In response to the heartwarming support for our Heritage Orchard, I will start posting here exciting news as the year unfolds. Together, we will learn about the care of the apricots and all who live in the green space of the Los Altos Civic Center and Los Altos History Museum gardens.
Signs announcing our civic pride and explaining the history of this Los Altos Landmark were posted recently. Over 80 citizens joined our mayor, Lynnette Lee Eng in celebration of support for the orchard.
Here is a link to an article written by Robin Chapman:
https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/sections/community/177-features/60416-santa-clara-valley-lives-an-apricot-orchard-serves-as-a-sign-of-the-times
At the Apricot STEM Fair at the Los Altos History Museum, expert and budding naturalists identified 112 species in and around the apricot orchard on June 30, 2019. Here is a link to the iNaturalist project page:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/apricot-stem-fair-bioblitz?tab=observations
This is the time of year to clean up the orchard and care for the health of the trees before fall leaf drop. Our orchardist, Phil Doetsch, is removing the stumps from trees that were identified as dead this year.
We are not sure about the reason for this tree mortality and are interested in hearing your thoughts. There have been challenges in getting enough water to the trees at the right time. The spray irrigation system is outdated and is in need of replacement with a drip irrigation system.
If fungal pathogens are affecting the root systems, it is possible to deliver appropriate treatments through a drip irrigation system. We will be exploring the possibility that ring nematodes and a bacterial canker are a problem. These pathogens were highlighted as a problem in the Los Altos Apricot Orchard Management and Guidelines written in 2006.
The orchard (2.84 acres) has room for 144 trees. In 2006, 41% of the trees were over 5 years old and 135 new trees were planted in 2005. In 2019, 100 new trees were planted. We need to do another inventory to get a snapshot of the current age structure of the trees.
One hundred new trees have been ordered for planting in the winter (January). The Blenheim variety have been grafted on a hardy rootstock (Nemagard) and will arrive in bare root form.
