Fireblight is a bacterium that infects members of the Rosacea family—roses, apples, pears, quince and peaches and cherries.

Pears and quince the most susceptible but apples can get it.

Untreated fireblight can kill trees. But it can be treated.

So if planning to plant apples and/or pear  or quince trees talk to your nursery, not a resaler of trees but the nursery that grafts scions to rootstocks to chose the rootstock used and the trees to plant choosing fireblight resistant trees and rootstocks.


Treatment

1. Pruning. Before starting to prune make sure secateurs are sharp. Prepare a 10% bleach solution: 90% water + 10% bleach. BEFORE each cut dip the secateur blades into that solution else you could spread the disease to clean branches. Cut 30cm below the lowest infected leaf/twig. Burn the prunings.

2. Spray. A copper spray will kill the bacteria. For follow up sprays use the following. It will control a lot of pests and boost the health and immunity to disease of the trees:

For 5L of spray make up:

 25ml Unpasteurised Neem oil (this must be 25*C or warmer so no lumps present)
  5ml Pure liquid soap (to emulsify the neem oil)
20ml Essential bacteria (to kill blight bacteria, boost trees’ immune systems
  5ml Molasses to feed the essential bacteria
100ml Fish hydrosylate (or Charlie Carp but hydrosylate is better, rawer)
  5ml dried kelp. (or Seasol Maxicrop)


Spray the top and bottoms of leaves. Use the spray when the buds are going slightly light colored, again when they are just about to open and when they are open and every 4 weeks. (Days in my case now!)

In winter, sterilising the secateurs before each cut cut 100-150ml below any bacterial cankers, burning the prunings as before.

Plenty of info about, e.g:
https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/plpath-fru-22-0

https://www.rwhendricksenco.com/tree-blight-identification-symptoms-control/

DON’T prune too excessively and don’t use high nitrogen fertilisers—you get lots of sappy new green growth that is extremely susceptible to the blight.

Spray Seasol, not Charlie Carp unless your trees are really gasping.

If wanting to apply manure—sheep manure is lower in nitrogen, more balanced than chook or cow manure—verey high nitrogen. OK for veges, not for fruit trees!

The trees I had to prune the most, pears and quince, I fed with a handful of blood and bone, worked that into the top of the soil a bit, added compost then watered in with water plus Seasol. All have some new green, clean leaves.

Will spray all the trees again with the spray listed above. Had sprayed with copper on Monday.

Watering.

Water at ground level or from just above ground level.

Making the foliage wet just encourages all sorts of disease.

All the trees that had blight are full of healthy new leaves.

I added a small amount of charlie carp to the watering can along with more seasol. It is high nitrogen but only added a small amount.

Will be buying rock dust, that will add some phosphates slowly.

Trees are going in the ground, neighbor helping me.

While I had pears and apples in the one plantation after the “fireblight” I got a bit cautious. I removed the pear trees from the planting plan and put them downhill and downwind from the apples and we planted the peach trees in a row between the apple and pear trees (one apple tree that couldn’t fit in anywhere got added to the house end of that row {Oops} but one of my Bendigo Beauty trees had died  :'(

So I have two peaches to eat fresh, two for canning—preserving and enough to give some to neighbors.

I ended up with THREE Hubbardston Nonsuch apple trees, gave one to the neighbor across the road, owner of two German Shepherds that are a noise nuisance. Offered another to the guy helping me plant trees—he hasn’t taken it yet. Oh well.

Fantastic tree:


Quote:

Characteristics: The flesh is yellowish, hard, crisp and fine-grained. Juicy, sprightly and sweet, nutty, becoming more flavourful in storage. Uses: A wonderful fresh eating apple with nutty, toasty flavours. Origins: Originated in Hubbardston, Massachusetts (U.S.A.) in the early 1800s and first documented in 1832. In its September 1845 issue, "The Magazine of Horticulture" rates it highly and reports that the Hubbardston Nonsuch is much in demand in Boston markets during the autumn months.

https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/hubbardston-id-1967

Not a supermarket bland apple! Surplus apples will be juiced and bottled or juiced and added to a cider.

If the neighbor doesn’t take the spare HN tree I will plant it in the 4m wide MID strip near the Brown Snout and Dabinet trees—all flower in Period 5, first week in November (so after spring frosts) so will help with pollination of those trees. The MID area will be where my chooks will be housed and on the far side will be my vege patch (plus cherry trees and currant bushes.)

I have two apple trees with no label—will transplant them into the biggest pots I have, fresh potting mix etc and identify them down the track—time of flowering, characteristics of fruit and also see if I can work out what trees are missing when all are planted.

Can’t seem to find my Green Horse perry pear trees  :-? :-[

Ended up with FOUR Golden Harvey trees instead of the three I wanted. Not that I care!


Quote:

Thought to have originated in the 1600s in Herefordshire. Fruits have firm, crisp, yellow flesh with a sweet, rich, aromatic flavour. A very old intensely sweet eating apple also famous for its strong, sweet cider. SWEET. Pollination Group: PG2 Uses: Eating, Cider Harvest: April - May

and


Quote:

Summary: Dessert apple, also used for making juice, but it shines as a cider apple providing an intense sweet-sharp flavour and high specific gravity in the juice. Characteristics: The flesh is remarkably yellow, so much so that the apple derives its adjective from the colour of the flesh rather than the colour of the skin as might be supposed. Very firm, crisp and juicy. Sweet-sharp, spicy with intense flavour and excellent aroma. However, during cool summers, the flavour can be rather bland, though still very sweet. Origins: One of a number of ancient varieties, it was widely known and appreciated when pomologist Evelyn wrote about it in the early 1600s. It likely arose in Hertfordshire (U.K.) and, because of its sweetness and flavour, became a popular dessert apple in Victorian England. Unfortunately, it fell out of favour in the late 1800s, largely because of its small size. Its parentage is not known.

Eat, juice, cider. Since I am 5500Km weatherwise from Antarctica  the summers will be hot enough to have fantastic fruit to eat, to juice and to make cider! So, I bought one tree too many? Great!

If the apples are a bit small—great size for a lunch box!

From Herefordshire to the US:


Quote:

Characteristics: Flesh is yellowish, firm, crisp and juicy. Tough skin and coarse texture, though it softens in storage. Flavour is slightly sweet, slightly tart, spicy and cidery, reminiscent of the Winesap. For best flavour, pick when the red covers most of the apple, but avoid leaving it too long on the tree since it is prone to developing water core. In storage, they often develop a waxy skin. Uses: A complex, hard-cider apple. Eaten fresh, pie and sauces as well as cider. Cooked, it takes on a rich, yellow colouring. Makes a superb apple strudel. Origins: Found as a wild seedling along a fence row on the farm of Ben Frost in Washington County, Arkansas (U.S.A.), in 1893. While it is generally agreed that the flower parent was a Jonathan , the pollen parent is speculated to be either an Arkansas Black or a Winesap . It was introduced by Stark Brothers Nursery of Missouri in 1902.

Wild seedling = pippin.

https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/king-david-id-3746


Quote:

Discovered in 1893 in a hedgerow in Washington County, Arkansas, USA. It was introduced in 1902 by stark bros., Louisiana, USA. Fruits have rather coarse flesh with a sub-acid, slightly sweet flavour. © Crown Copyright Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0. Pollination Group: PG3 Uses: Eating Harvest: March - April Features: Lunchbox apple

https://www.heritagefruittrees.com.au/king-david-apple-medium/


Quote:

King David Dating back to Arkansas 1890's, this is thought to be a cross between Jonathon and Black Arkansas or Winesap. Quite a spicy / tart apple, similar to a winesap - ideal for cider. Very juicy. Red to dark black in colour, ripens late.

https://www.woodbridgefruittrees.com.au/cider-apples/200-king-david.html

So some ciders—sweet (two Sweet Coppin cider apple trees plus the four Golden Harvey plus Hubbardston Nonsuch and Court of Wick) some tart (the King David trees, one Calville Blanc D'Hiver (French cooking apple, spicy–tart like King David) and fresh-picked Sturmer Pippin apples plud Granny Smith and Bramleys Seedling (UK’s fave cooking apple) tart apples.

Two and a bit (10 trees) of bitter sweet apples went in the ground today:

Brown Snout—quality cider apple with a “desert wine” character.

Dabinet—the top vintage cider variety

Yarlington Mill (a seedling found growing between two stones in the millrace at Yarlington, UK) another very high quality vintage cider apple.

Hubbardston Nonsuch—planted with the bittersweets because it blossoms very late in spring.

Probably Wednesday we will start planting some eating and cooking apples—already have Sturmer Pippin, Cox Orange Pippin and Granny Smith planted.

Cox Orange Pippin is the champion eating apple! Crisp, tasty, aromatic and juicy. You know you are eating something when you eat a COP! A fiddly tree to grow, I bought a Lord Lambourne—pretty damn similar to a COP but a damn sight easier to grow—insurance.

Moving right ahead getting trees in the ground. Pears seem to have suffered, no Beurre Hardy, Doyenne du Comice and GReen Horse perry pears. Think I have both Beurre Bosc trees.

Definitely have all the apple trees pretty much.

Have four King David and four Golden Harvey trees. Hey—fine by me!


King David is an American tree, thought to be a descendant of Jonathan and Arkansas black or Winesap. Very nice tree—the landscaper looking after my trees after I sold George Town block picked one and said it was “delicious!”


Quote:

King David Dating back to Arkansas 1890's, this is thought to be a cross between Jonathon and Black Arkansas or Winesap. Quite a spicy / tart apple, similar to a winesap - ideal for cider. Very juicy. Red to dark black in colour, ripens late.

https://www.woodbridgefruittrees.com.au/cider-apples/200-king-david.html

Woodbridge supplied me with some at least of my 4 King David trees.



Quote:

Discovered in 1893 in a hedgerow in Washington County, Arkansas, USA. It was introduced in 1902 by stark bros., Louisiana, USA. Fruits have rather coarse flesh with a sub-acid, slightly sweet flavour. © Crown Copyright Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0. Pollination Group: PG3 Uses: Eating Harvest: March - April Features: Lunchbox apple

https://www.heritagefruittrees.com.au/king-david-apple-dwarf/



Quote:

Characteristics: Flesh is yellowish, firm, crisp and juicy. Tough skin and coarse texture, though it softens in storage. Flavour is slightly sweet, slightly tart, spicy and cidery, reminiscent of the Winesap. For best flavour, pick when the red covers most of the apple, but avoid leaving it too long on the tree since it is prone to developing water core. In storage, they often develop a waxy skin. Uses: A complex, hard-cider apple. Eaten fresh, pie and sauces as well as cider. Cooked, it takes on a rich, yellow colouring. Makes a superb apple strudel. Origins: Found as a wild seedling along a fence row on the farm of Ben Frost in Washington County, Arkansas (U.S.A.), in 1893. While it is generally agreed that the flower parent was a Jonathan , the pollen parent is speculated to be either an Arkansas Black or a Winesap . It was introduced by Stark Brothers Nursery of Missouri in 1902. Cultivation: Moderately vigorous, spreading with a tendency to go brushy. Tolerates humid climate and needs warm autumns to fully ripen. Fruit holds well on the tree. Hardy zones 5 to 9. The apple will colour up before being fully ripe and so is often picked too early as a rather tart fruit

https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/king-david-id-3746

Dunno about “warm autumns” here but pick a bit early as it says above it is tart and that is fine in juice and cider, maybe protect one tree in autumn for eating/cooking? Hell, have plenty of them!

ALL my apple trees are in the ground bar one stripling I will repot into a larger pot and stow out of the winter cold, maybe to plant in spring this year?

All the trees planted look good and healthy.

That blight or fungus still around but only the odd leaf here or there. Will spray with copper later today.

A couple pears still to be planted and the cherry trees—will order gravel, sand and loam—they need really good drainage, well the Stella cherry tree does.

The pears—some trees are missing like my Green Horse perry pears (3) and my Buerre Hardy and Doyenne du Comice—no sign of them anywhere, damnit!

Feeling tired but good!

There is a rose tree growing up the wall of the house—lots of blighted leaved BUT no “shepherd’s crook” shape to the twig the leaves were on.

(Apple, pear, quince and nacho trees and roses and some other fruits all belong to the Rosacea family, hence they can both suffer from the same diseases etc.)

The rose is toast!

Some pear trees are missing:

Green Horse perry pear, two off

Doyenne du Comice, one off

Beurre Hardy, one off


There is a tree I think is a beurre Bosc tree, else one of those is missing.


I say missing—not delivered by my landscape guy—or pinched from here.

Great, will order replacements, any I cannot get as advanced trees will have to wait 3 years to get fruit, fukkit! This is a bit of a blow, was looking forward to eating really delicious fruit next year!

Two Kent sour cherries are missing too—missing, no tree bag etc, nothing.

However, I have four sweet cherry trees to plant.

Will rotary hoe a strip at the front of the vege patch and plant the 3 black currants, 2 red currants, one white currant and one Cape gooseberry. Heh, I have been eating some of the rather small fruits on the bushes (vines?) and they are nice. There is a distinct “currant family” flavor to the fruits.

I will leave them as they are after planting, cut the canes right down once they go dormant. Gonna be great!

Three productive black currant bushes—syrup, mead, country wine.

2 x red and 1 x white currant. Some eaten fresh, red currant jelly to dress up cheesecakes etc, others to mead and/or country wine.

1 x cape gooseberry—preserve

Will see how they go, might order more blackcurrant. I do like black currant jam!

All this means no plum, no apricot and no avocado trees. Oh well.

I have a small piece of land, downhill from the pear trees, maybe 5m x 5m? Not sure what to do with it.

Raised beds with raspberries? Potato patch? Plum trees?

Dunno—need to do something else it is a weed haven spreading into the orchard.

Anyone see “Tree and Blackberry Killer” anywhere? Have ivy and blackberries to kill. Blackberries a bit of a problem here—climate seems ideal for them!

Because Shonk insists on seeing some photos:

1. Checking the label on a tree—this one is Brown Snout bittersweet cider apple:

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This is an apple on one of the two Hubbardston Nonsuch trees I managed to include in the orchard—one tree went to the neighbor across from me. Looks deelish, eh?

Notice the trunk is black? I paint the trunks to about 45cm high with bituminous paint to stop fucking rabbits eating the bark and ring barking the tree. I do this until the trunk is thicker and the bark hard and dry and of no interest to the fucking  rabbits.

See also, top left, the tree bag I had taken the tree out of? Most trees were put into bags, a few into big pots. I am keeping the pots, useful for keeping young trees in and moving them under cover before fall/winter frosts hit.

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I have left some apples on the trees, do some tasting etc. Most trees are ≥ 2 years old—I did not order any trees in 2022. I did thin out the apples—they tend to grow in clusters with one bigger apple and lots smaller ones. I remove all the smaller ones—a recommended practice, too many apples all together too easy for a pest to infect all of them.

Receiving four advanced trees today—unavoidable as some trees just never turned up earlier this year—two Kentish Sour and a Doyenne du Comice pear. My Stella cherry died from the blight—it was a very young tree.

Don’t want to wait five years for fruit!

I have two quince trees—Pineapple and Smyrna. One is planted, one is not yet. They will be planted close (≈45cm) together so root competition keeps them smallish—I do not want 10m high trees I can’t pick the fruit from.

Summer pruning will keep the trees no more than 2m tall.

Smyrna quince:

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Pineapple quince—in the ground.

A few jars of preserved quince will be nice. Quince is a fruit that cannot be eaten raw.

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Yellow Huffcap perry pear.

There to pollinate the next tree

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Moorcroft a vintage perry pear. Without my Green Horse pears I dunno HM perry I can make.

Think I can get 30L must which should let me bottle into 30 x 750ml bottles which would be OK. Any less and I might rip the perry pears out (except for the next one) and replace with tomatoes or raspberries or something.

When drinking perry be warned: it has a real but slight laxative effect!

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Taking the photos I saw that while the pears were pretty healthy the blight was in there again. Will spray with copper today then on Sunday a strengthening, immunity boosting spray with Neem oil emulsified with liquid soap, whey powder, Seasol and a smidge of Charlie Carp.

Maybe some dipel too tho haven’t seen many butterflies.

Perry pear—when planted here the frosts etc will keep the pears crisp, ideal for milling. The other beurre bosc on the NEN side of the house will ripen into soft, juicy delicious pears due to the warmth provided by the house. Might put some besser blocks around the trees too.

The graft “wound” on this and the other trees point north—keeps that wound dry, no fungus/lichen etc in there!

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She’s apples!

The blue binder twine, when reattached to a post out the front marks where the lot with the trees on it plus the chook run and vege patch will be terraced. Two level strips of ground, easier to mow etc.

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Looking down a line of newly planted apple trees. Some really nice shots available but the many doxxers here would be doxxing my address immediately.

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Must not forget the currants! Their pots are small so blew over in any wind. Found this old bookcase, jammed the currant pots in there and they have been fine.

They will be planted soon, know where they will go but need to whippersnipper, mow then neighbor will run a cultivator/rotary hoe over the strip of land the currants will go.

All taking shape. Have the currants, a crab apple (pollinator for the earlier blossoming apples) then an apple and another crabapple to plant in my front lawn—no where else left and there they will eventually act as more bushfire protection with the trees on the nature strip.

Trees will be mulched with 7mm gravel.

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Not exactly like Larry, eh Shonk?

The trees are planted in rows.

Within each row the trees are four metres apart and the rows are two metres apart. My intention was to espaliere them, grow them on wires at 60cm above ground, 100, 140 and 180cm above ground but the landscaper taking care of my trees didn’t give them a 65cm header cut so branches are at any height.

Branches growing into the inter-row space will be pruned off ruthlessly, only branches growing along the line of the row will remain. Plastic bottles—springwater, Coke, flavored milk etc—will be hung from branches using soft, plastic coated wire then filled just enough to make the branch horizontal.

Will place star droppers along the rows, run poly pipe along the rows about 20cm high fastened to the star droppers and fit drippers etc then connect all that to an irrigation controller on a tap.

Rain falls more uniformly throughout the year and a bit more plentifully than in Adelaide but some irrigation will be needed.

Along the line of the garage I will create a foundation, maybe with cement, maybe with just gravel, and place rainwater tank/tanks there. That edge is just useless for growing veges—shadow line.

On the other side of the garage there is a 900mm wide strip of land between garage and side fence. Level it off, some paving slabs and place 2-3 of the 1000L rectangular steel tanks for a bit more rainwater. Add a pump—water veges and trees occasionally with rainwater.

Re the veges—they will go in 600mm high raised beds—I ain’t getting any younger nor are my joints—and I am thinking of making them wicking beds. Something to think about.

Nearly 30°C still at 1830 today!

Antarctica  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hoses running to water the trees, prevent heat stress.

Seven cherry trees planted!

Two Kentish Sour preserving cherries—preserve, country wine, melomel

Stella—modern big purple sweet and, errr, that is about it. It and the Kent Sour will pollinate the sweet cherries.

Older varieties—Napoleon Biggarow and Early Burlat sweet cherries. No idea which is which, labels lost over time/moving. Once I get some fruit I will know which is which.

Also planted 3 pear trees and a hydrangea. Busy morning.

Cherries are in mounds of bought soil on what was a driveway—very compacted by cars etc driving over it. Am planting ground covers incl strawberries to stabilise the mounds.

Will also plant plum trees on the nature strip in front of the second block. Why not? 20 x 15m of ground growing just grass. Eat, preserve, country wine and mead.

Off-Topic replies have been moved to this Topic.

Taking pity on the friendless catfished idiot:

In front of the bag of blood and bone you can see one of the groundcovers I planted on the mound.

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By Larry. You poor little lowlife  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cherry photo 2.


Quite pale the Kentish.

Means I can add a few Kg of cherries to a Belgian beer. Might even try to make a lambic and/or Flanders Brown.

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Photo 3, the Stella cherry.

Need it for pollination (of Napoleon Biggarow and Early Burlat sweet cherries)

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Off-Topic replies have been moved to this Topic.

Strawberries.

Planted mainly as ground cover, bind the raised mound together. Guess I will eat whatever berries happen  ;D

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You can see the one thick green wire hanging over the main branch.

When I lifted trees in the block I later sold some of the nursery tags had disappeared. Had to lift the trees because I had to vacate the block—got a good price and quick settlement.

I knew which were the sweet cherries from their position on the block, just didn’t know if they were Napoleon or Early Burlat. Having only garden supplies with me I made do.

Thick green wire ==> sweet cherry.

There is a tree with two thick green wires—I know it is a cherry but there is no note in my notebook for that visit what TWO thick green wires means  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D. I think it means the same as one green wire.

Had to buy two advanced (>1 year old) Kentish sour cherry trees. Bought them, planted them, lifted them—were in good condition. Never arrived here! Ditto my delicious Doyenne du Comice pear.

The garage will eventually be turned into a cidery/meadery/brewery. Well, the brewery will be on the drive in front of the garage (assuming I do manage to create a brewery.)

Thinking of a five metre long mechanics pit as cellar. Will need to beef up flood defences—rainwater does manage to seep into the garage somehow.

Make it 1.6 or 1.7m deep, it is not as if I am going to work on my car.

At the far end from the ladder/staircase—bottles of maturing beer/cider/mead. Along the length, demijohns and carboys of cider etc, corny kegs of beer maturing over 12 months.

Dunno how viable the idea is—I know there is like a foot or so of hard soil, under that??? Solid rock? Loose gravel making forming a space too difficult? Will read up on the geology here and ask those that might know—builders, plumbers etc.

Need to cover the cellar—20mm thick multiply or chipboard sitting in a lip 20mm deep, 100mm wide? Paint with a sealing paint.

A couple non-working washing machines were left behind by the previous owner. Could bury them so I have a small, 2 compartment root cellar?

Know someone here with a small earthworking machine, get him to dig the holes? Because some idiot powered the garage with an underground cable running diagonally across the front bit of ground no one will dig forward of the back of the garage where the power cable enters. Some Booby–level idiot of an electrician I suppose?

I can put the holes in the 4m wide strip where the chooks will go, even dig them into the slope.

Instead of dumping the old washing machines, put them to use!

Will get electrician to check the wiring of the garage. Reckon my chest freezer will go in there—store cider apples until needed. Present fridge will go into the rumpus room for use by guests—will make it a place to accommodate people for a few weeks. Water and HWS are nearby—kitchen sink, vanity, shower can be arranged. No income from this but can hold parties in it.

Not fireblight—no twig curled into a shepherd’s crrok BUT some leaves on Moorcroft perry pear and a couple other varieties had black tips.

Sprayed there with copper yesterday, just removed the affected leaves, will burn them in fireplace. See how it goes. A couple nice warm dry weeks be good—rain forecast for this week, dammit!

Re the idea with the old washing machines—not sure.

Like the idea of the mechanics’ pit/cellar in the garage much more.

Planted the bay tree in a big pot, one that one of the trees I planted came in.

Don’t need a giant bay tree, one that spreads!

Worked out where to put the three buddlea.

Tomorrow off to the big smoke, buy some supplies and look into an irrigation system. Watering 100 trees with a hose is. . .inefficient.

While I was in Bunnings sourcing irrigation fittings earlier today it was pissing down outside. In the big vege shop, pissing down outside., driving home, yup, pissing down. Think it has pretty well stopped now.

Can wait with trying out the irrigation system  ;D

Hmm what I thought was fire blight was not fire blight—no affected twig showed the “shepherd’s crook” shape.

I kept searching and found a website that, I am sure, described what my trees showed—turning black at the tip of the leaf until the whole leaf was affected. Described it as trees stressed for lack of water and compost or manure.

So spent some time clearing weeds and grass around the tree trunks, sprinkling some blood and bone then rock dust (B&B gives the trees some quick nitrogen, rock dust supplies nutrients like phosphorus over a longer time) then half a bag of compost and a couple shovels of sheep manure.

I prefer sheep manure to cow or chicken—these are high nitrogen and that is it. Sheep manure is lower in nitrogen has more phosphorous and potassium.

So water all that in, incl some water with some Charlie Carp and rather more of Seasol (sea kelp extract, chockful of nutrients for plants.)

Pears healthier. What with cherry trees, vertical blinds and work on the front porch etc apple trees a bit neglected. So, early mornings spent hoeing weeds and grass, painting inside during the heat of the day, then schlepping bags of compost and sheep manure and spreading that around apple trees then watering that in.

Now waiting for a chance to install drip irrigation. Want the polypipe like 30-40cm above ground level, out of the way of lawnmowers, whipper snippers etc. Two runs of that per row of trees, two drippers per tree on each row.

Slight problem—both my blocks are part of a slope with the far corner of the orchard higher than the tap supplying the water. Means I need non-return valves—Health regulations do not allow water from irrigation hoses to return to the tap.

Also the slope means dividing the orchard into sections where the polypipes are all at the same real level but at varying distances from the ground.

11 rows of apples
1 row peaches
3 rows pears and quince trees

So irrigating the apple-peach-pear trees is not a turn-on-the-tap-set-the-timer sort of operation.

May be able to terrace the orchard so can water more trees at one time.

The cherry trees and the trees on the East side of the house are level.

Do you have a mower and whipper snipper, Monk?

You want me to whippersnipper grass etc right around the tree trunk and leave the roots in place?

Are you going senile, Aussie?