Orchard People

In the past, you would consult a plant hardiness zone map if you wanted to know whether a fruit tree or any other plant could survive in your climate.  But our climate is quickly changing. Are plant hardiness zone maps still helpful? In this episode, we chat about plant hardiness zones with two research scientists from the Canadian Forest Service. They are Dan McKenney, PhD and John Pedlar . You c...

How do you encourage young fruit trees to grow faster and produce an earlier harvest?  Susan Poizner of OrchardPeople.com chats with John Cline Ph. D, Professor in the Department of Plant Agriculture, at the University of Guelph in Ontario. John’s focus is on tree fruit physiology and his goal is to discover what factors affect fruit quality and yield. Additional resources: -This month's recommend...

Steph Roth from Silver Creek Nursery in Ontario talks about how she grafts fruit trees. We will cover collecting fruiting wood, rootstock choices, bench grafting and more. The host of the Orchard People radio show and podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website http://www.orchardpeople.com .   Formerly known as the Urban Forestry Radio Show, from germination in January 2016 u...

Cider apples are a hot commodity these days. But what about perry pears? In this episode, Barry Masterson of Kertelreiter Cider , talks about perry and tells us how to make it and what pear varieties to use.  Barry, who is from Ireland, lives with his German born wife, Ines, in the village of Schefflenz in North Baden, Germany.  Also check out Grow Your Own Mini Fruit Garden: Planting and Tending...

There is a right way and a wrong way to water your fruit trees and other plants. And how you irrigate will affect the health of your plants and the quality of your harvest. Learn the science behind irrigation with sustainable food gardening expert and author Robert Kourik . The prize for this episode is a PDF copy of Robert's book Roots Demystified valued at $12. Robert sources his irrigation equi...

Learn to use your home grown heirloom fruits in recipes from centuries past. Show guests include orchardist Darren Turpin of Orchardnotes.com , historic cook Paul Couchman of Regencycook.co.uk and culinary historian Brigitte Webster of Tudorexperience.com . This month's recommended resource is Olwyn Woodier's excellent book The Apple Cookbook (3rd Edition) (affiliate link) . The host of the Orchar...

Lindsay Mitchell, Editor at the International Society of Arboriculture's publication Arborist News and Sarah Ruark, technical advisor at the Davey Institute , the research arm of Davey Tree , talk about the Detective Dendro® educational mystery series, what it's like to be a real life tree detective, and ways that we can all investigate the mysteries that we encounter in our own trees. The host of...

Lincoln Smith from Forested.us explains how listening to the landscape is the secret to growing healthy fruit trees and fruiting plants. Lincoln will talk about some of his top picks including persimmons, mulberries and black raspberries. Additional resources: This month's recommended resource: The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-Sufficiency in Any Size Backyard by Gary Pilarchik (affilate l...

Reagan Wytsalucy, Extension Assistant Professor, Agriculture & Natural Resources at Utah State University , talks about her journey to find the last orchards growing the age-old, drought resistant South West Peaches. And she explains why these trees must be protected. First Nations communities in the U.S. have been growing these peaches for hundreds of years. Reagan explains why it is essentia...

Do nitrogen fixing plants and trees actually improve soil fertility? Will your fruit trees benefit if you plant nitrogen fixing plants in your garden? Susan speaks to permaculture orchardist Stefan Sobkowiak of Miracle Farms in Quebec, Canada to find out! The host of the Orchard People  radio show and podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com .   Susan...

Learn how to boost your tree's health with fruit tree foliar sprays that you can make at home from sugar, molasses, epsom salts...and Coca-cola? Our show guest is regenerative agriculture expert John Kempf of Advancing Eco Agriculture . Additional resources: Learn the best practices for keeping your trees well-fed and productive through sustainable, eco-friendly methods here . The host of the Orch...

Soil microbes play an essential role in releasing nutrients from the soil in a form that our fruit trees and other plants can access. So, if your soil doesn't have a healthy and diverse microbe population, your fruit trees will not thrive. The problem is that microbes are so tiny that we can't see them with the human eye. How do we know if we have a good microbe population? According to the Soil C...

Jack Legg, an agronomist from SGS Canada , talks about soil and tissue testing and how that can help ensure that your fruit trees and plants have the nutrients they need. The host of the Orchard People  radio show and podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com .   Susan is the author of four books on fruit tree care. Learn more here: https://learn.orcha...

What is the secret of growing blueberries successfully? In this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast we speak to Kathleen Demchak, Senior Extension Associate at Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences about blueberries and how to grow them successfully.    Click here to watch an 8-minute video excerpt from the podcast.  Download Kathleen's PDF on growing blueberries, Keys to Es...

Sam Van Aken is an award winning artist and an associate professor in the Art Department of Syracuse University who uses grafting techniques to create his "Tree of 40 Fruit" art installations across North America.  His trees will grow multiple different types of fruits including peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries and almonds. Additional resources: To see a 10-minute video excerpt from...

When is the best time to fertilize fruit trees? In this episode Tree Fruit Production Extension Specialist Robert Crassweller, Ph. D. from Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences talks about how fruit trees' nutritional needs change throughout the seasons. Additional resources: Watch this 10-minute video excerpt from this episode on when to fertilize fruit trees Learn best practices for keepin...

Most apple trees that we grow in our gardens and orchards are not native to North America. DNA tells us that these trees originate in the mountains of Kazakhstan in Central Asia. But there are some crabapple trees that are native to North America. In this episode we talk to Paul Kron, Research Associate at the Plant Population and Evolution Research Lab at the University of Guelph about native app...

Yael Hickok is a volunteer who cares for Boyer's Orchard in Alaska. Each year she has an apple tasting party or gathering in which she and other volunteers are able to taste over 120 different varieties of apples planted on the site. But how do you evaluate the taste of an apple? Join us for this live apple tasting party to learn some key apple tasting skills.   To prepare for the show, buy these...

Old fruit trees may be hollow but they can still produce fantastic fruit and they provide invaluable habitat to wildlife, sometimes for very unique and specific species. In this radio show learn how to prune old apple trees and how to care for them with UK-based orchard educator Bob Lever. "If you want to make a veteran tree for the future, you need to choose a nice vigorous variety that you know...

Growing fruit trees can be very difficult in extreme climates and no one would understand that better than Greg Peterson of UrbanFarm.org, who grows his fruit trees in Phoenix, Arizona. There, the summer temperatures can soar above 100 degrees F.  Greg also sells over 5,000 fruit trees a year to residents of the Greater Phoenix Area and he educates the public about fruit tree care to ensure that t...

In this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast , host Susan Poizner interviews Lewis McNeill of The Orchard Project about how they help nurture and support groups that want to start community orchards in the UK and the lessons learned can be applied to community orchard projects in North America and other countries as well. This month's recommended resource was a copy of Susan Poizne...

Lorraine Johnson, co-author of the free eBook: "A Flower Patch for The Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee" explains how to use native plants to create a pollinator or bee garden.  This month's recommended resource was Keeping Bees with a Smile: Principles and Practice of Natural Beekeeping . Click here to download a copy of the free eBook "A Flower Patch for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee" by Lorraine Johnson...

In this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast we speak to Dr. Glynn Percival, Manager of Bartlett's Tree Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Reading, UK who has been using vertical mulching techniques to improve soil texture. His strategy is to drill holes into the soil that are 12 inches deep and 3 inches wide. He then fills the holes with a mixture of topsoil,...

In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about how biochar can help boost the carbon levels in your soil. But what is biochar and how is it made? How is biochar different than other types of soil amendments? And is it effective when it comes to to growing fruit trees and perennial plants?  That's what we learn in this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast with guests Mark and L...

What are the benefits and the disadvantages of planting cover crops around fruit trees? Can cover crops on an orchard floor help prevent fruit trees from climate change? Those are just a few of the questions discussed in this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast with expert guest Christina Curell, Cover Crop and Soil Health Educator at Michigan State University .   Christina also t...