84-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, April 24, 1999
Frecon Orchard
(Continued from Page B 2)
advantage is that we seldom need
to take frost-control measures,”
Henry said. Good air movement
pervades the hilly areas while frost
settles in the low areas.
A housing development at the
foothills was at one time orchards.
When he reached retirement, the
elder Frecon laid out a residential
development. That created an
increased customer base, but Tor
rie said, “You only keep them if
you please them.”
Pleasing “them” applies not
only to the produce sold but to
neighboring relationships. Neigh
bors are allowed to stroll through
the orchards and walk their dogs.
Sometimes fellow orchard
growers fail to recognize the phi
losphy of establishing good neigh
bors when it conflicts with the bot
tom line. The Frecons overheard an
orchard grower touring the
orchard, criticizing the Frecons for
not utilizing a large area of fron
tage surrounding the property.
“We left open land to be a good
neighbor,” Torrie said. “We don’t
want to spray chemicals that drift
onto the neighbors’ (land).”
“It costs us to respect our neigh
bors, but it pays to keep good
neighbors,” Torrie said.
“People often assume that
orchardists have nothing to do dur
ing the winter, but that’s when we
prune every tree by hand,” Torrie
said.
Grafting is done in March until
bloom.
At this time of the year, the
orchards are a spectacular sight
with acres of blooming trees. Bar
bara Gilbert, a 30-year employee
of Brecon Orchards, enjoys late
season pruning. As she pruned
Saturn peach trees, Henry talked
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FOR SALE
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For
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Most effective
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about the many varieties that the
orchard grows.
“People want a large red frees
tone peach, so we keep trying new
varieties,” Henry said.
One of the most successful ven
tures has been planting the Saturn
peach about six years ago. The
freestone, white-flesh peach is
shaped like a saucer with a small
seed that pops out when broken
apart. The peaches are sold in half
pint, pint, and quart containers
instead of the usual peck and half
bushel baskets. The small, sweet
peach is an excellent peach to offer
samples to customers because it
has no mess and the flavor is
fantastic.
But the novelty peaches have a
downside. The fruit is difficult and
time consuming to pick and is sus
ceptible to rot.
It’s a big investment to plant
trees and wait for a crop. Henry
buys 2-year-old trees, plants them,
and waits an additional three years
for a crop. Top-grafting new var
ieties into established root trunk
while allowing old main leaders to
produce is more economical and
one that the Frecons use quite a bit
They are experimenting with
drafting sweet cherries on dwarf
rootstock. That would enable pick
ers to pick cherries from ground
level rather than climb high ladders
to harvest the crop.
This year will be the first harvest
on the dwarf cherry trees, and the
Frecons are eager to see how the
concept will work. The main prob
lem with grafting is that grafting
doesn’t always take.
‘Trees are susceptible to lots of
stresses,” Henry said. “I figure a
peach tree is good if it lasts IS
years. Apple trees are hardier and
last about 20 years.”
New varieties are being released
all the time, and the Frecons said
the newer varieties are often better
and improved over old stock.
Varieties are selected not only
for taste but also to keep a continu
ous supply of fruit available during
the growing season. Peaches are
picked from July through
September.
Labor problems make it difficult
to meet the demands of growing
100 acres of apples, peaches, tart
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Oakland, MD
301-334-9060
Torrie is in charge of the retail store. In addition to produce raised on their farm and
by local farmers, Frecon Orchards Outlet offers a wide variety of unique food items
and gifts. The store ships fruit baskets with specialty foods and coffees throughout
the states and even to other countries.
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and sweet cherries, berries, nectar
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In addition to the orchard, the
farm plants three acres of pump
kins, four acres of sweet com, and
buys a lot to resell from other
farms.
This requires manual work. In
the orchard alone there is planting,
thinning, pruning, and mowing
between trees. The store is kept
open year-round and has a thriving
mail-order business. In addition to
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family members, employees vary
from six in the off-season to 15
during peak times.
Abandoned farms surround one
side of the orchard. Although the
area is beautiful to look at, it cre
ates problems for the orchard. The
uninhabited area is a breeding
ground for deer—a considerable
pest in orchards. Deer eat young
trees, the buds off trees, and rub the
bark off with antlers.
(Turn to Pag* B 5)
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