The Historic Orchard will retain its name. It is still a historic slice of the kind of industry that built San Jose and Santa Clara Valley. We look forward to the orchard being revitalized and restored, producing fruit once again, and educating future generations about the Valley of Heart’s Delight that became Silicon Valley.
Generally speaking, an orchard’s commercial life is about 20-25 years. As the orchard enters its 26th year, our trees are experiencing hardships in three specific ways:
In partnership with West Valley College’s Park Management program, we removed all of our remaining cherry trees, as well as several prune trees, from November 2018 through April 2020. The trees were beyond saving and posed a safety concern for visiting school children and volunteers. This was a great mutualistic partnership as the future stewards of our public lands got to come to the orchard and learn how to use power saws in a safe and controlled environment, and the Conservancy got the free service of more than 70 trees being removed to make way for new ones.
Additionally, new interpretive signage was installed at the northeast section of the orchard. This will improve public access to the orchard and provide more context for its history and significance.
Many things! With funding from Farrington Historical Foundation, Arm, and Northrop Grumman, we are working with our partners at UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County and the City of San Jose to further invest in the orchard. We have a lot of plans for the future of the orchard and setting it up to be a successful teaching orchard and park feature for years to come!
New irrigation system. We are refining plans for a new, above-ground irrigation system to deliver water within the orchard. The new system will feature bubbler lines and we will be better equipped to address breaks in the lines as we will not need to excavate the soil. We will also be centralizing the irrigation controls (of which there are currently five throughout the orchard) to make management much easier!
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan. With ground squirrel overpopulation and other environmental challenges, we need to set the orchard up for long-term success from the start. With IPM, we can manage these challenges in a systematic and environmentally-friendly manner.
New trees. Our climate is changing and we need to adapt to that change, as any agriculturalist would. We no longer have the cold climate necessary to grow cherries, which require too many “chill hours” to thrive in the orchard any longer. We are looking into types of trees that are naturally more disease-resistant and will thrive in a warmer climate, such as figs, persimmons, and other Mediterranean-type trees. These will provide new talking and teaching points centered on adaptation and climate change.