Pesticide Free Redruth

This is a letter from Mark one of the Directors of ROC and also a resident of Redruth outlining the case for a Pesticide Free Redruth:

Dear Redruth Town Clerk,

As a Redruth resident and as a Director of Resilient Orchards Cornwall CIC I am extremely concerned that Redruth Town Council seems to have been presented with a difficult choice by Cornwall Council of either accepting the use of Glyphosate based weed killers in the Town or having to bear additional cost risks.

Cornwall Council has policies around protecting human health and the environment so it seems a bizarre and counterproductive choice for them to promote reintroduction of harmful chemicals into our environment which pose risks to human and animal health and to nature.

Risks to Human Health

The primary concern for humans revolves around long-term exposure, particularly for agricultural workers, though residential use also carries risks.

  • Cancer Concerns (Lymphoma): The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.” This is largely based on evidence linking it to Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL).
  • Neurotoxicity: Recent systematic reviews suggest that glyphosate may cross the blood-brain barrier. Exposure has been linked to:
    • Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation.
    • Potential links to Parkinson’s disease (recognized by the French government in compensation cases for farmers).
    • Developmental concerns in children, including potential increased risks for autism spectrum disorders when exposed prenatally or in early childhood.

Acute Symptoms: Short-term exposure (inhalation or skin contact) can cause:

  • Skin and eye irritation.
  • Nasal and throat irritation.
  • Respiratory issues, including asthma symptoms

Risks to Animal Health

Animals often face higher exposure levels because they are physically closer to treated surfaces (grass, soil) and may ingest the chemical while grooming.

Domestic Pets (Dogs and Cats)

  • Gastrointestinal Distress: Ingesting small amounts (e.g., licking paws after walking on treated grass) can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and hypersalivation.
  • Organ Health: Prolonged or repeated exposure has been linked to long-term kidney and liver effects in dogs.

Risks to nature: Wildlife and Pollinators

  • Honeybees: Glyphosate is particularly damaging to bees. It disrupts their gut microbiome, making them more susceptible to pathogens. It also impairs their cognitive functions, specifically their ability to navigate back to the hive and their memory for foraging.
  • Amphibians: Studies have shown that glyphosate-based herbicides can be highly toxic to frogs and salamanders, often causing developmental deformities or death in tadpoles due to the surfactants (spreading agents) used in the formula

Financial Aspects
The argument for use of Glyphosate based chemicals to control weeds in public areas is no doubt founded on the perception that this is a low cost solution compared to less harmful alternative methods. This is a particularly shallow way of looking at it though. Think of the costs for the resident whose pet gets ill as a result of ingesting weed killer. Think of the impact on the life of the person who becomes ill and can’t work or access education for a period of time, not to mention the extra costs that this will generate for the NHS and the DWP. Have the legal risks to the Council been considered if this practice causes harm and compensation is sought?

Practical Aspects
For Council employees and contractors to safely and compliantly use hazardous and potentially harmful chemicals they must be properly trained and have appropriate PPE which can be costly. Spraying can only be safely done when the weather conditions are conducive, especially when wind levels are low. Wind levels are rarely low in Redruth and are subject to fluctuations throughout the course of a day. How then, in practice, will the Council be able to ensure that operatives only spray these chemicals when the wind is low? What measures will be put in place to prevent continued spraying if the wind picks up mid-shift? And how can work schedules be managed efficiently to avoid operatives continually stopping and starting tasks?

Vision for our Townscape
Groups like Incredible Edible Redruth and many of the businesses in town are working hard to create a Townscape that is inviting, green, healthy and pleasant to be in. It has been great to see the growing boxes in the town centre and recently the potted plants and flowers that the Bond Street Collective have put out. If Glyphosate weed killers are being used will these initiatives have to stop? Will the salad leaves in the growing boxes still be safe for people to eat? 

Since the dawn of time, the majority of humans have has an instinct to try and control and order the natural world around them. I get that; I weed my garden. If we allow this to be taken to extremes though we will be have public spaces which are no longer habitable by nature; sterile and devoid of life. Perhaps in future we could try and learn to be more tolerant of weeds – or perhaps more accurately “plants that are in the wrong place” – appearing in our public spaces.  

Community Orchards
Resilient Orchards Cornwall CIC is very proud to have worked in partnership with Redruth Town Council, Cornwall Council and Cormac over recent years and together we have created 3 fantastic community orchards in our Town. These are spaces looked after by volunteers in the community and over the years, if we look after them properly, they will deliver value to the community by providing spaces for people to meet, enjoy the natural world and supply healthy food for those who need it. Orchards depend on natural pollinators to survive and thrive. It is therefore hugely disappointing that Cornwall Council is now seemingly choosing to impose harmful chemicals into our environment which will threaten the success of the community orchards in Redruth that they themselves have participated in creating.

I hope these thoughts help the discussion.

With best wishes
Mark Ellis

Caring for your grafted apple tree

** Caring for your grafted apple tree **
Did you join one of our grafting workshops this year? Usually within 6 weeks of grafting your tree you should see signs of life in the top bud. You will then know if you have a successful graft or not, but some grafts do take longer than others. If it has not been successful – all is not lost! Let the rootstock grow back and try bud grafting in Summer, or Spring grafting again next year.

* Keep your tree watered *
As with all trees and plants growing in pots, watering is very important, but even more so when two trees have been cut and you are grafting them together. The top section is only the length of a pencil or so and can dry out quickly – so watering the growing medium is vital to help the cambium connection receive plenty of moisture to heal. We also give the potted trees a regular seaweed drench too.

* Pinching out unwanted growth *
Remember to remove any shoots from below the graft union as we want all the energy to be directed into the top shoot and the union – you don’t want the rootstock to grow out. Likewise if you have a side shoot forming on any insurance buds you retained on your scion wood/top wood, then pinch these out like you would on a tomato plant. These will form into very low major branches if left to grow on, creating branches liable to touch the ground when weighed down by fruit – not a very productive or practical place for a branch. Unless of course you are training your tree as an espalier or step over tree and supporting it whilst it grows….

Use bamboo canes to support the growing top shoot that is becoming the main trunk of your fruit tree.

* Blossom on grafted trees *
Ideally you won’t have any blossom on your grafted trees, as we aim to use non- fruiting scion wood by choosing last season’s growth which is generally made up of only vegetative buds. However, if you’ve used a really vigorous branch, or perhaps due to irregular weather at the end of the growing season, or you might have used second year growth by mistake – Don’t fret! We can remove all the blossom on our grafts so it turns into a vegetative bud that becomes the main leader.

If you don’t remove the blooms then it will focus on forming fruit and not growth – obviously not want we want. Removing blossom and waiting for the shoot to form on the newly grafted tree means it takes a little longer to get going but it will catch up.

* First few years *
Likewise you don’t want your tree to focus energy on fruiting until at least year 3. Letting your tree blossom in the first few years, but removing fruitlets at the normal time that apples tend to drop apples known as the ‘June drop’, will help the tree to focus energy on tree growth and health, not reproduction – just yet.

How to grow ‘own root’ or ‘pitcher’ apple trees

Lots of people ask about growing ‘own root’ trees or ‘pitchers’. These are fruit trees which can root readily in the ground from a branch cutting and is a practice which was well used by farmers in times past for increasing stock for free. They were especially used for planting around the edges of orchards within hedgerows to increase the number of fruit trees, aiding cross pollination and for more crops.

There is not much to it in a practical sense:
Take a branch cutting and let it grow on it’s own roots by sticking it in the ground. This is very similar to propagating a blackcurrant bush by taking a cutting, or by taking a willow tree cutting in Autumn.

However, the downside – or interesting side if you see it that way – is you are unlikely to know how much vigour the tree will have, or what disease resistance, unless you know someone else who has done this for a particular variety. When you plant an apple pip in the ground, the resulting fruit that grows is likely to be very different from the mother tree, this is why fruit trees are usually grafted. ‘Scion wood’ from the mother fruit tree is grafted onto a rootstock (grown by commercial nurseries) which controls the vigour and disease resistance of the final tree.

Commercial horticultural centres of the past like East Malling in Kent and the John Innes Centre in London were funded in the early 20th Century to develop, over decades, commercially useful rootstocks with known vigour and that were resistant to pests such as woolly aphid. This allowed fruit growers around the World to propagate and produce good quality fruit on trees of a known size/vigour, it also helped provide rootstocks that come into fruiting production sooner which for commercial fruit growers was more important than how long the tree lives which is greater the more vigorous the rootstock.

We know ‘Sweet Larks’, a small Cornish pickling apple, creates quite a small tree when grown on it’s own roots, but it roots very easily and doesn’t seem to particularly suffer from any major pests or diseases. ‘Manaccan Primrose’ is another variety which roots readily on it’s own roots if you take a branch and put it in the ground, this is known to be a very vigorous variety and again seems to be very healthy on it’s own roots.

An unknown apple variety of poor taste growing at Tehidy Orchard (Nr Camborne), roots well from pitchers (branches) and has been used over the years by Andrew Tomsett & Peter Malidine for grafting onto in the Redruth area. This ‘pitcher’ tree, which is quite a vigorous grower, readily takes new varieties grafted onto it, so is good for use as a rootstock for other varieties after being in the ground for a couple of years as an own root.

How do you know which trees will root?
Often you can see aerial roots or burrs, as seen in the photos, on the bark around branch collars/where branches break out. Some trees like this unknown pitcher tree have huge numbers of these burrs all over the trunk, these are often evidence that the tree will root well from cuttings.

When is the best time to take cuttings for own root trees?
The best time is in Late Autumn or early Winter when the tree is dormant and will have time to focus on root growth before Spring arrives.

What size cutting to take?
We tend to take branches which are roughly the size of a young tree that you plant in Winter so around 2 – 2.5cm in diameter. Large enough to allow the branch time to root without drying out. We are not taking cuttings like fruit bushes where we take pencil thickness cuttings. For fruit trees we take them a little larger and longer. This also means they are a bit further on in their growing development. Push the branch deep enough into the ground that they have plenty of moisture whilst they root, a foot at least.

How long before they fruit?
This somewhat depends on the variety of fruit tree used, however, it also true that many rootstocks have been bred to bring the trees grafted onto them into bearing fruit sooner than they would otherwise, particularly the more dwarfing varieties. So it might take longer than trees on rootstock, but it does depend on the variety, as some are naturally more vigorous and others less so.

Benefits of growing own root trees
– Can increase fruit tree stock for free
– Quick & easy, no skill required
– There is no graft union – which could be considered a weak point on a grafted tree

Drawbacks to growing own root trees
– Unknown disease resistance (for e.g. the mm series of rootstocks have been bred to be resistant to wooly aphid which would be lost if on own roots rather than rootstock)
– Unknown vigour or final size of tree, some likely to be very vigorous on own roots
– Unknown when own root tree will come into fruiting compared to a grafted tree where you have a good idea depending on which rootstock you choose

Note that horticultural centres in other parts of the world are still developing new rootstocks that are improved versions of what we have. So long as funding for these research centres continues, this helps to ensure as new diseases/problems arise, new rootstocks are developed to respond. Not much research has been done on own root trees however.

Links to further information:
– Orange Pippin Fruit Trees Own-root fruit trees
– Hugh Ermen: Own-Roots Experimenter | unconventional stories from a tree crops farmer
– More on Hugh Ermen’s work on own root trees and coppice orchard system here: Cool Temperate – Grown In England
– And a video from Hugh Ermen here
– Useful information about rootstock development history, compatibility, disease resistance & trees on their own roots from Frank Matthews, commercial fruit tree & rootstock grower Rootstock – Background and History | Frank P Matthews

Winter Pruning Workshops 2026

Upcoming ROC workshops

As part of our Lottery funded Community Orchards Project 2025-2026 we have organised 5 sessions at Tregurra Community Orchard, Truro. This includes a pruning workshop below plus a blossom walk, a nature and art session and apple pressing in September 2026.

Pruning workshop
Sunday 18th January at Tregurra Orchard, Truro
9.30-1.30pm with James Fergusson
Booking via resilientorchardscornwall@gmail.com

Orchard care & pruning workshop
Wed 18th Feb, King Edward’s Mine, nr Camborne.
We are working with the local volunteers to remove tree guards and check the health of these 3 year old trees, pruning and mulching each tree and ensuring they are ready for the growing season ahead. If you would like to join this workshop there is a small charge for anyone not a KEM volunteer.

We have organised 4 workshops with Forest for Cornwall, funded by F4C, where will be looking at pruning for tree health and productivity. These are pruning workshops, but when talking about tree pruning and tree care we will also talk about other orchard management issues. The trees being pruned are a range of different ages, for more information please get in touch. Forest for Cornwall is coordinating bookings, please see Eventbrite link below. We will stop for a 30 min lunch break so bring a packed lunch with you.

Pruning workshops for Forest For Cornwall
Fri 16th Jan 2026, New County Hall Community Orchard, Truro 10-2pm
Sat 7th Feb 2026, St Ives Community Orchard, 10-2pm
Thurs 12th Feb, Fir Hill Orchard, nr Newquay, 10-2pm
Fri 13th Feb, Cornish Orchards, nr Liskeard 10-2pm
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1976710175346?aff=oddtdtcreator

Community fruit tree planting this Winter

We are excited to be working with Cornwall Council & Cormac this Winter to plant 55 fruit trees across 4 locations in Cornwall.

These trees will bring blossom, tree cover and fruit for the benefit of local residents & wildlife, and increase biodiversity. Come and plant a tree, help develop the plans or learn about fruit tree growing. All welcome!

This project was made possible with the support of a grant from The Tree Council’s and Defra’s Trees Outside Woodland Fund.

PLEASE JOIN US TO MAKE PLANS TOGETHER!

FIRST SITE: Liskeard’s Lanchard Cemetery

  • Meet on FRIDAY 5H DEC together at 2.30pm to talk about the project and make plans
  • Lanchard Cemetery, Liskeard PL14 4ER
  • What 3 Words: flippers.shuttling.mysteries
  • Please download the flyer below for more details, meet on Friday or get in touch for more information resilientorchardscornwall@gmail.com
Community Trees for Community Spaces (4) smallerDownload

Redruth Orchard Project – the year ahead…

Please join us to discuss shrub choices for planting in early 2026, maintenance, pruning and other session dates, your ideas and suggestions for Trenoweth Community Orchard, Trefusis Park Orchard & East End Park Orchard. Meet on Monday 22nd Sept Redruth Victoria and Trefusis Parks at Food Troops /Cormac base at the Horticultural building, 6.30pm – 7.30pm.

Help lead the project. Your ideas, passion, knowledge, experience &/or energy are all very much welcomed, encouraged & valued.

Community orchards often do so well thanks to the diversity of input from a diverse bunch of people all working together cooperatively, empowering one another in different ways. This has definitely happened in Redruth and there is so much opportunity to further develop this positive action. Please come along to see what it’s all about.

If you can’t make it but want to contribute some ideas or suggestions, however small – please get in touch resilientorchardscornwall@gmail.com

Supported by The National Lottery Community Fund

Awenek! The Great Cornish Heritage Festival 2025!

We are excited to share that we will be participating in Cornwall Heritage Trust’s Awenek! The Great Cornish Heritage Festival this year.

Cornwall has a long and fascinating orchard heritage and it is increasingly recognised that traditional orchards are hugely valuable for biodiversity, with their mosaic of habitat from grassland to scrub, to hedgerow and free standing trees with large spacing. Traditional orchards have been given UK BAP protected status. Older orchards are still under threat from neglect and scrubbing out. We initiated the Cornwall Orchard Network to bring people together who are interested in protecting & celebrating orchards and sharing news, updates and knowledge with one another.

At AWENEK! the Great Cornish Heritage Festival, we will be operating the community apple press and making juice. Come and say Hello and get involved, see how the manual press works, taste some juice or bring your surplus apples.

There will be activities, demonstrations, delicious food options, and performances to suit everyone. Join us on Saturday 13th September at Enys Gardens, Penryn to celebrate Cornwall’s unique heritage and culture.

Online advance tickets are £5 for Cornwall Heritage Trust and Enys Gardens adult members and under 18s go free. Online advance tickets for adults who aren’t members are priced at £10.

Book your tickets through the Cornwall Heritage Trust website: https://www.cornwallheritagetrust.org/event/awenek-the-great-cornish-heritage-festival-2025/

// Community orchard news //

We are delighted to share news of a grant awarded to us from The National Lottery Community Fund!

A HUGE thank you to The National Lottery for recognising the work we do to support communities to create, maintain & celebrate community orchards.

This grant will allow us to empower local residents to guide the care & development of local community orchards, providing resources, equipment & training to support orchard groups and responding to feedback from volunteers, park users, local residents and the local Council.

New apple pressing equipment will help us on our mission to ensure that apples grown in Cornwall are put to good use rather than wasted, as part of our commitment to promoting food security, sustainability and community action. Additional edible & wildlife attracting shrubs will bring diversity, protecting soils, boosting tree health & expanding harvests for all.

Approximately 75% of traditional orchards have been lost across the South West since the 1900s, along with wildlife that depend upon it. Our project will help the environment by restoring orchard habitat along with the skills to manage it, by people that live closest. In addition to being connected with nature, local people will be helping to develop a local food supply and a sustainable, resilient community, boosting positivity about the future. People will gain opportunities to get involved in positive action to tackle climate change, giving them agency to improve local green spaces.

This grant will:

⭐️ support us to deliver community apple pressing sessions PLUS provide some new apple pressing equipment

⭐️ allow community orchard groups to add edible, wildlife attracting & mineral accumulating shrubs alongside recently planted fruit trees

⭐️ provide First Aid training for regular volunteers & freelancers

⭐️ support us to train more people in orchard skills & empower local residents in Redruth & Truro to collaborate with one another to create and make full use of diverse orchards for all.

// Want to to get involved? //

Join an orchard organising whatsapp group in Redruth or via the Redruth email list, or get in touch by email or phone.

// Want to get updates? //

Please watch this space or join our email list: by sending a request to resilientorchardscornwall@gmail.com

The National Lottery Community Fund