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Fruit Tree Tip: Pick Up Fallen Fruit and Leaves

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Would you like to grow apples on your tree that you’d actually want to eat? Now is the time for some quick cleanup tasks that will give you better fruit next year.

Pick up fallen fruit.  Regularly collect fruit that is on the ground and add it to your yard waste. This is the single most important thing you can do to prevent insect pests next year.  Pests in fallen fruit overwinter beneath the tree and are in the perfect place to create problems next spring.

Rake up fruit tree leaves. Getting those leaves away from fruit trees keeps leaf-borne diseases such as apple and pear scab from recurring. Scab spores will overwinter on the fallen leaves beneath your tree. You’ll recognize scab first as small dark spots on the leaves. Then the fruit becomes marred by slightly raised dark spots, and in severe cases will deform the fruit. Get those leaves out of the yard and into the yard waste!

Another benefit – all of that added weight from fallen fruit and leaves in your yard waste bin will improve Wallingford’s chance of winning the Think Green Recycling Challenge:  http://www.wmnorthwest.com/seattle/seattlerewards.html

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barbbsea

Barb has lived in south Wallingford since 1992. She's a lady with a lopper as volunteer lead of the Burke-Gilman Trail Urban Orchard Stewards, a group that cares for public fruit trees along the Burke-Gilman Trail between Eastern and where Pacific becomes N 34th. In February 2020 Barb founded the current Friends of Meridian Playground which cares for the fruit trees and grounds of the park and holds weekly volunteer work parties on Wednesday noonish. Friday mornings she joins the Tilth Alliance volunteers to manage the care of the fruit trees at the Good Shepherd learning garden. Barb worked for nonprofit City Fruit for 9 years and still partners with them to teach neighbors to grow good fruit locally. Barb is also accumulating records and photos about the Good Shepherd property for eventual publication online.