Growing Fruit Trees Naturally with Lindsay Engers

Greetings fellow permies:

In this podcast, Susan Poizner of Orchard People talks about how to grow fruit trees naturally by leveraging historical knowledge and organic, regenerative, and ecological practices with Lindsay Engers of Chiltern Heritage Orchards (CHO) in the UK.

Lindsay is a horticulturist and a lecturer, and he operates his orchard with 3 simple principles:

   -Historical knowledge of reliable cultivars and growing requirements.
   -Organic and regenerative growing techniques which produce highly flavoured, nutritious and pesticide-free crops.
   -Use diverse ecological environmental practices to support the crop through beneficial insects, birds and bats.

Lindsay believes this is a very exciting time for agriculture "if you can persuade yourself to forget some of the things you learned in the past, and you open up a little bit to the idea of being a biological grower."

I thought the underlying message, the soil "science", and the various tips will resonate with many of you...

The conversation is available to watch, read, and/or listen - enjoy!

WATCH on YouTube


CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction and Overview
00:02 Defining Natural Fruit Tree Care
00:59 Interview with Lindsay Engers: Natural Fruit Tree Care
02:40 Understanding Regenerative Growing
03:11 Organic vs. Regenerative Agriculture
04:05 Historical Techniques and Varieties
04:53 Challenges and Market Realities
06:43 Nutrient Management and Soil Health
08:09 The Role of Microbiome in Plant Health
14:57 Practical Soil Preparation Techniques
21:04 Managing Grass and Mulching
23:10 The Benefits of Rock Dust
30:18 The Plant Health Pyramid and Pest Management
31:38 The Benefits of Not Spraying
32:15 Healthy Plants and Pest Resistance
32:48 The Importance of Covering Soil
35:38 The Role of Cover Crops
39:14 Foliar Sprays for Tree Health
45:03 Grazing Animals in Orchards
48:47 Deer Protection Strategies
54:46 Transitioning to Natural Growing Methods
56:37 Exciting Times for Agriculture
58:56 Final Thoughts and Resources

DOWNLOAD and LISTEN (linked to the Orchard People website, the host of this podcast)
Orchard People | Growing Fruit Trees Naturally with Lindsay Engers

READ TRANSCRIPT (linked to the Orchard People website, the host of this podcast)
Orchard People | Transcript: Growing Fruit Trees Naturally with Lindsay Engers

READ ARTICLE (linked to the Orchard People website, the host of this podcast)
Growing Fruit Trees Naturally and Regeneratively

EXPLORE RELATED TOPICS:

Custom Fruit Tree Spray Recipes with John Kempf

Why Pests Can't Attack Healthy Plants with Thomas M. Dykstra

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MORE FROM ORCHARD PEOPLE:

Self-paced Online Course: Growing Fruit Trees with Ease (featured in the 2023 Permaculture Adventure Bundle!)

Podcast discussing hugelkultur (with Paul!)

A collection of podcasts

Check out her value-packed fruit tree care courses (Susan is offering new LOWER prices in this day and age!)

I really like growing fruit trees from pits/seeds, I have three plum trees that I'm currently growing, one of which was given to me in its second year from underneath its mothertree,  and its in its fourth year now and flowered for the first time.  I'm hopeful that next summer in year five it will give me plums.  My other two are in their first year, and I'm starting a peach tree from pit so we'll see how that goes.