Fruit in the Home Garden
Spring
Prune apple and pear trees. Keep the base of all fruit trees free of weeds.
Spray nectarines and peaches for “Curly Leaf” just as colour of flower buds appears, with a copper product, such as Bordeaux Mixture. Spray thoroughly just as the buds show colour and repeat if rain occurs within the next 48 hours. Apply citrus & fruit tree fertiliser (Gyganic) to all fruit trees.
. Protect strawberries with suitable netting and apply slug bait to protect fruit as it
ripens. Apply Giganic fertiliser.
Watch for Black Aphid on plums, nectarines, and peaches. If spraying is necessary for
aphid control, only spray in the early morning or late evening when bees are not around. Mavrik is safe when used as directed and works well against Aphid infestations. There will be no residue in developing fruit.
Suggested fruit varieties for this area:
Plums: Satsuma, Mariposa (these two should be planted together as they cross pollinate to produce heavier crops). Santa Rosa is self fertile but improves if Mariposa is used as a pollinator. Frontier is another good variety.
Apricots: The old Moorpark is still a widely grown favourite, plus Trevatt, Hunter & Earlicot.
Nectarines: Goldmine, Arctic Rose and Anzac are all white fleshed and freestone. Flavortop is an excellent yellow fleshed freestone variety for eating, cooking, drying or bottling.
Peaches: Anzac is early maturing and freestone. Redhaven and Golden Queen are well proven favourites with the late season Golden Queen excellent for bottling.
Growing Citrus
Citrus varieties grow well in the Warragul & Drouin area. In fact they are probably the easiest and most rewarding of all fruit to grow.
Recomended Varieties:
Lemons: Lisbon, Eureka and Meyer
Oranges: Washington Navel, Valencia
Mandarins: Emperor, Imperial, Afourer (also known as Murcott)
Limes: Tahitian, Kaffir, Australian Limes.
Grapefruit: Marsh, Ruby.
Cumquats: Marumi, Ngami, Variegated
NOTE: Double grafted trees with two varieties can save space as can those grafted onto dwarf rootstock.
