ORCHARD GARDENING

Orchard is a piece of land where trees or shrubs are maintained for food or commercial production.

Types of Orchard Farms

1. Fruit orchards – concentrates on growing tree-bearing fruits such as papaya, mango, orange, lime, and avocado.
2. Nut orchards – produce nuts such as cashew, pecan, walnut, almond, cacao, coconut, and pine
3. Seed orchards – growing trees that produce seeds sold for commercial distribution or resale purposes.

Layout design of Orchard

u  The layout of an orchard refers to fixing the position of trees in an orchard when planning a plantation.

u  It is very important to ensure proper growth of trees.

Trees arrangement in an orchard

1. Square method

                - simplest and easiest method

                -same distance measurement

Advantages:

Ø  Irrigation channels and paths can be made straight

Ø  Easy cultivation, spraying, and harvesting

Ø  Better supervision

Disadvantages:

Ø  Limited trees can be planted in a given area.

Ø  A certain amount of space is wasted in the middle of four trees.

2. Rectangular method

                - formed from four adjacent trees that are in a rectangular shape

Advantages:

Ø  Irrigation channels can be made length and breathe-wise.

Ø  Possible for intercropping

Disadvantages:

Ø  Limited trees can be planted in a given area.

Ø  A certain amount of space is wasted in the middle of four trees.

3. Quincunx or diagonal method

                - trees are planted like in square method but has additional tree in the center of each square called a “filler crop”

Advantages:

Ø  Additional income can be earned from the filler crop.

Ø  Almost double the number of trees can be plated initially

Ø  Full use of land is possible.

Disadvantages:

Ø  Skills required to lay out the orchard

Ø  Trees in between may interfere the growth of the main crop

Ø  Spacing of the main crop is reduced if filler crop continues to grow.

4. Equilateral triangle or hexagonal method

                - trees are planted at the corners of an equilateral triangle, where six triangle are joined

forming a hexagon shape with a seventh tree at the center.

Advantages:

Ø  Ideal for fertile soil and with source of water

Ø  More trees can be planted

Ø  Same distance can be maintained

Ø  More income can be obtained

Disadvantages:

Ø  Difficult intercultural operations

Ø  Skill is required to layout the orchard

5. Contour or terracing method

                - the imaginary line connecting all points with equal elevation across the slope is called .

contour

                -done in hilly areas by connecting all points of the same elevation across the slope maintaining the space.

Advantages:

Ø  Can be utilized in hilly areas and in leveled land.

Ø  Helps controlling soil erosion

Ø  Helps conservation of water

Ø  Easy path for movements on the hills slopes for various tasks in the orchard.

Disadvantages:

Ø  Difficult laying out of contour lines and time consuming

Ø  Requires special skills and instruments to make contour lines layout the method

Ø  Not equal row to row distance and adjustments may be required in the plant-to-plant distance.