In the orchard, remove leaves, water well, feed, and fight against infections to extend the harvest period and have abundant pickings.
Keep pests away
Whether it’s pears, peaches, apples, or grapes, bagging is a tedious but natural method to protect them from wasps, carcasses, and other possible pests. When the fruits begin to ripen, remove the husks a few days before harvest so that they take advantage of the sun and light to perfect their ripening. They will be better after sunbathing.
Trapping the wasps
Wasps are greedy if the ripening fruit contains enough sugar. Fool them with pheromone traps or commercial models to fill with a sugar solution. You can craft your traps. Cut the neck of a plastic bottle to make a funnel. Fill the bottom of the bottle with water and syrup or honey, then lay the neck upside down on top so that the attracted wasps can enter, but are unable to exit.
Adapt watering
Outside of year-round planting, it is completely unnecessary to water your stone or pome trees, even at the end of the dry season: this would require too much water and the fruits would lose taste quality. . While this rule applies to trees with strong growth, it is quite different for small fruit berries. Indeed, strawberries or rising raspberries, although carefully mulched, may still need a water supply. Water copiously in one go at the time of flowering, ideally with a drip, so as to provide 15 mm, or 15 l of water / m².
Nourish to stimulate
There is no such thing as a boost in organic fertilizer. Indeed, this type of input must be mineralized by the microfauna and the microflora of the soil to be restored to the plants, a transformation that takes a few weeks. You can therefore provide occasional and measured organic fertilizer for demanding crops at the start or middle of the cycle. Spinach, for example, will benefit.
Remove the leaves from the vines
At the end of summer and at the beginning of autumn, the ripening of the grapes is completed. At this point, the bunches should receive maximum sunlight. Cut with secateurs the leaves covering the clusters for the trellis trellised on a wall, only those on the rising sun side when the vines are guided on a wire. This operation promotes the ripening of the grapes, but also ensures better ventilation in the heart of the vines, limiting the development of gray mold or botrytis type fungi.
Reduce the spread of disease
During this period of alternating heat and humidity, the spread of fungal diseases like moniliasis can be extremely rapid. So pick up the spoiled fruit that has fallen to the ground and carefully inspect those left on the tree. Also, remove damaged fruit to prevent contamination. Finally, evacuate the fallen leaves: this abnormally early fall often results in contamination by a fungus.
