). "Use and transfer of forest reproductive material in Europe in the context of climate change" (PDF). European Forest Genetic Resources Programme, Bioversity International, Rome, Italy.: xvi and 75 p. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-04.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ "The Teme Valley Times supports the Tenbury Applefest". applefest.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2017-06-26. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  4. ↑ "dict.cc dictionary :: Streuobstwiese :: German-English translation". dict.cc.
  5. ↑ Streuobstwiese: meadow orchard in German-English Collins Dictionary
  6. ↑ Berhens M. Why hoopoes won't trade . A Pro Natura Publication on the Global Economy and Nature. Pro Natura, Switzerland, pp. 8-9. Archived March 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Parker, Michael; et al. "High Density Apple Orchard Management". North Carolina State University . Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Sciforce (2023-01-25). "Smart Farming: The Future of Agriculture". IoT For All. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
  9. ↑ "SMART ORCHARD". Innov8 Ag. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
  10. ↑ Nitnaware, Himanshu (November 9, 2020). "Shimla Lawyer Controls Irrigation of Apple Orchard Sitting 100 Km Away. Here's How". The Better India.
  11. ↑ zenger.news (2020-11-22). "Apple Orchards Get Love and Care from Miles Away". The Tennessee Tribune. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  12. ↑ Entry Level Stewardship Handbook. Natural England. 2008. p. 29. ISBN   978-1-84754-080-5.
  13. ↑ "Orchards Live - About Us". orchardslive.org.uk.
  14. ↑ PTES Traditional Orchard Survey
  15. ↑ "Working as a Biologist & Safety At Work Accidents UKBAP". January 25, 2017.
  16. ↑ Dommett, Tom (2022). Blossom over Time: Interim Report (PDF). National Trust. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-25. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  17. ↑ "National Trust to create 68 orchards by 2025 to boost wildlife". the Guardian. 2019-04-27. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
  18. ↑ "Orchards vanishing from the landscape, says National Trust". BBC News. 2022-03-24. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
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