[Pil-pc-oceania] Deciduous leaf drop order

[Dan Palmer]

Hi Fern and thanks for your reply,

I guess I was really asking two questions, first whether despite all 
the variables influencing when a deciduous fruit tree drops its leaves 
(variety, microclimate, climate, water etc.) there is nonetheless any 
general rule of thumb about order, and second, if yes, what is that 
general pattern.  Plums-late apples-late pears is useful as a starting 
point.

The design is for an orchard in the north eastern suburbs of Melbourne 
and the idea is indeed to maximise light penetration.  I have uploaded 
a computer generated diagram (.pdf file) of a draft orchard layout if 
anyone would care to have a look and give me any feedback on layout or 
any other aspect of the orchard design.  I put in a few notes that 
should give enough explanation as to what you're looking at, as this is 
only a snapshot of a larger design.  The orchard consists of three 6-m 
wide sections within which there are two rows of trees, with fences and 
rows all on contour.  As a starting point, because it is a relatively 
compact orchard, we are allowing a 3-4 metre canopy diameter for mature 
fruit trees.  We based the tentative fruit tree layout on the basis of:

-Deciduous trees sun side (north) of evergreens
-Shorter trees sun side (north) of taller trees
-Water-loving plants downhill
-Dry tolerant plants uphill
-Origin of tree relative to position on slope (based on p. 135 of 
Morrow’s Earth User’s Guide)
-Maintenance requirements (high maintenance trees like apples & citrus 
closer to house than low maintenance trees like guavas & olives).
-Planting trees with fruit that ripens outside the canopy in sunnier 
spots

But I am quite sure improvements are possible.  I just need someone to 
tell me what they are ;-).

Here is the url to download the .pdf file (only about 117 kilobytes so 
downloadable even on slow connections): 
http://www.permaculturesolutions.com.au/Orchard.pdf

Feel free to reply off-list or whatever suits.

Thanks in advance,
Dan

> Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 05:58:24 -0500
> From: "permaculture at apollobay.org.au" <permaculture at apollobay.org.au>
> Subject: Re: [Pil-pc-oceania] Deciduous tree leaf drop order
>
> hi dan
> from my experience and observations that depends on alot; variety, 
> climate,
> microclimate, water, stress.
>
> Generally, taking all varieties into consideration, Plums stop fruiting
> earlier and they are the first to shoot, although some tend to hold 
> their
> leaves... goodness, it really depends on the variety so much.  But
> generally it's plums, then apples (late season ones) then late season
> pears.  But it's variety, variety, variety.
>
> Perhaps you wish to have a list of the order in which varieties drop 
> their
> leaves?
> That would be a great project for the list-serve to develop with 
> everyone's
> input... but this also does depend on climate, season etc. and the 
> climate
> is so variable at present...  the apples are so early down here, that
> mid-season varieties are already ripe.
>
> Are you designing the tree leaf drop sequence to maximise winter 
> sunlight
> availability?
>
> Blessings,
> Fern
>
>
> Original Message:
> -----------------
> From: Dan Palmer darnample at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:57:35 +1100
> To: pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org
> Subject: [Pil-pc-oceania] Deciduous tree leaf drop order
>
>
> Hey all,
>
> I'm designing an orchard and am wondering if anyone has a list of the
> order in which the main deciduous fruit trees drop their leaves (e.g.,
> apples then pears then plums or whatever the usual order actually is).
>
> Best,
> Dan Palmer
>
> ---
> http://www.permaculturesolutions.com.au/
>
> _________
>