Philadelphia Orchard Project

Philadelphia Orchard Project Mission. The Philadelphia Orchard Project plants and supports community orchards in the city of Philadelphia.

POP partners with a wide variety of community groups, providing them with an orchard design, plant sourcing, planting supervision, and training in orchard care. Our community partners own, maintain, harvest, and distribute the orchard produce within their neighborhoods, thus expanding community control over their food resources. POP currently supports 67 community orchards and has planted 1,578 fruit trees over the last 15 years!

While we are enjoying beautiful harvests of peaches, plums, apricots and other fruits in Philadelphia, many orchards in ...
08/07/2026

While we are enjoying beautiful harvests of peaches, plums, apricots and other fruits in Philadelphia, many orchards in the surrounding region sadly are not.

Why is this? Climate chaos and the urban heat island effect. This soring, the region experienced record setting temperatures in mid April, followed by a significant frost less than a week later. This unprecedented weather pattern resulted in damage to early blooms, resulting in estimated 70-90% fruit crop losses across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Whole orchards without fruit!

However, here in Philly itself we mostly narrowly missed freezing temperatures due to the urban heat island effect. You can read more about this in our new blog post at phillyorchards.org/blog.

1. Ripening peaches at the POP Learning Orchard at the Woodlands (PLOW).
2. European plums at PLOW.
3. Apricots at PLOW.
4. Photo of frost damage on persimmon trees, shared by threefold farm in Mechanicsburg, PA.
5. Frost damage on pawpaw blossoms at Threefold Farm.

The Woodlands
Threefold Farm

August Volunteer Work Days — Visit us at the POP Learning Orchard and volunteer to support some of our partners around t...
08/04/2026

August Volunteer Work Days — Visit us at the POP Learning Orchard and volunteer to support some of our partners around the city.

🔗 Visit the EVENTS link in our bio to sign up. Don't forget to subscribe to our Volunteer mailing list to get email notifications.

We're holding TWO Open Orchards this month! Wed 7/8 from 6-7:30 and Sat 7/18 from 10-1. Come out and explore the POP Lea...
07/02/2026

We're holding TWO Open Orchards this month! Wed 7/8 from 6-7:30 and Sat 7/18 from 10-1. Come out and explore the POP Learning Orchard at the beautiful and historic Woodlands Cemetery in West Philly. A guided tour of the orchard, nursery, and high tunnels will be offered. Check the event page for more details.

This is a free event but donations to support POP’s ongoing programs are appreciated.

ALSO — we still have a few volunteer spots open for Tues 7/14 (9:30-12) at the POP Learning Orchard at the Woodlands, as well as Wed 7/15 (11-1:00) at St. Raymonds House in Germantown. Sign up on our website!

🔗 Check our EVENTS link in bio for details.

Thank you yaleclimateconnections for highlighting our work!PhillyOrchards.org/newsLink in bioImage credit: Theen Moy
06/29/2026

Thank you yaleclimateconnections for highlighting our work!

PhillyOrchards.org/news
Link in bio

Image credit: Theen Moy

Thanks yaleclimateconnections for highlighting our work!🔗 Link in bio
06/29/2026

Thanks yaleclimateconnections for highlighting our work!

🔗 Link in bio

Happy Solstice! Summer is officially here and besides all the berry harvests, it’s also time to consider summer pruning....
06/22/2026

Happy Solstice! Summer is officially here and besides all the berry harvests, it’s also time to consider summer pruning.

Although winter is the primary season for fruit tree pruning in our climate, there are some good reasons to consider summer pruning as well. Because most tree growth occurs in the spring months, there is much less regrowth response to cuts made in summer. This means it can be a good time to remove quick upright growth from the tops of your branches like what is pictured here, opening the horizontal branches to more air and light. Similarly, this is a good time to remove any root suckers from near the base of the tree. It is also a time to consider bigger cuts, for example to reduce the height of a tree, since they will also see less regrowth.

You can read more about summer pruning recommendations on page 16 of this year’s updated POP Pruning Guide (check it out on the resources page at phillyorchards.org).

Tool sanitation is very important with summer pruning of pome and stone fruits to avoid spreading diseases from one cut to another. We recommend a rubbing alcohol spray between each cut especially where diseases are active.

Emergency pruning of dead, diseased, and damaged wood is also recommended throughout the summer months. Check for fire blight on apples, pears, and other pome fruits and cut back 8-12” below any sign of it.

Plums and cherries should be checked for black knot and pruned 4-6” below any signs of it. Cankers on stone fruits are also best removed in hot, dry summer weather.

We had a brutal winter in Philly and the region. If you haven’t got to it yet, dead wood on figs should be pruned back to wherever they have sprouted from. In some places, this means cutting back all above ground growth and allowing new growth from the base!

The first maypop flowers are another sure sign of summer!

It’s not too late to thin your fruit trees if you haven’t already! Need some tips? Check out our updated thinning blogpo...
06/17/2026

It’s not too late to thin your fruit trees if you haven’t already! Need some tips? Check out our updated thinning blogpost now live on the POP blog now and be sure to check out the 2026 POP Pest and Disease Guide linked in the post!

Linktree in bio to POP Blog 🔗

Berry happy it’s Friday! Today was our first big berry harvest of the season at the POP Learning Orchard at the Woodland...
06/05/2026

Berry happy it’s Friday! Today was our first big berry harvest of the season at the POP Learning Orchard at the Woodlands, including:

Goumis
Juneberries
Honeyberries
Nanking cherries
Sweet Cherries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Alpine strawberries

Also, mustard greens, garlic scapes, and mint donated to Food Not Bombs in West Philly!

Late May Orchard Updates! 1. It’s fruit thinning season! May and June are the time to pluck off some of your young fruit...
05/21/2026

Late May Orchard Updates!

1. It’s fruit thinning season! May and June are the time to pluck off some of your young fruitlets to ensure a quality harvest and selectively remove pest and disease impacts. This is a before photo of densely packed apricots.
2. Apricots after thinning to 3-5” apart. Plums are also 3-5” and peaches typically 6-8”.
3. Apples, European and Asian pears are typically thinned to 5” apart.
4. Leave the biggest, healthiest fruitlets and remove ones impacted by pest and disease, like the plum curculio damage shown here.
5. Fire blight is already showing up on pears and apples! Prune out this aggressive bacterial disease to at least 12” below any signs. And don’t forgot to disinfect your tools!
6. Harvest season is also kicking off with these ripening Goumi berries!
7. You might also start to see some ripe Juneberries as soon as next week!
8. Guess who decided to finally sprout after the heat this week? Maypop vines!

Thanks for having us out for an early Spring workday Lea Elementary!
05/14/2026

Thanks for having us out for an early Spring workday Lea Elementary!

Address

4000 Woodland Avenue
Philadelphia, PA
19104

Telephone

+12157241247

Website

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