Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
For now, it is enough to have the planting areas, buffer strips, roads, and
headlands clearly marked.
Setting Your Soil Standards
All too often, organic growers apply soil conditioners and fertilizers blindly
in the hope that something good will happen. Unless you know what you are
starting with, however, adding materials to the soil is a gamble, at best, and
can actually create problems in an orchard. Make the investment to have
your soil tested before planting a new orchard or changing management
practices in an established orchard. That small investment will reap large
benefits.
Test your soil.
If you are not already sure what your soil type is, have your
soils tested for particle size density (texture or soil type). Also test for pH,
liming requirement, organic matter concentrations, cation exchange capa-
ic tests that are needed). Remember that soils can change dramatically over
very short distances. If necessary, divide your orchard into separate manage-
ment areas based on topography and soils. The topography of your site often
provides clues as to where different soils might be. Given a site with a ridge,
level area, and low-lying area, you might consider testing the soils in each of
those areas. Patches of different types of vegetation on your site may indic-
ate corresponding areas of different soils.
Even in a small home orchard where the site is not uniform, establishing
management zones is important. For example, an organic home orchard I
visited covered less than an acre, but their planting sites ranged from a low-
lying creek side with rather gravelly soils to a level area with silt loam to
a low-lying, poorly drained meadow on silty-clay soil. Each of the areas re-
quired its own preparation, planting, and management strategies. If you have
