Weekend tasks

Prune stone fruit

Once harvested, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, almonds and cherries should be pruned.

Unlike apples and pears, which get their turn in winter, stone fruit are best pruned in summer directly after fruiting.

Winter pruning of apples and pears results in vigorous growth in spring (something the grower wants), but stone fruit are already vigorous and have to be reduced in size and energy at a time when pruning equals less growth, which is now.

Another reason to prune now is to avoid silver leaf disease which appears in winter. Remove dead, diseased and excess growth.

Cover grapes

Beat the birds and cover your grapevines with netting. To speed up ripening, remove some of the excess foliage. This improves airflow and lets in more light, which in turn reduces the likelihood of fungal disease such as botrytis ruining your harvest. Fruit will shrivel up on ripening if botrytis takes hold.

Protect your passionfruit

A common disease in passionfruit is brown spot, which is caused by the fungus Alternaria passiflorae. Symptoms on fruit initially appear as small, light brown and sunken spots. These develop into wrinkled and depressed rots, which may cover up to half the fruit.

The fungus also affects the leaves. Infected leaves drop and in severe cases the vines may become completely defoliated. The branches can also become infected, which is evident from dark-brown lesions.

Removing infected fruit, leaves and canes, and thinning the vine to allow ventilation will help reduce the infection.

Mancozeb (a fungicide registered for passionfruit in New Zealand) or a copper spray can help in controlling the disease but will not eradicate it.