October Fruit Calendar

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General

Start cleaning up all beds and borders, removing surface debris and
plants which have already been harvested

Water plants which are still producing crops during dry spells

Start a compost heap

Harvesting & Storing Fruit in October

Continue to harvest ripened apples and pears and store unblemished fruit in a cool, dark,  well ventilated place

Harvest ripened grapes

Continue to harvest ripened plums

Pick nuts once the husks begin to yellow

Continue to pick ripened berries regularly

Care, Pruning & planting  fruit in October

Cut down fruited canes of blackberries and berries and tie in new canes

Lift and divide old rhubarb crowns

Prune gooseberries and currants (red, black and white) and take cuttings

Take cuttings of figs and grape vines after leaf fall

Prune out dead or diseased shoots on apple and pear trees

Plant new fruit trees

Complete the planting of strawberry runners by mid October

Protecting Fruit in October

Provide winter protection for wall-trained outdoor figs by covering the plant with plastic netting and filling between the plant and the netting with a loose layer of straw

Towards the end of October place  grease bands on  fruit trees and their stakes if necessary to protect them from female winter moths

Spray peaches and nectarines against peach leaf curl just as the leaves begin to fall

Apply a final spray to stone fruit trees at leaf fall against bacterial canker

Regularly collect fallen apples and pears affected with brown rot and pick off any affected fruit on the tree

Regularly collect and burn fallen apple and pear leaves infected with scab

Planning and Buying Fruit Trees in October

Order or buy fruit trees and bushes

Plan new fruit beds and plots for next year