Successful Biological Orcharding Applying nature's tenets to grow outrageously good fruit Fascinating biological connections make for a healthy orchard ecosystem. All insect pests and fruit tree disease – whether fungal or bacterial – have launching points and particular timing. Healthy trees address these challenges first and foremost from within. Growers utilizing an ongoing investment in soil nutrition and biodiversity set the stage for gentler organic sprays to grow a successful fruit crop. The challenges you face at your locale will become far more manageable as you build a holistic system that keeps trees and berry plantings healthy from the get-go. COMMUNITY ORCHARD FOCUS: We’ll wrap up this day with important marketing perspective for selling the good fruit. 1 diversified farm photo The Right Size Orchard • Economics of more and more acreage • Peak labor times call for ingenuity • Farm as organism • Resilience factors • Community markets • Having fun! 2 Hoch Family Orchard learning curve complexity 3 Healthy Plant Metabolism • Sunshine launches plant The Making of metabolism. • Nitrogen combines with a Healthy Plant plant sugars to create proteins. • Fat energy drives the cuticle defense • Resistance metabolites provide “immune function” against disease and higher order insects 4 photosynthesis Photosynthesis Efficiency • Mn, Cl, and B are activators of enzymes. • Cu, Fe, Zn, and Mo are components of enzymes. • Micronutrients play a key role in protein synthesis as well. 5 The form of Protein Synthesis nitrogen uptake by tree roots plays a significant role in the tree’s innate ability to resist disease. The Right Nitrogen Susceptibility to disease goes rocketing up whenever an orchard tree takes in nutrition in a form that undermines immune function. Several fungal diseases, such as rust and powdery mildew, are enhanced by high levels of nitrogen, particularly in the form of nitrate. Many bacterial diseases are promoted by high nitrogen levels as well. “Nitrogen Form and Plant Disease” by D.M. Huber and R.D. Watson in Annual Review of Phytopathology, 1974, 12:139-165. And that’s why we want a fully-functioning soil food web delivering the ammonium form of nitrogen in the root zone! 6 The Ammonium Advantage Greater fungal biomass results in a slightly more acidic rhizosphere. That means far less nitrifying bacteria are in place to make nitrate N from ammonium N. Protoplasm Incentive An excess of soluble amino acids in plant sap (resulting from incomplete protein synthesis) are a prime draw for foliar pests and pathogenic fungi. 7 Fat Energy Fatty acids profoundly stimulate the arboreal and soil biology. Essential oils act as a foil to insect interest. The cuticle defense will be as much as 4X stronger when robust metabolism is engaged proteolysis Lipid reserves in plants counter proteolysis during times of limited photosynthesis. 8 Phytoalexin Response The terpenoid and flavanoid groupings are core resistance mechanisms to standing up to fruit tree disease. The impetus behind phyto- chemistry is threefold: • presence of disease • foliar elicitors • reserve energy Understory Ramifications Nutrient uptake in more complex forms allows plants the reserve energy necessary to produce greater amounts of secondary plant metabolites. This keys to fungal ascendancy in the soil beneath our tree and berry plantings. 9 We can get a sense of the workings of diverse soil biology and trace Brix Readings mineral availability through light refraction of the resulting soluble solids in plant sap. BRIX 6 Poor BRIX 10 Average BRIX 14 Good www.pikeagri.com BRIX 18 Excellent The Gist of Brix Higher refractometer readings corresponds with complex carbohydrates, complete proteins, and non-reducing sugars, which correlate directly with nutrition and flavor ... and pest and disease resistance. 10 Fungal Duff Management Forest Edge Ecology The first tenet of healthy orcharding is to emulate the way Nature builds soils via fungal connections on the edge of the forest. 11 The Soil Food Web Microbe “feeding frenzy” keeps the immobilization / mineralization balance humming right along. Robust tree health begins with the “right” soil biology Fruiting plants belong in the biological transition zone where the fungal biomass is ten times that of the bacterial biomass. 12 arbuscules in cell ecto-endo diagram 13 Mycorrhizal fungi increase the “soil soil volume reach volume reach” of the tree’s feeder roots by 100 times. But that’s not all folks! mycorrhizal networking 14 Nutrient Balance Researchers grew the legume Medicago truncatula with three species of mycorrhizal fungi that contribute different levels of phosphorous to the plant. Over the span of a day, the most generous species received the highest levels of carbon in return, suggesting the plants somehow monitor their nutrient intake and “decide” what’s most needed. Plants dedicate as rhizosphere much as two- trade thirds of leaf sugar production to “fair trade” with the biology in the rhizosphere. 15 fungus-root Mycelium Messaging Underground signaling extends beyond nutrient exchange. Phytochemical pulsing through the hyphal network alerts neighboring plants to the presence of foliar feeding insects and specific disease vectors. 16 Influence on Soil Carbon Soil aggregates are literally what hold our world together. Carbon-rich “glomalin” consist of mycorrhizal- derived proteins that bind soil particles into microbe havens. Here begin the humic mysteries . Propagule Nuance • Mycelial anastomosis • Root fragments • Spores and more spores 17 Mycorrhizal Root Dips •Disturbed soil ecosystems and the pace of natural succession •Diverse species mix •www.mycorrhizae.com •www.bio-organics.com •Soluble formulations for after-the-fact Drought Relief Mycorrhizae distribute water throughout a plant community: • Glomus deserticola • Glomus fasciculatum • Glomus mosseae 18 Spore Assemblage Non-disturbed ecosystems typically contain 20 to 50 different species of mycorrhizal fungi Mushroom Manifestation One visible “badge of honor” on the fungal front are mushrooms springing forth on the orchard floor. 19 Lessons Applied The ultimate goal in any “orchard system” is to integrate abundant mineralization with fungal duff practices to produce outrageously flavorful fruit. Fungal Banking Traditional means for building an underground economy around fungal connection simply emulate how our planet creates long-term fertility. 20 Wood-Based Fertility Hugelkultur involves an assortment of biological riffs, all based upon burying woodsy debris. Earthwork prior to planting typically utilizes wood resources to either build Hugel prep water-retaining swales or terraces across contour to provide tractor access to trees 21 Creating Biological Terraces Soil/ compost/ hay placed over woodsy debris was used to form polyculture swales alongside tree rows 22 Rechargeable Carbon Battery The porous crystalline spaces found within biochar are a long-term fertility boon for mycorrhizae. biochar particle 23 Humification The newest growth of a deciduous tree contains soluble lignins that have not yet polymerized into outright wood. Fungi convert this into humus. Agricultural soils that have been built from the top down through fungal action has staying power and maximized nutrient recycling. Fungal Foods Organic matter rich in soluble lignins provides particular saprotrophic fungi a chance to rock the humus kasbah. 24 Ramial Chipped Wood Small deciduous trees (on the order of one to two inches in trunk diameter) from field edges, overgrown pasture, and power lines are the ideal wood chip source for perennial plantings: – Far greater proportion of cambium, buds, and twigs in small wood offer healthy nutrition that gets “banked” as long term humus. – White rot fungi along with mycorrhizal fungi makes these nutrients available to a wide range of plants. – Totally different from bark mulch and sawdust !!! Twigs and coarse “lignin chips” make for long- ramial twig view lasting fungal happiness… keep in mind this isn’t about human notions of neatness! 25 Biological Equipment Orchard prunings become ramial chipped wood, made in place, fresh, without leaf, lightly spread, making for a most sensible humic connection. ramial prunings 26 Sourcing the Right Stuff • Coppiced shrubs, not even chipped! • Pasture edges, tree tops from logging, alder resource base • Commercial landscapers ramial sourcing 27 Black Rot •Orchard sanitation, from pruning piles to mummies • What about those big ol’ heading cuts made several years ago? •Frog-eye leaf spot phase 28 Ramial Pockets • This investment in woodsy ecology is a priority! • Easy digging in future years to establish taprooted herbs like comfrey Fungal Duff Zone Emphasize fungal dominance in the understory as best you can, regardless of fruit variety or the rootstock chosen. 29 Fungal Duff Management • Spread mulch haphazardly: Different sides of the tree in different years. A thicker dump of ramial wood chips alters soil dynamics longer for feeder roots. • Fatty acid content of holistic spray options are fuel for desirable organisms in the soil and on tree surface. • Mulch hay for potassium: intact bale for bumble queens; spread over clean sheetrock scraps (gypsum source) • Herb business benefits: raspberry canes, nettle stalks, goldenrod and the like • Nutrient cycling by taprooted understory just as vital as outside mulching inputs. • Leaf decomposition in tree row is “biological profit” Cruise Control • Plant allies like comfrey maintain an openness under the tree all season. • Taprooted plants