Orchard Management (1+1)

POPULAR CULTURAL METHODS

Popular cultural methods followed in orchards are.

1. Clean cultivation:

• This is keeping the soil clean without any other vegetation, by repeated ploughings.
• If it is not done properly, it will harm the soil.
• The main aim of this is to control weeds; it could be done with weedicides for better advantage.

2. Sod culture:

• This is keeping the orchard soil covered by grass growing in situ (Plate 13.1) which will be cut down from time to time and left on the soil itself to add organic matter to the soil.
• This is best suited for heavy rainfall areas only.

Advantages of Sod culture:

• During heavy rains, it uses the excessive water and keeps the soil water in control.
• During dry periods, it acts as natural mulch and conserves soil moisture.
• It helps in reducing the damage to the fallen fruits.

Sod should not be maintained in young orchards as there will be competition for nutrients with the young.

Plate 13.1: Sod culture with clean strip Plate 13.2: Dry grass mulching in pomegranate

3. Mulching:

• It is keeping the surface of the soil covered by a layer of any organic material (Plate 13.2) like leaves, straw, ground nut hulls, cottonseeds hulls, corn waste, saw dust, paper pieces, paddy husk, sugarcane task or any plant residue etc.

Advantages of Mulching:

• Conserves soil moisture
• Regulates soil temperature
• Improves quality of produce
• Avoids weeds
• Adds organic matter to the soil on decomposition.
• Reduces soil erosion
• Improves activity of soil micro organisms.
• Improves availability of soil nutrients.

Disadvantages:

• Sometimes problems of rat menace and fire hazards may occur.

As discussed in lecture 4, mulching can be done with polythene sheets also but they will not be adding any organic matter to the soil, but gives all other advantages.

4. Intercropping:

• It is the practice of growing some suitable short duration crops in between plant rows in the orchard.
• Intercrops if taken should be supplied with all their requirements separately to reduce competition with orchard plants.
• Intercrops should occupy a secondary place in the orchard, primary consideration being given to the perennial fruit trees.
• Leguminous intercrops help in improving soil fertility also.
• Intercropping can be followed to the maximum advantage in the preparing stage of the orchard plants.

Advantages of intercropping:

• Inter cropping helps on getting some additional returns from the same land putting land to maximum utilization.
• This system is advantageous to the main plants from the culture operation carried out for the intercrops.

5. Cover cropping:

• It is the practice of keeping the soil covered by growing creeping types of plants.
• These also act as mulches but will be drawing some nutrients from the soil.
• Leguminous cover crops add nitrogen to the soil.
• Cover crops when ploughed in to the soil improve its organic matter content.

Soil degradation:

• Soil erosion is one of the major problems in orchards, especially where growers use sprinkler and flood irrigation systems and in hilly areas.
• Water-induced erosion results in the transport of soil particles into downstream waterways.
• These sediments may carry unwanted pesticides and nutrients that adhere to them.
• There are several management practices that can be employed to control erosion.
• Improvement of the soil’s physical qualities through orchard floor management is an attractive option because it often results in improved yields, better water use efficiency, and reduced runoff as discussed earlier.
• In addition, contour cultivation and terracing in hills, conservation bench terraces (CBT) can be followed.

Contour planting:

• It is followed in apples, apricots, almonds, cherry, pears, plums etc. in hills with high slopes.
• In this, trees are planted along a uniform slope without disturbing the topography, with the objective of reducing the loss of top soil due to erosion (Fig 13.1).

Figure 13.1: Plan for contour planting and terrace planting on sloppy lands.

Terrace planting:

• In this method, small terraces are made, and trees are planted in the middle of these and thus this will provide sufficient space for inter cropping for additional income.
• This method is even more effective in preventing runoff and soil loss than contour planting (Figure 13.2).

Figure 13.2: Plan for terrace planting on sloppy lands.