“Spray and pray” is a phrase you don't want to be associated with in the photography world. When it comes to orchards, and farming of fruits and vegetables, it’s quite necessary to ensure a good crop. We've only had two days this week when the weather was good enough to start spraying the trees. It has either rained, or was too windy, for spraying, and if this doesn't get done early in the season, it could ruin a lot of fruit once harvest comes around. Thankfully, we had a gap in all the bad weather. We had little-to-no rain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Despite the fact that it was a holiday weekend, for those who celebrate it, the guys that handle spraying were more than willing to work and help us get a jump on getting this done.
Aside from spraying all the trees, in all three orchards, there are a few things that need to be cleared up, to ensure a good crop: First, pruning and straightening of all the trees had to be done. We had a group of people with a tractor loaded full of big and small stakes. Placing stakes onto the tree trunks helps prevent them from leaning over and shading other trees in the summertime. Smaller stakes are then placed on tree branches to encourage them to branch outward, and not straight up. My grandfather told me you end up with more fruit or buds that way.
We also started burning all the dead branches and debris that has been cleaned up all across the orchard. This is something that also needs to be done during the rainy season. Once we hit a certain point in the summer, all burning is illegal. I'm sure you can imagine how easy a forest fire can start out here once it starts to get extremely dry! That’s all I've got for now. This coming week, I'm on clean-up duty to prepare for inspection. I need to complete a check list of all the safety and cleanliness of the orchards. I hope you enjoy the images I've made so far!