The Apple Club Newsletter, Winter 2005, Page 1

Welcome to the winter issue of our newsletter. And apologies first of all for not getting an Autumn copy to you this year. Between the great apple harvest we had, and putting up a new shed, not to mention making juice, the time just slipped by. It is the first time this has happened in five years, and I am determined not to allow it to happen for at least as long again.
I hope that you find this issue as good as two would usually be, and enjoy reading it when you get a chance over Christmas.

Removing an orchard is an emotional task, especially if you have seen it being planted. In the natural order, trees usually live longer than people, so to uproot a tree that is not so old is not exactly normal. But it must be done. In the past few weeks we have been removing some apple trees that were planted in 1982. The reason for taking them out is that, in a modern orchard of small trees, the best apples are produced before the trees are twenty years old. And the Golden Delicious trees that we have been taking out have been producing smaller fruits (and smaller yields) over the past few years.
Of course, we knew that these trees would have to go, and so, already a few years ago, we planted their replacements in a nearby field, and these are now producing well. And the apples that they are giving are larger, better coloured, and tastier. And as soon as the replacements were
planted, it was only a matter of time before the older ones had to go.
There are a few nice things about removing an orchard. One is to admire the quality of the soil left behind. After twenty or more years of vast quantities of apple leaves falling onto the soil, and being incorporated by earthworms and other soil creatures, the soil in our 1982 orchard is now much darker, and it feels and looks really healthy. And so the next crop that is grown on this field should do really well.
Another useful benefit is the wood that results. After twenty three years, an orchard has also produced quite a lot of timber. Much of this is small branches, which we cut off and pulverise, making a nice soil mulch. But the remainder is solid trunks, which can be used for firewood, once dried, which takes a year or so. Two or three trees give enough wood for a decent fire for an evening, and with many hundreds of trees per acre, there is more than enough wood to see out quite a few winters.
That is one of the fringe benefits of growing apples; knowing that apart from the apples that are being harvested each year, and the habitat that the trees have provided for all sorts of birds, insects and animals, that in the end there will also be a harvest of timber.
And this final harvest saves on coal, oil and gas in the heating of our homes. Apples are surely the ultimate in environmentally-friendly crops.

Orchard Removal