HARDY PLANTS

Mulching citrus trees

Once you’ve finished planting the new citrus plot, it’s important to mulch each tree properly as soon as possible. The weather was dry, exceptionally cold and very windy in the second half of April. A thick mulch will prevent the plants from drying out and allow for more frequent watering.
The first step is to find hay. Direction Val Maggia.

The river Maggia seems rather low, but it often floods and its bed is very wide. A few kilometers further down, it ends up in Lake Maggiore.
Val Maggia is one of the few places in Ticino where vines are still cultivated in the same way as in the Middle Ages. All in pergola form, on posts carved out of rock (Gneiss) and wooden sleepers salvaged from the forest. Very tiring to prune, bind and also to harvest. Courageous people who keep the tradition alive deserve respect.
It’s the end of wintering for the cows, who can now get out to the valley pastures. In a month’s time, they’ll be going up to the mountain pastures. A good time to find surplus hay from breeders. We arrive in Lodano, at the home of an organic breeder.
Looks like a lot of hay, but most of it is already booked. Permaculture is spreading and there is a growing demand for mulching vegetable gardens.
The truck is soon full. Just 8 bunches of about 30 kilos, I would have taken more but it should be enough for the new trees.
We leave with what we need for the plot we’ve just planted, just over 70 citrus trees. Only around 500 kilos of hay will be needed for the 200 older trees, which still have residual mulch from last season.
Once we arrive at Monte Carasso, there’s more to come.
The plot is 150 metres from the road, with a 50-metre gradient all uphill. We didn’t mount the trees like this because of the vibrations and shocks that can damage the roots.
The advantage of the trail below is that there are no stairs. A lot of rocks, so it’s shaky, but you can get over it with the snowcat.
5 minutes to reach the plot.
And we can unload the precious hay that will protect the young trees.
The bare earth around the trunk of an orange tree will quickly dry out, and without a cover it will also harden.
A good layer of hay will prevent this. Microfauna find shelter there and work the soil for us, keeping it moist and loose. There will also be very little weeds near the trunk, while avoiding evaporation, so less cleaning and less watering.
The lemon trees were already mulched with ferns. We still add a layer of hay on top.
When the job is done, there are still almost two whole bunches left. We’ll keep them dry.
They will come in handy as mulching will need to be added before autumn. The layer may look thick, but it will reduce slowly and needs to be renewed two or three times a year, also for the smaller trees (on the photo: Ichang lemon, Sudachi and Kabosu).
The root system of young orange trees and all the other is protected from direct sunlight, at least for a few months.
We didn’t plant citrus trees everywhere. The four middle terraces are for a new vegetable garden. So far just potatoes and carrots.
And on the lower, shadier terraces, three varieties of Feijoa guava (Acca sellowiana) and two of Pawpaw (Asimina triloba).
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