HARDY PLANTS

New orange and lemon tree plantation

This winter we pulled up our last Merlot vineyard, about 600 plants. The vines will be replaced by 30 Navelina and Caracara orange trees, 15 Meyer lemon trees and 6 pink Pomelo trees. Also Ichang lemon, Sudachi and Eremorange, 4 of each variety. Then there will be Pomelo Marumero, Tangelo Ambersweet, Kabosu, Corsican blood orange, Fragola orange and Bignette lemon trees, 2 of each variety. Over 70 trees in all.
When this plot is planted, we’ll have 25 different varieties of citrus in our terraced fields, for a total of around 250 trees.

Here’s just the bottom of the plot to prepare. The total surface area is around 4 times larger, 900 square metres in all. We start in January, removing all the wires, then ripping out the poles.
There are hundreds of meters of wire in a vineyard, which quickly makes huge piles.
There are also an impressive number of concrete posts. They are temporarily piled up and will be used to reinforce and reassemble terraces that have collapsed or are too low.
Then the vines have to be pulled out, one by one, with a pickaxe.
We’re stacking that too for now. We’ll need to saw them in half to fit in the fireplace and burn them.
By mid-February, we’ve been making good progress.
Two-thirds of the terraces are clear, and we’re starting to breathe.
At the end of February, the most damaged terraces are reinforced.
We still need to fill in with soil to flat out the terrace a bit.
The next step is to bring the trees to be planted to the plot. Here are the orange trees on standby, with the pot-holder tool in front of them. That allows to carried them on the back, and it’s perfect for 12-liter pots.
The nearest road is 300 meters away. So we have to take the trail down through the woods.
Meyer lemon trees, on the other hand, come in 20-liter pots. They don’t fit in the pot holder. These need to be carried in the arms. Fortunately, there are fewer of them.
Then the holes have to be prepared. Dimensions 50cm by 50cm, 70 to 80cm deep. Distance between holes: 2.50 m for lemon trees, 3 m for orange trees, 4 m for all others.
At the bottom of the hole, 1.5 kilos of granulated chicken droppings are thrown in. If the soil is poor, don’t hesitate to double the amount.
We scrape the soil from the edges of the hole and mix well with the granules. Then we cover with 20cm to 30cm of soil, to the right height for planting. The roots must not touch the fertilizer. In fact, this fertilizer is not for the first year, but rather for the following one.
Then we lay the plant down and open up the air-pot: unscrewing and removing the base.
The bottomless pot is then used to place the tree in the hole, with the rootball as intact as possible. The plastic wall is then removed and the hole filled.
Finally, it’s important to water thoroughly. First a 15-litre bucket. We keep an eye out for a siphon, in which the water quickly disappears.
Example of a siphon. To be filled in with soil, packing it well. Then another 15-liter bucket, now the water should penetrate more slowly.
By mid-March, the lemon trees are in place. The old barn shelters them from the north winds.
And the first rows of orange trees are planted, Navelina and Caracara. The top rows are somewhat exposed to the wind. Those further down will be sheltered by the small hill.
There are still a lot of holes to make and trees to plant. We’ll show you the final results towards the end of April.
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HARDY PLANTS

El Temeris 3, 6513 Monte Carasso

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