Welcome to the third issue of our apple club newsletter. We hope that you enjoy it. 

The fruit we grow

Present day strawberries are all descended from one common ancestor of relatively recent origin. It all began with the exploration of the Americas by Europeans in the 1500's. The North American native strawberry (Virginia strawberry) was the first to be discovered, and it was imported into Europe in the late sixteenth century. It was a popular arrival because although its flavour was only reasonable, it carried much larger fruits than the native small- fruited species of Europe.

Then in 1714, another strawberry was brought to Europe; this time from Chile by the French explorer Frezier. Although it bore few enough fruits, the fashion of the time was to plant that which was new, and so the Chilean strawberry was planted in the fashionable gardens of Paris.

While traditionally these two strawberries had never met, inhabiting different sides of the American continent, when brought together to the gardens of Europe, a hybridisation became inevitable.

And so from these crosses of the 1700's came what we now call the cultivated strawberry. Inheriting the properties of both its parents; size from Virginia and flavour from Chile, the wonderful strawberries of today arrived. 

Fungi are at war in our trees
Does your tree have it; now here's how you tell -

the leaves go pure silver and you know its not well.

There's full scale warfare going on in the heart of our plum orchard. It all began with an attack on the plum trees by a disease called Silver Leaf. This fungus enters the tree, and feeds happily within its transport system. However, the effect on the tree is not so happy. Slowly but surely its system gets blocked as the fungus consumes the heart-wood of the tree. This was a battle which no tree would win.

Just when we were beginning to despair, we heard of another fungus that would take care of our trees. Available from Sweden and called Trichoderma, this is a beneficial fungus which attacks the silver leaf disease. An ally for the plum tree.

This fungus is natural in trees, and once within them, begins to search for its favourite food - other fungi like the one causing silver leaf disease.

We contacted Sweden, and were sent some tablets containing the fungus. We were told to drill holes in the infected trees, and insert some tablets. The helpful fungus would enter the tree and protect it from silver leaf disease.

We did as were told and waited for an effect. The fungi did battle in the heart of the trees. What, we were wondering, would be the outcome? Then slowly the trees began to recover. Now almost all are healthy again. With not a chemical in sight, and the disease gone for good, nature's wonders never cease.

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