I have bought a property which will be a rental for the near future. I well be keeping the yard management guy. He has been spraying a ring of roundup (or similar) around the fruit trees per the original owner and installer of the orchard. I hope to move there some day but in the meantime I want to figure out what I should do, as a long distance landlord that doesn't create more work for him that he isn't use to doing. (In case you were wondering I don't think I can afford to bring in someone with a permie or holistic background). I basically want to do no additional hard to the orchard but it has been living this way for 30 years.
My first thought was to just ask him to stop with the roundup and that I would get tree trimming mulch from an arborist and to add that in such a way that he could continue mowing the rows but leave the area between the trees to grow a little wild. I could then, when I have the time, plant in these obvious rows and just ask the yard guy to leave those spaces alone and mow just the rows (instead of basically the whole orchard). I don't want the tenants to not be able to harvest fruit. Alternatively, I could just pick a couple of trees as no-roundup areas, the trees furthest from the house. We don't have tenants yet so a lot is going to wind up depending on how into the orchard they are.
I would like to stop with the roundup so the soil can recover over the next couple of years. I don't mind pioneer plant but renters might perceive them as "weeds". It is pretty much burmuda grass now.