Fruit and Orchard Crops

Choosing the site and the trees

An orchard is a decision you live with for twenty years or more, so most of the work that decides whether it pays happens before the first tree goes in. Site comes first. Cold air drains downhill and settles in low spots, so frost pockets can kill blossom year after year while the slope above is fine. Waterlogged soil kills roots, so drainage matters as much as fertility. Wind, hail risk and distance to a packhouse all go on the list.

Then the trees themselves. Temperate fruits such as apples, pears, cherries, peaches and kiwifruit need a certain number of chill hours in winter to flower properly, and varieties differ a lot, so a variety bred for a cold climate may fail in a mild one. The rootstock sets tree size, how soon it bears, and how well it copes with the soil and its diseases. Modern high-density orchards use dwarfing rootstocks and trellises to bring trees into bearing sooner, at a higher planting cost. Many fruit varieties also need a compatible pollinizer variety planted nearby.

Soil, lime and water before planting

Soil problems are far easier to fix before planting than after. Lime moves slowly through soil, so acidic ground should be limed and worked in deeply before the orchard goes in; once the trees are there, you can only top up the surface. Our guide to ag lime costs and application rates covers how much to apply. The same goes for deep compaction layers, drainage lines and any phosphorus or potassium the soil test shows is short.

Most commercial orchards in dry climates now run on drip or micro-sprinkler irrigation, which puts water in the root zone and lets fertilizer go in with it. Water is also where tree crops draw the most criticism, and our article on whether almond farming is bad for the environment looks at that argument and the alternatives.

Fruit and nut crops by climate

Bananas behave differently from the rest of the list. The plant is a giant herb rather than a tree: each stem fruits once and is replaced by a sucker from the same root, so a plantation keeps producing year-round without replanting for several cycles. That makes it quicker to bring into production than an orchard, but it also means diseases that live in the soil, such as Fusarium wilt, can stay in a field for decades.

Nut crops are their own business. Almonds and pistachios take several years to bear and then run for decades, so the land, water rights and variety choice are long-term bets. Our pieces on the top almond producing countries and on California pistachio farmland cover both crops.

Fruit farming in South Africa

South Africa is one of the world’s major fruit exporters, and its industry is built around the fact that its seasons run opposite to Europe’s and North America’s. Citrus is the largest fruit export, grown mainly in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. Apples, pears, stone fruit and table grapes are concentrated in the Western Cape, where winters are cold enough for them. Avocados and macadamias are grown in the warmer northeast, in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Growers there deal with the same pressures as fruit farmers elsewhere, along with a few of their own: water allocation in dry years, the cost and reliability of electricity for irrigation and cold storage, port delays, and the strict pest rules of export markets. A fruit fly or false codling moth found in a shipment can get it rejected at the border. Our article on avocado farming companies in South Africa looks at one of the faster-growing parts of the sector.

Pests and keeping an eye on the orchard

Fruit flies are among the most damaging orchard pests worldwide because the larvae feed inside the fruit, where sprays can’t reach them, and because many importing countries restrict fruit from areas where they’re found. Monitoring traps, orchard sanitation (picking up fallen fruit), bait sprays and, in some regions, sterile insect releases are the standard tools. Our guide to Mediterranean fruit fly control covers them.

For tree health across the whole block, satellite data works well on orchards of a few acres and up. Apple orchards are monitored on Farmonaut in 45 countries. On young or widely spaced trees, indices that correct for the bare ground between rows (such as SAVI) give a cleaner reading than NDVI. Satellite crop monitoring shows which rows are falling behind, and each report includes a seven-day irrigation amount and pest-risk warnings, so you know where to look before damage spreads.