Oh Brave New World – My Copper Free Orchard

The early plums are bursting out! The bees are in! Mid season plums are on the move!

If copper is your thing then get it on as the buds move. Which means right at the beginning while they’re still a ball – at the very first peep-o (blink and you’ll miss it!). Spray again a fortnight later. There’s no forgiveness here, no flexibility. Just these moments. (There is of course the copper in Autumn at leaf fall, which is possibly of greater import than these spring ones.)

If copper is not your thing,  you’ll need to be sure of a soil – an entire system, infact – that’s humming. That’s so robust, so diverse in biology, nothing adverse can move in and take hold.

There has been no lime sulfur this winter in my orchard, and I’m bravely moving on from copper. I’m putting my faith in a vibrant soil and monthly foliar sprays of EM and seaweed. At times joined by Neem, at times by BT.

Let’s see how we go.

Yours in the earth,

Kath