Agricultural practices for September / October

For the weekend farmer and or town fruit garden owner maybe a few tips on what to be done.

1.  Fruit thinning.  Usually with our lovely weather our trees produce to much fruit.  To get better size and quality fruit you have to thin.  With peaches it is usually a space between fruit of about 15cm and with apricot and plums a space of 8 to 10cm is fine.  This creates enough space for the fruit to develope and you will pick definately bigger fruit this year.
2.  Fertilizing.  This is the tricky one.  If the trees do get enough water they will usually have enough vigour in Calitzdorp.  To help the tree a bit and to replace the Nitrogen and Potassium which the tree took out of the soil with the removal of last years crop you have to add a bit.  The commercial farmers will tell you that with apricots and other stone fruit you have to replace about 2kg of nitrogen per tonne fruit produced per hectare (800 trees per ha).  The potasium replacement will be about 2.5kg per tonne fruit per ha.  Remember compost never replaces the fertilizer and usually just act as an add-on.  Your trees will definately act on good fertilizing habits.  The compost adds a lot of organic matter which sometimes include nitrogen and potasium in very small amounts but never enough for the plants needs.
3.  Micro elements.  Sometimes plants especially peach trees show some yellow leaves and that is usually a shortage in micro elements.  Here you must look for additions of small amounts of magnesium (Engelse sout) and iron.  A spray of boron and zinc can not do the tree harm either.  Most of these is available in our soils but because of our high pH soils not  very accesable for the plant.
4.  General spraying with a backpack spray (16lt) cost you about R170 at the local Landmark,  can also be done.  Spray for most fungal growth with Mancozeb and Sulphur (Kumulus) base sprays.  Do incude also something for insects as after the wet winter and warm spring their numbers are increasing quickly. 
5.  Do remember to spray for fruit flies and or put out the 'lamp olie / water' mixture to keep their numbers intact.