Chapter 1.8 (Agriculture 5)

Conservation project

Managing climbing fruit plants

Care for Established Climbing Fruit Plants

Activity 1

Building a protective structure around the fruit plants.

What would happen if climbing fruits were left to grow without any care and protection?
​Give some of the ways through which climbing fruit plants can be grown and cared for in the environment.

Look at the following pictures.

A.

B.

C.

  • Protect the climbing fruit plants from animals, birds and insects.
  • Construct a shed around a climbing fruit plant using the guidance in the pictures (a), (b) and (c).

A.

Pushing a strong stick at each corner around the base of the plant

B.

Fixing other sticks around the vertical sticks

C.

Placing a wire net all around the young plant to protect it

Safety tip

Be careful when using tools and equipment which can cause harm during the construction of the shed.

Watering climbing fruit plants

How do we water established climbing fruit plants?

Activity 2

Watering established climbing fruit plants.

  1. Look at the following pictures and identify the activities going on.
  2. Water the climbing fruit plants you established in the school.

A.

B.

Which method of watering would be the best for water conservation?
​Water your climbing fruit plants using methods that save water.

Removing excess branches from climbing fruit plants

How do we remove excess branches from established climbing fruit plants?

Activity 3

Removing excess branches from climbing fruit plants.

Look at the following picture:

Identify the activity carried out in the following picture.

Woking in groups

Observe the growing fruit plants that you established.

  1. Identify fruit plants with excess branches.
  2. Remove the excess branches on climbing fruit plants.
  3. Take care not to cut yourself when using cutting tools such as secateurs.

Why do we remove excess branches from the established climbing fruits?

Training growing climbing fruit plants

How do we train growing climbing fruit plants?

Activity 4

Training growing climbing fruit plants.

Look at the following pictures and identify how the climbing fruits have been supported.

A.

Fruit plants supported along a wall

B.

b Fruit plants supported by string and wire net

C.

Fruit plants supported by wire and string between posts

D.

Fruit plants supported by sticks

Working in groups

  1. Use the methods shown in the pictures to support your growing fruit plants.
  2. Train the climbing fruit plants to grow along the support.
    ​Why do we train the growing climbing fruit plant?

Let us understand

  1. Training climbing fruit plants makes them grow in the required direction.
  2. Climbing fruit plants are supported above the soil to prevent the fruits from rotting.

The right stage for harvesting fruits of climbing fruit plants

What are the signs to observe when identifying mature fruits of climbing fruit plants?

Activity 5

Identifying mature fruit of climbing fruit plants

Look at each of the following photographs. Identify the mature fruits.

A.

B.

C.

D.

Working in groups

Find out how to identify mature fruits and fill the table below.

Fruit

Colour

Passion fruit

Raspberry

Goose berry

Grapes

Share your findings with the class.

Let us understand

We can identify mature fruits using their colour and size. Some mature fruits become soft.

Harvesting Fruits of Climbing Fruit Plants

How do we harvest mature fruits?

Let us practice

Look at the pictures below and identify the activity being carried out.

Activity 6

Harvesting fruits.

Harvest the mature fruits from climbing fruit plants. Pick the fruits from the climbing fruit plant, place them in a container.

Let us understand

  1. Harvesting is done by picking mature fruits.
  2. Mature fruits show signs of readiness when they reach their full size and when they change colour.
  3. Picking fruits which are not mature leads to wastage.
  4. Some fruits such as Kiwi become tender to touch when ripe.

Activity 7

Home project

Caring for climbing fruits at home.

Let us practice at home

Assist your parent or guardian to care for climbing fruit plants as shown in the following pictures:

A.

B.

C.

Importance of consuming fruits for nutrition

  1. Fruits have vitamins which protect us from vitamin deficiency diseases. They boost our immunity.
  2. From fruits we get sugar which provide us with energy. 
  3. Fruits have mineral salts that protect the body from mineral deficiencies.
  4. Fruits have fibre which help in digestion, therefore, preventing constipation.
  1. Training climbing fruit plants involves 
  2. Watering climbing fruit plants is done during the 
  3. We should not  climbing fruits when caring for them.
  4. Blackberries ready for harvesting are