The National Biodiversity Data Centre has launched a new, free guide on growing traditional orchards and fruit trees for pollinators on farms, gardens, or other areas of land.
The how-to-guide, developed by the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and the Irish Seed Savers Association (ISSA), aims to help farmers to choose the correct planting site, variety, and tree type.
It also provides advice on managing existing orchards including careful pruning, replacement trees and increasing varieties.
Pollinators
Pollinators need pollen and nectar throughout their nesting season, which runs from February to late September.
Blossoms from fruit trees provide the insects with a vital early source of food when they emerge from hibernation in the spring.
Once the blossoms are gone, the pollinators will then concentrate their feeding on flowers beneath the trees and in the hedgerows.
Pollinators, such as wild bees, play a vital role in orchards with almost all fruit resulting from pollination by a bee or other insect.
Orchards
In the past, small orchards were a feature of many farms across the island of Ireland, providing traditional varieties of apples, pears, plums and damsons.
The crop was sometimes destined for local sale or for use in the home.
In 1791 there were 7,136ac of orchards in Ireland; a survey carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and Bord Bia in 2017 showed that figure had declined by 75% to 1,761ac.
According to the National Biodiversity Data Centre most traditional orchards in Ireland have been lost due to “neglect, development, or conversion to intensive modern orchards”.
A traditional orchard usually consists of five or more fruit trees with the crown edges less than 20m apart.
Such orchards are lightly managed, while the ground beneath the trees is usually meadow used for grazing or hay.
Fruit trees tend to age quickly and become home to a range of insects, birds, bats, mosses and lichens.
DAFM has included ‘planting a traditional orchard’ as one of the options for farmers in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
The department hopes that this will support biodiversity and help ensure the survival of traditional Irish apple varieties.
DNA analysis and finger printing work conducted by ISSA has confirmed 200 different Irish heritage apple-tree varieties, each with their own history dating back as far as 500 years.
These varieties include cooking apples such as the Ballyvaughan seedling, the Leitrim Red and the Cavan Strawberry, and eating apples like the Kilkenny Pearmain and Irish Peach.
Guide
In the new guide, officially launched by Minster of State for land use and biodiversity Pippa Hackett, farmers will find tips on how to encourage pollinators to their orchard.
They will learn about what pollinators to expect to see in an orchard and which natural predators to encourage, as they can help prevent damage to the crop, by managing pests.
The guide builds on the resources already available to farmers, businesses, community groups and gardeners on the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan website.