Buena Vista Orchard Clean Up

One July 8, volunteers braved the heat and headed up to our second orchard, located in Buena Vista. While our Detroit orchard has 300 honey crisp trees, up north we have 4700! The purpose of this event was to provide much needed support to our 3-year-old honey crisp apple trees. Both our southern and northern orchards utilize a wire trellis system. Similar to a vineyard, this system provides a higher yield and reduces the waste of fallen apples.

During this event, volunteers helped to attach bamboo rods to the wire trellis using metal clamps. The trees will then be tied to the bamboo using rubber fasteners. This approach will aid in guiding our tree trunks to grow straight upward, along the trellis. Without the bamboo, the trees will naturally move towards the sun, putting them at risk of breakage once apples are in full bloom.

Thanks to our determined volunteers, we were able to secure over 500 trees at Wednesday’s event! With an orchard as large as ours, this type of maintenance can be very tedious and time consuming. We are grateful for all the hard work (and sweat!) of our supportive volunteers. Look out for the announcement of our next volunteer trip up to our Buena Vista Orchard!