2014-2015 President's Report

2014-15 was a successful year in the development of the Society. It saw progress in a number of initiatives. We again ran grafting days at Pettys, CERES and The Briars, and joined in the Werribee Park Orchard day. A particular success at these was the sale of one-year old trees, so we are increasing our supply, and targeting varieties we believe are in demand by home growers. We also limited the number of varieties of cut scion to about 70, on the understanding that we would cut scion, if available, from Pettys trees on the Pettys grafting day.

Our activities at Pettys increased, with a number of trees growing to one year old in our nursery, and hence being available for sale, as well as growing up the 35 or so mostly new varieties you see here in the new row 10 North, which were planted recently.

We have been experimenting with ways of growing our own rootstock, and have some rootstock planted which we hope will supplement our purchases next year, with a long-term aim of being self-sufficient for apple and stone fruit rootstock in the future.

Tasting events were reduced this year due to the low harvest of apples, and the codlin moth problems. The lessees of Pettys, Yarra Organics, are planning a new regime this summer, spraying vinegar amongst other things to reduce the coldlin moth problem. We are hoping to expand our tastings next autumn to include weekdays and tastings at other sites, e.g. Werribee. If you would like to volunteer at one of these, you can join in the fun and taste the apples for free.

We again sold apples at an organic foodstore, but only in reduced quantity.

We have reduced the bird problem by netting across 2 rows, so that we can walk between the rows under the netting, but can seal the outsides to very effectively keep the birds out. This has led to greatly reduced damage from birds.

We continue to have working bees on the first Sunday of each month, and have added working bees on the first and sometimes other Wednesdays, particularly when there are apples to pick. See our website or one of our committee for details.

Sadly, our founding Secretary, Ian Batchelor, had to resign for personal reasons. Ian helped build the Society by generously giving his expertise in management and horticulture. He is sorely missed. We have a new Secretary temporarily, but are on the lookout for a new Secretary. If someone takes on the job, they will have every assistance from the Committee.

Looking to the future, we have bought a ride-on mower, which will assist us in controlling the grass, and hopefully decrease the black spot problem. We have an arrangement with CERES in Brunswick to sell our trees and have an extra 125 grafted and ready to go. Our thanks to those members who have agreed to nurture them for us. We were given one of each of the 7 apple rootstocks grown by Eversen Nurseries, which closed recently, and have planted them in Row 10, as we believe these are apple trees in their own right, perhaps not heritage, but a valuable resource, and should be grown along with other varieties.

Damage to trees by kangaroos has become a problem recently, and Yarra Organics believe that they can reduce the number of roos by building a fence across the western end of their property, as the roos come from Westerfolds Park direction. We will continue to monitor the situation, and have put wire around some trees to limit the damage.

I would like to thank members for joining our Society, and for coming today. I hope you are happy with our aims and plans, and look forward to working with you in the coming year.

~ Cecilia Egan, President HFS.