Food Production -Top And soft Fruit

Question 1

Distinguish between top and soft fruit.

Answer 1

Top fruit are trees - apple, pear, plum etc
Soft fruit are bush / cane / vine and strawberry.

Includes: strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, blueberries
and grapes

Question 2

Apple - dessert
Name cultivar, pollination requirements, describe flavour; season for
cropping and potential for storage.

Answer 2

Malus domestica ‘beauty of bath’

Needs a pollination partner of a different variety nearby (pollination Group C)

Harvesting - early crop, pick in August.
Immediate consumption when ripe. Twist gently. Beauty of Bath apples tend to fall from the tree as soon as they are ripe. They are best picked and eaten on the same day. If you have a surplus then try juicing them, the juice will have an attractive pink tinge.

Mildly sharp to sweeter as ripens

Good resistance to apple scab

Pest codling moth, pheromone traps aphids
Disease apple canker - cut out infected area

Question 3

Plums
Name cultivar, describe flavour; season for
cropping and potential for storage.

Answer 3

Prunus domestica ‘Victoria’

Harvesting
Storage plastic bag with holes in fridge

Pest
Plum moth - pheromone traps will indicate presence. Search out infected plummets and remove

Disease
Silver leaf prune from end of June - August and keep cuts to minimum

Question 4

Describe the establishment of raspberries

Answer 4

Rubus idaeus ‘Autumn Bliss’

Raspberries thrive in moisture-retentive, fertile, slightly acidic soils, which are well-drained and weed free. They dislike soggy soils and shallow chalky soils. For best results, plant in a sunny position (although they will tolerate part shade). Ideally, site your rows running north to south, so that they do not shade each other.

Raspberry flowers are self-fertile and pollinated by insects, so avoid a very windy site. Also, the fruiting side branches of some cultivars are very long and may break in the wind.

Ground preparation,

Planting

Support where necessary

Mulching

Pruning

Irrigation

Harvest on dry day
Storage freeze or preserve
Pest Birds - fruit cage/netting raspberry beetle
Disease - Grey Mould -

Question 5

Blackcurrants

Answer 5

Cultivar Titania /Ben Lomond
Harvest cutting strigs when they turn black (older versions shod be picked individually
Storage frozen, cooked or preserved
Pest birds
Disease Gooseberry mildew or Grey Mould thrives in damp so air circulation and good spacing

Question 6

Strawberries

Answer 6

Rosie / Cambridge Favourite
Pest - slugs
Disease - powdery mildew grey mould

Question 7

Cherry

Answer 7

Morello

Question 8

Pear

Answer 8

Conference

Question 9

Gooseberries

Answer 9

Careless

Question 10

Talk about blueberries!

• cultivars
• pests / diseases
• pruning
• pollination
• site requirements

Answer 10

Vaccinium corymbosum ‘fruiting dixi’ - late season fruit (aug/Sept)

Vaccinium corymbosum ‘gold traube’ - mid season (Jul-Aug)

Blueberries need a sheltered site in well-drained, moisture-retentive, acidic soil (pH 4.5-5.5) in sun or part shade.

Although many blueberries are partly or fully self-pollinating, it is best to grow a minimum of two, as cross-pollinated plants tend to produce larger fruit

Usually pest and disease free, but can occasionally suffer from vine weevil or powdery mildew. Birds can be a problem, protect the ripening fruit with netting.

If grown on soils with higher pH the plans can suffer from chlorosis and require treatment with chelated iron.

A mature bush should contain about one-third old, one-third middle-aged and one-third young stems. Prune out:

Dead, diseased, dying, weak, rubbing or damaged stems, plus any that are touching the ground
Twiggy growth at the ends of the branches that fruited last year, cutting back to a low strong, upward-facing bud or branch
Remove up to a quarter of the oldest and thickest stems at the base of a mature plant or prune to a younger strong shoot lower down on the branch

Question 11

Soil for fruit

Answer 11

Top fruit 60cm topsoil 45 cm soft fruit
PH 6-7

Compost/manure for soft fruits when preparing soil 2 months before

Fertilise Growmore

Not too much compost or manure for trees unless soil very poor

Question 12

Feeding fruit

Answer 12

Nitrogen ( not too much as don’t want leafy growth at expense of fruit)

Growmore Fish blood and bone
Phosphorous Bonemeal
Potassium potash wood ash (flowering period)

Growmore in spring

Tree fruits cover area covered by tree canopy

Question 13

Training fruit trees (restricted forms )

Answer 13

Cordon - refers to a single stem with short sideshoots (the fruiting spurs); suitable for all apples and pears that bear fruit on short sideshoots (spur-bearing).

Espalier - training to grow against a wall; allows for easier access for pruning and harvesting; very decorative, once often used in walled kitchen gardens.

Fan - a ‘fan’ shaped tree with multiple branches from near the base, can be utilized for apples, pears, plums, gages, cherries and damsons, as well as peaches, nectarines and apricots

Question 14

Reasons for using root stocks

Answer 14

Most fruit are cultivars and so need vegetative reproduction

Some cultivars don’t grow well on own roots

Some rootstocks more resistant to pests and diseases

Used to control size of tree prime reason

Question 15

Advantages of dwarf/restricted forms

Answer 15

Fit into small area
Easier to cultivate 
Easier to protect
Fruit yield per unit area increased
More cultivars in one space

Question 16

One year old tree

Answer 16

Maiden

Question 17

2 types of maiden?

Answer 17

Whip

Feathered maiden

Question 18

Formative Pruning of unrestricted forms

Answer 18

Open goblet shape
Maiden (year 1) - cut back central leader to healthy bud or leader leaving 3-5 buds/laterals below. Shorten laterals by two thirds cutting to upward or outward facing bud.

Year 2 cut leaders by half to outward facing buds, prune any shoots not required for main branches to 4 or 5 buds, remove any badly spaced crossing or rubbing

Year 3 (spur bearers ) shorten leaders by cutting back quarter of seasons growth and prune strong laterals to four to six buds and weak ones to two to three
Remove DDDXR 

Year 3 tip bearers shorten leaders as above but don’t prune side shoots unless DDDXR

Question 19

Establishing cordon

Answer 19

Usually trained angled to 45 degrees (oblique cordon), but can be trained singly vertically (i.e. Minarette®) or horizontally (stepover). Angled (oblique) cordons are more productive and less prone to getting out of hand than vertical cordons. They are trained against a wall, fence or on wires between free-standing posts.

45 degree angle
1 metre apart 2metres between rows
Rows ideally north to south

Question 20

When to prune unrestricted apple tree forms

Answer 20

November - march (dormant season)

Question 21

When to prune restricted forms

Answer 21

July/August

Question 22

Pruning unrestricted established spur bearing apple tree

Answer 22

Fruit on 2 year old or more wood
Cut back seasons growth by one third to an outward facing bud
Prune laterals to 3-4 buds
Prune sub laterals to one bud
Any overcrowded spurs can be thinned to 3-4 buds

Question 23

General rules for soft fruit

Answer 23

Sunny sheltered position
Enriched soil before planting 
Keep ground weed free - benefit from mulching 
Watering essential 
General fertiliser in spring

Question 24

Blackcurrants planting and pruning

Answer 24

Sunny away from frost
Bare root so plant dormant season like to be planted a bit deeper
Little pruning in first 3 years
After that cut back stems that have fruited to a low bud and cut back one third of wood to base starting with oldest first.

Question 25

Raspberries planting

Answer 25

Sheltered sunny (can tolerate shade)
Bare root so plant during dormant season Nov march
Dig trench build Post and wire system
Plant 40cm apart in rows 1.5m apart
Cut back canes
Summer fruiting
After fruiting cut out fruited canes to ground level.
Retain 5-8 of strongest stems and tie in at 10 cm intervals
Cut tops 15cm above wire or bend over in arch and tie back down.
Autumn fruiting cut back all canes to ground level in late winter
Mulch with manure

Question 26

Strawberry planting and pruning

Answer 26

Plant July- Sep 50 cm apart rows 75cm apart
Pots can fruit first year runners take flowers off first year

Black polythene or miles good mulch and keeps clean
Crop in may very early if covered by cloche or poly tunnel
Remove runners
After fruiting cut back foliage to 10cm from crown and burned with any straw and debris then fertilise with high potash or Growmore.

Question 27

What does triploid mean?

Answer 27

Fruit tree that has sterile pollen and needs two other cultivars for good pollination; therefore, always grow at least two other non-triploid cultivars with each one.

Question 28

Describe apple pollination groups

Answer 28

Flowering Group 1: very early; pollinated by groups 1 & 2

Flowering Group 2: pollinated by groups 1,2 & 3

Flowering Group 3: pollinated by groups 2, 3 & 4

Flowering Group 4: pollinated by groups 3, 4 & 5

Etc, up to group 7 (very late flowering)

Question 29

Describe the maintenance of raspberries

Answer 29

In early spring, sprinkle a general-purpose fertiliser such as Growmore around the base of the plants, then add a mulch of garden compost or well-rotted farmyard manure. This will prevent weeds growing.

Summer-fruiting raspberries
In early summer, pull up suckers between the rows of summer raspberries. Cut back fruited canes to ground level after harvesting in summer; do not leave old stubs.

Select the strongest young canes that have grown during the current season, around six to eight per plant, and tie them in 8 –10cm (3–4in) apart along the wire supports. These will fruit the following summer.

Autumn-fruiting raspberries
Cut back all the old, fruited canes to ground level in February. New canes will start growing in spring. These will bear fruit later in the year.

Reduce the number of canes slightly in summer if they are very overcrowded. Thin to around 10cm (4in) apart.

Remove the remaining (excess) young stems to ground level.