Simon Bray of Monks Farm near Faversham, Kent won the Orchard of the Year (Class B) in this year’s East Kent Fruit Society Orchard Management Competition. A frequent winner in this competition, he also claimed the Hygiene Award, the Best Orchard with over 1000 trees/acre, and Class A – the Best Cox Orchard, fending off competition from high-profile growers such as Bardsley Farms and Adrian Scripps Ltd.
At the recent EKFS Farm Walk Simon showed his visitors orchard after orchard loaded with high quality fruit, representing the very best of British fruit growing. His winning Gala orchard was predicted to yield 50 tonnes/ha, and his Cox orchard was expected to produce 40 tonnes/ha having cropped at 43 tonnes/ha last year, and his Braeburn, Jonagold and Bramley orchards were expected to yield 60 tonnes/ha.
The two ‘jewels in the crown’ – Cox and Gala – were planted at a standard spacing of 3.0m x 1.2m on M9 rootstocks, with some on stronger stocks on the ends of the rows where the soil was thinner. In the winning Gala block, named A14, Mondial Gala was grown, but in his more recent planting he has used the Galaxy clone to gain better colour.
Always paying attention to detail, Simon explained the input of 260 hours/ha in hand-thinning his orchards using in-house labour, and a spray programme that placed emphasis on foliar nutrients – FAST Formula 1 and 2, Maxicrop and Regalis. “We couldn’t grow our fruit without Regalis,” said Simon Bray. “We do not find that it reduces return bloom”.