Method/Approach: Lecture, Gathering points from articles, creating a display board, sharing information

Transcription

1 Objective: Students will investigate the different fruit bearing plants that will be used in the orchard. They will pick out important facts about these plants and discover uses for them. Curriculum Links: Grade 7 Interactions within Ecosystems (CP) Grade 10 Sustainability within Ecosystems Biology 20 Interactions among living things Method/Approach: Lecture, Gathering points from articles, creating a display board, sharing information Materials needed: The five sheets of information on the berry plants we will be growing in the orchard: *Raspberry, *Cherries, *Buffalo Berry, *Sea Buckthorn, *Haskap White cardboard paper, glue or tape to put on the information Teacher can give out colored papers for students to put their important points on Explore: Invite the students to imagine the following: How would you like to walk out into your backyard and pick your own, home grown, apples, pears, cherries, plums, raspberries or Haskap? What is Haskap you ask? Haskap is an exciting new crop for North America. The good varieties taste something like blueberries & raspberries. The bad ones taste like tonic water! Today we are going to discover the different fruit crop plants we are going to put in our orchard. The orchard is a three year project so the first year we are planning on planting Raspberry, Pin/Chokecherry, Buffalo Berry, Sea Buckthorn and Haskap. (Write these plant names on the board so the students become use to them.) The second year of the orchard project we will be planting lots of apples and the third year we will try pears, plumbs, sour cherries and perhaps hazelnut. This class we will divide up into five groups. Each group will be given a sheet of information about one of the fruit shrubs/trees we will be planting. The group will go through the information picking out the main points of importance about the plant. Each student in each group must write one sentence down about what they think is important about the plant they are assigned. They will cut this sentence out so that after they read it to the class the sentence will be glued on a display board. When all groups are finished learning about their assigned plant then they will come up in front of the class. The group will show the picture of their plant and each student will read the fact that they thought was important to know about the plant. The information sheet and each student s fact will be put on a board to help others learn about the different plants. We will keep the board in the classroom so we can be reminded of the plants we will be working with.

2 Raspberry: The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species of the rose family. When they produce fruit they are usually ready to pick in midsummer. The fruit does not all ripen at once, and you can harvest it for a month or more. Some raspberry varieties are ever-bearing and produce fruit in flushes from midsummer through autumn. Raspberries are perennial with woody stems. A perennial plant is a plant that lives for more than two years. Red raspberries have a perennial root system and biennial canes. The new shoots, or suckers, are sent up every year. In the first year, suckers complete their physical growth, go dormant for the winter, and in the following year, these canes bear fruit and die. (Summer-bearing varieties are more suitable for short-season areas.) Raspberries grow best in full sun but also can live in light shade or partial shade. The soil should be of average fertility, humus rich moist and well drained. The site should have good air circulation for disease prevention. Wind protection is necessary as the wind tends to dehydrate plants and soil, as well as breaking off the canes where they join the crown. They form a thicket of bristly stems or canes. Canes grow 3-5feet long and thickets can spread 4 feet or more. White spring flowers are followed by colored fruit (usually red). There are varieties of raspberries that produce other colors of fruit also but the most common in our area is the red fruit. Raspberries break their dormancy early, so plant them as early as possible. Set the rows 3 to 4 m apart and the plants 60 to 100 cm apart within the row. Spacing between the rows can be varied depending on the space available. It is important to keep the roots moist while planting, because exposure to the sun or wind quickly dries out the tender roots. This is the main cause for failures in establishing new plantings. Prevent drying by keeping the plants wrapped in moist burlap during the planting operation. Set raspberries slightly deeper in the ground than their original growing depth. Water them immediately to remove air pockets around the roots. Cut the canes back to a height of 13 to 15 cm to promote early root establishment and to encourage the production of vigorous new canes. Keep the soil evenly moist during the plants' establishment. Insufficient soil moisture is one of the main factors that will reduce fruit yield. Raspberries require ample water because of their shallow root system. Generally, 2.5 to 3.5 cm of water per week from blossoming to the end of harvest is necessary to ensure a good quality fruit yield.

3 Picked fresh and eaten this fruit is very beneficial. It contains nutrients such as vitamin C, K and E. Plus they are a good source of dietary fiber and have very few calories per cup full. Raspberries will keep fresh in the refrigerator for one or two days. When taking your raspberries out of the refrigerator for consumption, try not to leave them at room temperature any longer than necessary (one to two hours), and also try to avoid placing them directly in strong sunlight. These steps will help prevent spoilage. They also freeze very well. They can be placed on a cookie sheet and frozen and then put in a plastic bag for later use. Raspberries are one of the few fruits that are hardly bothered by pests and diseases, yet some problems can occur. These include anthracnose, powdery mildew, rust, fire blight, leafhoppers and caterpillars. If you prune the raspberries annually you can prevent many problems. To avoid bane blight, prune at least 3 days before anticipated rain. Pruning will also help control borers and tree crickets. Overall raspberries rank high on the list of the world's most popular berries.

4 Cherries: chokecherries pin cherries Cherries grow on trees or bushes depending upon the terrain and climatic conditions. The cherry is the fruit of many plants and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). There are about 1,000 types of cherry. Pin cherries and chokecherries grow wild over a large part of North America. As with other varieties of cherries, both pin and chokecherries require cross-pollination for good fruit. Sour cherries tend to be a bit mouth-puckering, but are perfect for everything else: use them in jams to pies to ice cream, juices, and compotes and beyond. A firmer fruit, they hold up when cooked, baked or otherwise processed, and as they cook, their tartness mellows to a mild sweetness. Sour cherries are a hardier plant than the sweet variety and are well-suited to growing in slightly cooler climates. In North America, Aboriginal peoples discovered the cherry's medicinal properties bark, leaves, fruit all had their own benefits, from soothing tummy aches to sore throats. Modern research is discovering that sour cherries possess a compound that relives pain. They're rich in health-promoting, cancer-fighting, antiinflammatory antioxidants, as well as high in vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. Sour cherries are one of the few known natural food sources to contain the hormone melatonin, a mood enhancer and sleep aid. Sour cherries, sometimes called "tart cherries," are smaller than sweet cherries and contain more vitamin C and fewer calories. The two varieties of sour cherries that we are planting are: Chokecherries and wild cherries are widespread across North America. Some consider the chokecherry the most widely distributed tree on the continent. Their fruit are an important food source for many birds and animals, and were a staple fruit for Native Americans. They grow as bushes or small trees, depending on the habitat, and usually favor well-watered areas near streams. Chokecherries and wild cherries are stone fruit. Their seed is contained in a hard, nutlike shell in the fruit's center. The fruit are perfectly edible but discard the seeds. The seeds are high in cyanide compounds called

5 glycosides. Do not harvest the fruit until they are completely ripened or even overripe, turning deep purple without a hint of their original red. At this stage, the fruit of some bushes is sweet enough to be palatable raw. Wild cherries and chokecherries were an important food source for Native Americans who dried them for a winter food supply and added them to pemmican. Today, they are more commonly used in jams and jellies, where cooking and sweetening bring their deep, rich, winelike flavor forward. The juice is also strained and cooked with sugar, making a tart and flavorful syrup for pancakes and waffles. These wild fruit are also used in pies, although removing the stony pits from the cherries is an exercise in patience. The pin cherry tree grows mainly in the northern regions of North America, ranging from Newfoundland to British Columbia. They are sometimes also called fire cherry trees because they grow rapidly in areas cleared out by forest fires. Pin cherry is also called bird cherry due to the fact that birds often eat the cherries that grow on pin cherry trees. The Pin cherry can regenerate by seed and sprout. Its flowers are bisexual and pollinated by insects. Seeds are dispersed by birds, small mammals, and gravity. The pin cherry is a small and slender deciduous tree that grows up to 30 feet tall and sometimes takes on a somewhat shrubby appearance. The trunk grows up to about 1 foot thick and has a reddish brown color that peels off in horizontal strips. The light green leaves are oblong with a sharp tip and teeth along the edges. They grow sparsely on the tree to about 3-5 inches long and around 1 inch wide. The five-pedaled flowers are small, white, and bloom in clusters. The pin cherry fruit is small (about ¼ inch in diameter) and bright red. They grow in small clusters. A recipe for cough syrup can be created using the juice of pin cherries. The flesh of pin cherries can be used as a flavoring for whiskey or brandy.

6 Buffalo Berry: This is a fruit plant that you may not be familiar with, and are often hard to find. Buffalo berry (Shepherdia argentea) This also may be called the Silver buffalo berry from its silvery appearance, the leaves being narrow and silvery-white. It has very small, yellow flowers that produce red berries in mid-summer. They are between the size of currants and gooseberries, and difficult to pick due to the short thorns on stems. Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest used these to make a foamy confection called sxushem, collecting the berries by beating the stems with a stick and collecting the ripe berries that fell off onto a tarp below. Berries do have a pleasing flavor, dry and store well, and in addition to eaten fresh are good in sauces and jams. They are an excellent source of vitamin C and Iron. Forming a large shrub between 6 and 10 feet tall, it may form a small tree 15 to 18 feet high. It is hardy and grows in northern climates. Buffalo berry are somewhat unusual in that there are both male and female plants. Where fruit is desired it is necessary to set out one male plant for every four to six females. The flowers are inconspicuous, looking like small yellow growths that emerge below the new leaves.

7 If you plan on growing it plant in a cool site if possible to delay flowering, so buds aren t damaged by spring frosts. You ll need both male and female plants to have fruit. Although they prefer well-drained, moist soils they will tolerate dry and poor soils as the roots utilize nitrogen from the atmosphere. They re slow growing, so be patient or buy as large plants as possible. The berries were used by First Nations people for several medicinal properties. They can be used to treat flu and indigestion, and as a tea for relieving constipation. The juice was said to be good for acne, boils, digestive problems and gallstones. A tea made from the bark was used to treat eye troubles, and twigs boiled to make the laxative tea. Humans are not the only animals that eat Canada Buffalo berry. The fruit is enjoyed by many bird and mammal species, and is a special favourite of bears. If you find yourself walking in an area where there are a lot of these bushes with red berries, it might not be a bad idea to make a lot of noise or choose another path. An adult grizzly may eat upwards of 200,000 buffalo berries every day.

8 Sea Buckthorn: Best known for its vibrant orange berries and needle-like thorns, Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is one of nature s most powerful plants. The plant is a thorny shrub that can survive the harshest weather conditions. As it turns out the Prairies are an ideal habitat for sea buckthorn. Common sea-buckthorn has branches that are dense and stiff, and very thorny. The leaves are a distinct pale silvery-green, 3 8 centimetres long and less than 7 millimetres broad. It has separate male and female plants. The male produces brownish flowers which produce wind-distributed pollen. The female plants produce orange berry-like fruit 6 9 millimetres in diameter, soft, juicy and rich in oils. The roots distribute rapidly and extensively. This plant has the capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen and thus enrich the soil. The plant prefers well drained loam soils with high organic matter. Drainage is important because areas where water pools will drown the roots. The plants are very salt tolerant and adaptable to a wide range of soil ph. Sea buckthorn is very resistant to frost injury, making it more suitable for planting in a location in your orchard that is not suitable for other crops. Harvesting is difficult due to the dense thorn arrangement among the berries on each branch. A common harvesting technique is to remove an entire branch, though this is destructive to the shrub and reduces future harvests. A branch removed in this way is then frozen, allowing the berries to be easily shaken off. Sea-buckthorn berries are edible and nutritious, though acidic and oily, unpleasant to eat raw, unless mixed as a drink with sweeter substances such as apple or grape juice. The shelf life of berries stored at low temperature can be up to 2 weeks. Berries maintain their shape when thawed after freezing. Sea-buckthorn fruit can be used to make pies, jams, lotions and liquors. The juice or pulp has other potential applications in foods or beverages. Maximum fruit set occurs in trees 4 years and older Sea Buckthorn was originally brought to Canada as a shelter-belt plant to provide wind shelter and prevent soil erosion.

9 Haskap: Haskap is an exciting new crop for North America. Haskap is an amazingly hardy, fast growing, high yielding, great tasting berry bush that is relatively new to North America. It is an edible honeysuckle that originates from Siberia and can be found in Russia, China, and Japan. It goes by the name Honeyberries, Blue Honeysuckle, and Haskap. Recently, it has been developed at the University of Saskatchewan by Dr. Bob Bors for commercial production. The good varieties taste something like blueberries & raspberries. The bad ones taste like tonic water, watch out even the good ones will taste bad if eaten too early. Coming from Siberia, it is extremely hardy. It can withstand winter temperatures of -47 Celsius. Not only that, but its open flowers can endure -7 Celsius. They are the earliest to fruit in the season, usually in mid to late June even earlier than strawberries. They are most often compared with blueberries, but without the seeds. The seeds are similar to that of kiwis, so you don t even notice them. As for its uses, basically anything you would do with blueberries, you could also do with haskap eat them fresh, in baking, as jams & jellies, frozen, pies, or whatever else you may think of. It is a deciduous shrub growing to m tall. The leaves are opposite, oval, 3 8 cm long and 1 3 cm broad, bluish-green, with a slightly waxy texture. The flowers are yellowish-white, mm long, with five equal lobes; they are produced in pairs on the shoots. The fruit is a blue berry about 1 cm in diameter. Haskap has few insect and disease pests and requires little effort. Ripe fruit are often ready by the end of June. They ripen uniformly, with the entire fruit ready at the same time, important for commercial production where mechanical harvesting could be used. Haskaps can be planted 1 or 2 inches deeper than the original depth to establish a deeper root system. If you wish to have a hedge effect, space plants 3 feet within the row; if you want the plants to remain separate, plant those feet apart. Between row spacing depends on how the fruit will be harvested. If they are planted for a u-pick operation, you need adequate space between the rows to allow for customers to move up and down the rows comfortably (e.g.

10 8-10 ft). If you have some sort of mechanical harvester, you may need to have greater space between the rows, depending on the size of equipment (15-18 ft.) You should water the plant immediately after planting it. For the first three years after planting, supplemental watering is critical to promote deep root growth. During hot summer months, plants may need regular irrigation. Established plants may need no additional water other than what is provided through rainfall. Generally, it is better to water thoroughly less frequently with large volumes of water than it is to water frequently with small amounts of water. The goal is to provide water that helps develop a deep root system that will sustain the plant as it matures. Haskaps have few pest problems. Powdery mildew may be a problem on some cultivars. Netting may be needed to keep birds out of the plants. You may see a few fruit the first year after planting but it will be a few years before there is any considerable yield. After 5 years, you might see 5-7 kilos (11-15 lb) per plant. Haskaps are an early crop! Berries start to change colour the first week of June but fruit aren t fully ripe until the end of June. If the fruit have changed colour on the outside but are still green on the inside, they are not yet ripe give them a few more days. The berry flesh should be red. Haskap plants have a naturally round shape and don t need much pruning. In the late winter or early spring, pruning should be done to take out older branches when the plant gets too dense. Don t remove more than 25% of the plant in one year.

11 Conclusion: During this class we looked at different plants that will be planted in our orchard. We learned that there are fruit plants that we may not have heard of before. Many of these berry plants have been used by our ancestors for generations and we have forgotten what they were and how to use them. Planting and caring for the orchard we will have a chance to get to know these berries and perhaps start using them again for all the great benefits they can provide. When you return home ask the elders in the community what they might know about these berry plants. Remember they may have another name for them as plants can be known by many common names. If you learn anymore about the plant let us know when we meet again.