Autumn started early in many parts of the Netherlands and so the fruit is already falling off the trees. “Much earlier than expected. Then you can lead to problems that you can ultimately cost hundreds of euros,” says Rob de Vries, who has been affiliated with Werkspot and has been conducting the profession for more than 25 years.
Pests and rats
Ideally, clean up your fallen fruit before it starts to rot. Certainly in warm weather, according to De Hovenier, this can happen within a few hours. The smell alone is annoying, but you can also suffer from wasps, horners and other vermin. So if possible, walk into your garden every day to pick up the fallen fruit.
“Don’t ignore it and remove the fruit as quickly as possible,” is De Vries’ advice. “For rats it is an ideal food source. A pest is not only dirty and stressful, but also expensive to tackle; Pest Control costs you quickly from one hundred euros and often much more if the scourge turns out to be persistent.”
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Graveyard
Another problem: fruit that stays on the lawn, blocks air and sunlight and presses the grass blades flat with its weight. As a result, your grass is damaged or even dies, warns De Vries. “Already after one day it can start to color yellow. Within two days it can get into a state of rest and after two weeks with fallen fruit it can really die.”
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According to the gardener, recovering your lawn is precious: “Treatments are pricey and also not always work. In the worst case, you even have to have new turf laid.”
Unwanted trees
Also annoying: when you leave the fruit, the seeds can easily spread to other places in your garden, creating unwanted seedlings. That happens after about 48 to 72 hours. De Vries: “For trees, fruit is primarily a way to spread seeds. If you leave the fruit on your grass, then those seeds can germinate quickly and your garden turns into a collection of young trees unnoticed.” According to the connoisseur, especially apple trees spread fruits easily through their cases.
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Bacteria and fungi
Fallen fruit that remains, is also a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi. That is risky, because diseases can spread to trees and healthy plants in the neighborhood. De Vries: “If a tree becomes sick and must be removed, the costs quickly increase to more than 200 euros. Saving a tree is often even more expensive, and treatments are not always effective.”
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Weeds
Fallen fruit that remains lying down enriches the soil with organic material. “That may sound good, but it causes ideal conditions for weeds,” says De Vries. “Once established, weeds often keep coming back, so you have to get started again and again. You can remove it yourself, but the costs of weed killer or the hours of a gardener can get up quickly.”
Picking up
So clean up that trade. But how do you do that the smartest? The simplest is of course the fruit collecting in a basket or bucket. But there are also useful tools that don’t always have to bend. For example, there are special fruit grabs, tailored to the type of fruit you want to pick or collect. You can buy them with roll head (where the fruit rolls in a basket), on a long handle (with a shelter) or as a rake-like gripper. If you want to fall for it, you can also preventively tensioning a reception network.
Save fruit
You can immediately process or store freshly picked fruit in a cool, dry space. Don’t store it in a closed fruit bowl. Due to a lack of air circulation, the fruits will spoil earlier.
According to the Nutrition Center, most fruit stays in the fridge for the longest: such as apples and pears (2-4 weeks), peaches and nectarines (3-7 days), Kiwi (1-3 weeks), grapes (7 days) and strawberries, currants, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, kersen and beans).
Of course you can also process it into a nice jam or apple sauce, so that you will enjoy it for much longer.