This month we joined the Professional Horticulture Group South West for a visit to Charlton Orchards and the arboretum at Little Yarford Farm. In November we will again join them for their pre-Christmas lunch at Wiltshire College, Lackham, when they will invite a guest speaker, yet to be announced.
Peter Grimbly
Contents
Charlton Orchards
Plant of the Month
News from our Associates
Horticulture Industry News
Events Calendar
Horticulture Group contact details
Related Links
Charlton Orchards
They now sell to farmers' markets, plant fairs, food festivals and local shops. They currently cover six markets each week between Taunton and Dorchester and in addition produce vegetable and herb plants to sell. Other enterprises include a variety of unsweetened apple juices and bare root trees.
In addition to the six full-time staff they employ eight to ten casuals, half from the locality and half from Estonia. This Baltic link arose because one Estonian casual returned a second year with a couple of friends and the tradition has been maintained over the years.
Duncan has noticed that his customers tastes have changed over the years and they now prefer harder apples with milder flavours. The penchant for harder apples he puts down to better dental care while he thinks the move away from very strong flavours is a result of the decline in smoking.
The overall philosophy is one of low cost production but that has not meant skimping on essentials. While they use relatively few fungicidal sprays they use insecticides as and when necessary and apply foliar feeds. By looking after their hedges and field margins they are able to maintain a very good population of natural predators and their spray programmes are designed to preserve these as much as possible.
One pest they cannot avoid is deer, mainly roe deer. These live in the surrounding fields of elephant grass being grown for biofuel but will wander in to feed on young shoots. As a result all new plantings have to be surrounded by high fencing to keep them out.
The recent very wet winter has also proved a major problem and in some places they have lost 10% of their apple trees and 90% of gooseberries and raspberries no doubt due to the poor drainage of the predominantly clay subsoil.
Living trees are pruned on a 3-4 year cycle with around 2/3rds of the growth removed. The aim is to produce a low tree that can be fully harvested from a 3-step ladder.
Harvested fruit that is not immediately sold can be stored in their two cold stores, one of which can be used as a modified atmosphere store with high CO2 and reduced oxygen.
Most of the fruit had already been harvested from the trees but inevitably our tour ended in the combined packing shed and shop where we were able to see some of the excellent variety produced as well as purchase some for later consumption.
Peter Grimbly
Plant of the Month
Asimina triloba, Annonaceae, pawpaw
The name Asimina has a complex etymology, being said to be a latinised version of the French form of a North American Indian name for the plant. The specific epithet refers to the three lobed calices of the flowers. Each fruit develops from a single carpel of the flower – and up to three individual fruits (follicles) can be produced although commonly more than one aborts before maturity giving the fruit the appearance of being asymmetrically attached to the branch (middle picture by US Agricultural Research Service).
The fruit is very easily damaged and so does not travel well - meaning that it is only occasionally seen in farmers markets and rarely in areas where the tree does not grow. However, there has been a recent increase in interest in cultivating this tree in particular by organic farmers as it has very few insect pests or predators. The paw paw is the producer of a range of natural products including chemicals known as annonaceous acetogenins. These substances are toxic to most insects, except for the zebra swallowtail butterfly, which ingests these molecules and uses them to protect itself against its own predators!
Some of these molecules have been found to have anti-cancer activity and could be a promising lead for new cancer therapies.
It is also believed that this species may once have had a wider distribution, as the now extinct mega-fauna was the main distributors, having feasted on the delicious fruits. Today, the mega-fauna are the humans living in North America.
Lower picture - cut fruits and seeds by Manuel.conde.
Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15730242
Alison Foster
Oxford Botanic Garden
News from our Associates
CHA continues to recruit for Growtech Eurasia to be held in Antalya, Turkey between 3-6 December 2014; IPM in Essen, Germany between 27 - 30 January 2015 and Fruit Logistica held in Berlin between 4 - 6 February 2015. Working in conjuction with HDC and the Potato Council the UK presence at Fruit Logistica promises to be larger than ever. For further information on these shows and particularly the grants available to UK companies exhibiting at them, contact CHA.
The Federation will be holding its Annual General Meeting at Charles Darwin House, London on 20 November 2014.
Horticulture Industry News
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Sustainable, biological nitrogen fixation
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Certis to market Ecospray nematicide
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Potential for new generation of fungicides
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New Head of School of Horticulture at Kew
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EU taxes on Kenyan imports continue for now
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Garlic injection could tackle tree diseases
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Events Calendar
Grow Save
6 Nov 2014, Horticultural Development Council
Cawood, UK
Citrus Biotechnology
11 - 14 Nov 2014, International Society for Horticultural Science
Shizuoka, Japan
Grow South
12 Nov 2014, Roundstone Nurseries
Chichester, UK
BCPC Weeds Review 2014
13 Nov 2014, BCPC
Harpenden, UK
Advances in IPM
19 - 20 Nov 2014, Association of Applied Biologists
Marston, UK
Croptec
19 - 20 Nov 2014
Peterborough, UK
Interpoma
20 - 22 Nov 2014, Fierabolzano
Bolzano, Italy
Crop Production in Southern Britain: Precision Decisions for Profitable Cropping
25 - 26 Nov 2014, Association of Applied Biologists
Peterborough, UK
Postharvest Research, Education and Extension
8 - 11 Dec 2014, International Society for Horticultural Science
Hochiminh City, Vietnam
Challenges for Crop Production and Quality
9 - 10 Dec 2014, Association of Applied Biologists
Harpenden, UK
Teaching and Communicating Science in the Digital Age
15 - 17 Dec 2014, Society of Experimental Biology
London, Uk
Advances in Nematology
16 Dec 2014, Association of Applied Biologists
London, UK
IPM Innovation in Europe
14 - 16 Jan 2015, PURE
Poznan, Poland
Crop Protection and the Food Chain: The Future
21 Jan 2015, Crop Protection Association
Peterborough, UK
UK Brassica and Leafy Salad Conference
28 Jan 2015, Brassica Growers Association & British Leafy Salads Association
Peterborough, UK
If you would like to advertise a forthcoming event please contact. ester.monfort@soci.org
Horticulture Group Contact Details
For submitting ideas or to volunteer to be part of a committee or a group, please contact:
Chairman - Peter Grimbly
Meetings Secretary - Alison Foster
Minutes Secretary - Margaret Waddy
Newsletter Co-ordinator - Sue Grimbly scihortigroup@btinternet.com
Group Contact - Ester Monfort Martinez, E: ester.monfort@soci.org T: +44(0)20 7598 1584
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