Projects The Powys Orchard Project - Fruit trees for people and biodiversity
| The Powys Orchard Project - Fruit trees for people and biodiversity |
Do you own an orchard or grow fruit in Powys?
We are interested to know how you are getting on with fruit growing in our beautiful, but damp land. Do you get regular crops of rosy sweet apples and baskets full of blackcurrants, or do you suffer from irregular crops of scabby fruit? Do you enjoy your orchard? Is it a rewarding activity for you, or a drain on your resources? A guilt inducing bramble patch, best not looked at? Or a sanctuary for yourself and the bees, butterflies and birds? Whether you have a few bushes in your garden, or a whole orchard, we’d love to hear your experiences. Click here to take the survey online now! >>
Do you have a friend or relative who owns an orchard or grows fruit in Powys?If you know somebody who might like to contribute to our survey, but who is more likely to be out in the orchard than reading this webpage, please tell them about the project! You can download the survey to fill in and email back to us, or to print off, fill in and pop in the post box. Download the Powys Orchards for Biodiversity Survey (English Version) >> Download the Powys Orchards for Biodiversity Survey (Welsh Version>> Alternatively use the printable surveys to ‘interview’ your freind/relative and then enter the details online (see online survey link above). Are you interested in setting up or improving an orchard in Powys?
The report will be published in 2010, and will provide information on the performance of a range of fruit tree varieties and rootstocks - thus helping local nurseries decide which trees to propagate and orchardists which to plant. We will also assess orchard management systems and their effects on production and environmental/wildlife value. If you are looking for fruit growing advice right now, then the Orchards of Wales group may be able to help. This was set up following the Glasu Perllanau project which brought together orchard managers in the area. Here are some Orchard information sheets previously funded by Glasu. They give really good advice on how to plant and manage an orchard:
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We would like the people and wildlife of Powys to benefit from the planting of more orchards. But successful fruit growing takes careful planning and it seems that more advice is needed. This need has inspired the “The Powys Orchard Project; Fruit trees for people and biodiversity", funded by 
Please sign up to our “Powys Orchards for Biodivesity” Mailing list (top right of website) and we’ll let you know as soon as the report is available for download.
