Waikato and Thames-Coromandel Branch

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Branch contact: waikato@treecrops.org.nz
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Waikato Branch – Forest Flora and natives

Wayne Bennett’s place
Saturday, 18 April, 10am
Hakirimata Road, Ngaruawahia

Wayne Bennett, from Forest Flora is very happy for us to come and visit. We can have a cuppa, then he will talk, then we will tour his 2 acre place and it would take about 2 hours, depending on interaction and interest.

His nursery is down the road, so we could visit there also, afterwards. He is quite low in stock but will see what is available closer to the time.

Wayne is one enthusiastic man, and very passionate about natives.

Waikato Branch – at the new Waikato Show 2015

Waikato Show

We are going to be promoting the Waikato Branch of NZTCA at the Waikato Show (in the EnviroExpo stadium) 10-12 April.

We need volunteers to man our stall. Any member who enjoys talking to others about their NZTCA experience would be appreciated. Volunteers are not expected to be a fruit tree expert, but rather be able to share their experiences and so encourage others to grow productive trees and join NZTCA.

Volunteers will be given free passes into the show and rostered into half-day shifts (10am-2pm and 1:30pm -5pm) over the three days. Two people per shift.

This should allow everyone half a day to see the rest of the show.
So we need twelve volunteers – can you help?
If so, please contact Sheryn.

Come along to the show and see us anyway.

If you have anything you would like to contribute to the stand (some interesting fruits you may like to share/display for example, or Chestnut brownies for the stall holders!) bring it in.

NZTCA National Conference 2015 Northland Branch

NZTCA annual national event, March 20~22, 2015

‘Conference 2015’ hosted by Northland Branch

Biological Growing

– Expert Speakers and Workshops include organic agriculture, bio fuel, seaweed-sourced fertilisers – soil food, moth pheromones and apples, herbs and plants to attract beneficial insects.

– Field trips include a Kiwifruit orchard, Avocado orchard, and a sub tropical nursery & gardens.

Bookings closed – sorry.
Conference 2016 details coming soon…

Details on page Conference 2015 and in December 2014 TreeCropper.

Waikato Branch – interesting trees planted years ago

Field Trip – June’s place
Saturday, 28 March, 10am
Sainsbury Road, Pirongia

Hilly, 26 ha, 4 wheel drives good. Lots of interesting trees, planted years ago.

There are decades-old chestnut groves. It is up the slopes of Mt Priongia with awesome views of Waikato. There are patches of native bush too. Trees have been planted with tagasastes around each tree to help with wind protection and nitrogen supply.

NOTE: Need to bring chairs and mugs. No shelter if wet; Bring coats.

We might go off and visit Nick’s walnut orchard afterwards and do some volunteer work – Editor.

Waikato Branch – Waikato 2015 AGM and field day

Waikato Tree Crops AGM

When:
Sunday 15th February at 1 pm, Arrive about 12:30pm

Where:
Brian and Margaret, DEVINE ROAD, Hamilton
Stand of cabbage trees on the road front

Bring yourself and something to share if you so wish. Tea, coffee, milk, cold drink, muffins will be supplied

Background:
Margaret and Brian bought the land in 2006 and planted about 20 fruit trees in their orchard: plums, apples, nashi, pear, peach, nectarine. They have since added apricots, persimmon, feijoa, loquat, a range of citrus, blue berries walnut guava and currents. A berry house was built two years ago to preserve our raspberries from the rabbits and pukeko.

They have a native area with a range of native plants including two kauri. On the road frontage they have a large number of totara and cabbage trees, pitosporums mainly grown from cuttings. These form a great wind and sound barrier. They also have a large number of camellia, some named varieties, and others from cuttings from various sources.

There are a number of other shrubs in gardens to give privacy and reduce wind and noise.

Waikato Branch – End of Year foragers forest garden field trip & lunch

End of Year field trip/lunch – a foragers forest garden

When: Sunday 7th December at 11am,

Where: Maxine’s – Riverview Tce, Hamilton

What: Garden visit/tour followed by lunch

Bring: A salad/desert plate; BBQ meat will be supplied

Background:

Maxine’s garden is an ½ acre of a foragers forest garden, that is under development given the weed covered steep slopes.

Maxine has developed this site from a degraded weed infested gully into a productive site with food on top slopes leading to native planting at the bottom.

Native birds have come to inhabit this site in the middle of Hamilton.

Waikato and Thames-Coromandel Branch – Grafting Course

PUBLIC FRUIT TREE GRAFTING WORKSHOP

Friday 12 September 2014 – 7.30 pm

Venue: St Francis Community Church, 92 Mansel Av, Hillcrest, Hamilton.

Cost:
$ 10 per person (NZTCA member)
$ 20 pp for non-members
This charge covers the cost of three rootstocks per person, workshop materials and hireage of the venue. The rootstocks to choose from are apple (MM106 or M793), pear (BA29) and plum (myrobalan) on a first in-first served basis.

This is a hands-on workshop. After a brief introduction of the theory involved, you can have a practice of the techniques on willow and then, under supervision from our experienced members, you can graft your three rootstocks choosing from a wide range of scion that will be provided.

WHAT YOU NEED TO BRING:
A grafting knife or a Stanley craft knife with a new blade, and secateurs.
There will be first aid available but it is the responsibility of each participant to take care, both of themselves and other people working around them.

There will be scion for people to take if they have existing trees to regraft or rootstocks at home. Please consider bringing some scion if you have something interesting to share or if you have some rootstocks that are free for others to use.

A RSVP would be appreciated and for any additional info,
please contact Don Harwood
Ph: 07 843 9007

(Notes for members attending)
The format of this years workshop will be a bit different…
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…from previous years. David Whyte will be giving a powerpoint presentation on the principles of grafting and we will break into small groups to do our own practicing with an experienced treecropper at every table. As our older more experienced members have said “there noting so satisfying as having fruit off a tree that you yourself have grafted”.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Warmest regards

Aroon,
newsletter editor, TCA-Waikato[/is_user_logged_in]

Membership Contributions

Scion wood for GRAFTING WORKSHOP and general swapping amongst branch members

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Fellow tree croppers,

I’m sure many of you will be looking forward to the grafting workshop on 12 September 2014. Your committee has ordered apple rootstock (MM106 and MM793), quince (BA29) for European and Nashi pears and also Myrobalan rootstock for plums, apricots and peaches.

I’ve taken scion wood from approximately 20 apple varieties, 3 Nashi pears, 3 European pears, 12 plums and prune plums and a couple of apricots. Some other members have also promised to bring some scion wood along. However, I would still like to encourage all of you to make some of your gems available to your fellow tree croppers and by doing so extend the following list:

Apples: Captain Kidd, Granny Smith, Prima, Monty’s Surprise, Cox’s Orange, Peasgood Nonsuch, Sugar Apple, Bramley’s Seedling, Priscilla, Chookhouse Apple, Kentish Fillbasket, Gloria Mundi, Tropicana, Hetlina, Dayton, Early Strawberry, Blenheim Orange, Biesterfelder Reinette, a crimson and a white crab apple.

Nashi pears: Nijisseiki, Hosui, Dan Bae.

European pears: Beurre Bosc, William’s Bon Chretien, Packham’s Triumph.

Prune plums: Italian, Stanley, Ahipara.

Plums: Reine Claude de Bavay, Greengage, Damson, several unidentified ones.

Apricots: Trevatt, Katy Cot.

If you would like to contribute to the success of the workshop by sharing some scion wood, please drop me a note and I’ll add your variety to the list of scion wood available at the workshop.

Kind regards, Roland[/is_user_logged_in]

HOW TO TAKE AND STORE SCION WOOD

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Choose healthy, terminal (one-year-old) dormant shoots, preferably straight and about pencil thickness with well-developed vegetative buds that are narrow and pointed. In contrast, floral buds are round and plump and these should be avoided. Terminal wood that has been well-exposed to sunlight during the past growing season generally has excellent scion wood from the bottom two-thirds of the shoot where the buds are mature and have short internodes. Buds at the top third of the shoot should be discarded because they are often succulent and too low in stored carbohydrates to produce vigorous growth after grafting. Cut the shoots into 250-300 mm lengths with at least two viable buds, bundle up and wrap in damp newspaper.

For each fruit variety, clearly label the bundles, seal them in a labeled plastic bag to prevent moisture loss, and store in the fridge for up to three months. Storage at warmer temperatures may result in the buds beginning to grow and, conversely, storage in the freezer can damage the buds. Both result in a greater likelihood of a graft failure.[/is_user_logged_in]

Waikato and Thames-Coromandel Branch – Pruning Course

Pruning Course. Saturday 16th August,

Karen, Morrinsville-Tahuna Road.

Time, etc to be confirmed.

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Waikato Branch – citrus and lots more

David and Tiffany, Ohinewai North Road, RD1, Huntly
Sunday 27th July, 1pm

David and Tiffany purchased their 0.5 Ha ex-citrus orchard block off ex-tree croppers, 3 years ago. They currently have approximately 250 citrus tree, mainly navel orange and tangelo. They clean their own fruit and take up to Ooooby in Auckland. David has also planted approximately 200 fruit trees and 100+ tree lucerne. They also have on the block mature and fruiting avocados, figs and fejioas. He is using permaculture principles to gradually move the block into a food forest.

As a scientist David regularly writes for the Tree Cropper and has a number of articles scheduled be published in the Lifestyle Block magazine. So bring along your notebooks and any thorny questions. Never know, you might create a future article in the Tree Cropper.

Directions – google maps for Ohinewai North road. It is on the old state highway 1 and very close to the Ohinewai Interchange on SH1. Please park on the road verge. Tree Cropper signs will be out like normal.

What to bring: A tea cup, if you want a hot drink! A chair if you want to sit and most importantly a spade/scoop full of soil that has/had a lot of worms in it. The property lacks earthworms and David would love help repopulating the place.

[Web management apologises for omitting this event from the All-Events Calendar]