jmcextman

AppleTesters.net -- 'Redcort' Cortland: 26-September, 2011

2011-10-07T10:58:00.000-04:00

AppleTesters.net - Golden Supreme, 21-September, 2011

2011-09-24T12:17:00.000-04:00

IFTA 2011 Europe Study Tour, Day 5, Belgium

2011-08-06T15:52:00.007-04:00

During the last day of the IFTA 2011 Summer Tour, and after an overnight stay in the City of Brussels (right by The Grand Place), we first visited a commercial pear orchard in the Sint-Truiden area (east and north of Brussels) with Tom Deckers, PCFruit Researcher. The V-form pear orchard seen here with Deckers appears to be the norm with trees planted app. 2 meters apart using the dwarfing Quince rootstock. (Which apparently is not particularly winter-hardy, limiting it’s use in North America.) Production of 60 tonnes/ha is expected at maturity said Deckers, as well as “the good fruit size essential in the pear business.”

Next stop was Carolus Trees, where Koen Carolus showed us his “sprinter” trees which are spring bench-grafted and planted 1-year nursery trees pushed hard (hence “sprinter”) with fertigation. Koen claims the sprinter trees are nearly equal to 2-year knip boom trees and it allows Carolus to be swift in production of varieties in-demand. 15-25 tonnes/ha in the 2nd-leaf.

Carolus is also an apple grower and Koen was clearly enthused with his mechanized fruiting wall ‘Fruit Management System.’ Based on a single summer hedge-prune (with a custom-built tree hedger) and blossom thinning with the Darwin string thinner Koen achieves many ‘fruiting outlets’ and has increased yield (by 20%) over the conventional production system (which is similar to a tall spindle). Fruit are more equal size and it has not been biennial. But, says Carolus, “some dormant pruning of weak and strong wood by hand is necessary every 3 years.” Carolus says a fruit grower can come to them and they supply the apple and pear trees and system(s) that allows them to “grow to spec for their customer.”

During the afternoon we visited the nearby PCFruit research center, pcfruit.be, where “research with expertise in crop protection is directed to growers.” PCFruit is non-profit with funding by grants (50%), industry and consulting (30%), Province (10%), and growers (10%, each paying 100 Euros to be a member and receive newsletters, etc.). Applied research is intended to be industry-directed and demonstrative and informative. Here, Scientist Jef Vercammen goes over a rather large pear systems trial at PCFruit. Turns out pears are an bigger crop than apples in Belgium.

For more pictures of Day 5, visit my Flickr photo album. JC

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, June 27, 2011. Super-spindle-axis sweet cherry

2011-07-26T18:28:00.002-04:00

E-mail to 'appleman'

2011-06-26T20:07:00.005-04:00

Huge cracking problem on my [sweet cherry] fruit. Picked and evaluated 7 cvs. today.
Black Pearl looks best among the Pearl series (vs. Burgundy, Ebony).
Black Pearl would be wonderful under covers. Birds are minimal on hill
where I put the plastic hawks. (But cracking real bad.) Birds becoming
a problem in my super-spindle cherry, I am going to Tractor Supply
tomorrow to buy more plastic hawks. Will see if that helps. I think I
am going to close-hedge super-spindle cherries with hedge trimmer
after harvest -- why not?

Hedged Silken today, look good. See: http://yfrog.com/h2v6paqj. Scab
already on Silken fruit. Have to do the rest of my apples tomorrow or
they will wait until next Friday.

Raining again here right now (Saturday night) -- this is the kind of year when cherry covers
would pay for themselves pretty quick.

Pommier, Le Mur Fruiter (aka 'Apple, Fruiting Wall')

2011-05-17T11:32:00.003-04:00

I was in Belgium last month where Koen Carolus of Carolus Trees in the St. Truiden region showed us their 'fruiting wall' method of producing apples. (Video.) In a nutshell, all pruning is done with a hedger, and usually just once a year. Huge labor savings. Does it work? Growers claim higher yields of medium-size, above-average quality of fruit are produced on dwarf trees spaced app. 3 ft. apart. Otherwise, the trees would have been managed like a tall-spindle.

Of course I had to try it myself, so I split a row of Silken apple trees on M.9 rootstock going into their 4th (5th?) leaf up into 2 groups -- either fruiting wall or tall spindle. I bought a B&D battery-operated, hand-held hedger at Home Depot and gave the fruiting wall trees their first haircut just after bud-break. They will receive another hedging when about 8-10 bourse shoot leaves develop.

Here you can compare the bloom density of the two systems -- fruiting wall or tall spindle. What do you think?

Why we hate to love Honeycrisp

2011-05-17T09:59:00.008-04:00

Honeycrisp is notoriously biennial if left to it's own. Look a the return bloom (or lack of it) on May 12, 2011 on this group of Honeycrisp apple trees (top picture) on Bud 9 rootstock at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown, MA. These trees bore a crop of about 740 boxes per acre in 2010. A good crop. Too good a crop apparently if I want to pick any fruit in 2011. I failed.

Compare that to the return bloom on these McIntosh (bottom picture). These trees yielded 1,385 bushels per acre in 2010! And, they will have a good yield in 2011. You got to say one good thing for McIntosh -- return bloom is generally not a problem. (In fact, it is a very productive apple year-after-year.)

So, what's a Honeycrisp grower to do? Thin early and heavy during the on year and start adding Fruitone-N at the rate of 2 oz per acre with cover sprays (after thinning is done). That should help even out production. Oh, and pay attention to dormant pruning when you can do some spur pruning to start the process of producing consistent crops with Honeycrisp. Note also that this biennial bearing problem is worse on young trees and some growers report (anecdotal) more evening out of the crop as the trees age.

JC

MassCon Project: Maiden Voyage of the Tunnel Sprayer

2011-04-30T17:32:00.000-04:00

MassCon Project: Maiden Voyage of the Tunnel Sprayer: "April 27, 2011: We hooked up the tunnel sprayer and ran it for the first time over trees. All worked remarkable well. Observations: ..."

A tale of 2 (or more) nursery cherry trees?

2011-04-20T11:11:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, I was at Clarkdale Fruit Farm in Conway, MA to look at a new sweet cherry planting under a just-installed Haygrove Super Solo Tunnel.

What interested me, was the fact that there were some Radiance Pearl trees (all Gisela 5 rootstock) that were very nicely feathered, and with some branch bending, would be perfect for this hi-density cherry planting under a plastic tunnel: Pictured at left and click here for bigger picture. Notice the nicely feathered tree with small branches at just the right height. I told the grower to tie these down and he would have fruit on them next year, and this would be a very easy-to-manage central-leader sweet cherry. Immediate question: were these trees treated with Tiberon in the nursery? Or is this a variety effect? I understand these trees were from a small (ornamental) nursery in western Washington state, custom-grown for Summit Tree Sales.

Now, compare those trees to these trees: Picture and picture. This is what we more typically see in sweet cherry, rather big 'honkers' with few or no branches (whips) that are somewhat difficult to develop nice branching on for a central-leader tree. (Although they would be good for Spanish bush or KGB, as long as they have low-enough buds.) Bud removal is probably the most promising method of getting good branching on these whips or 'honkers.' (Video and video.)

It's amazing how different nursery trees can be from different sources -- a bit of a management challenge at times? JC

New website – tallspindleapple.com – focuses on the Tall-Spindle apple production system

2011-02-11T11:47:00.002-05:00

The Tall-Spindle (TS) apple seems to have become the standard hi-density orchard production system in the Northeast. Promoted by Cornell’s Terence Robinson for several years now, the TS uses fully dwarfing rootstocks planted at 3-4 feet between trees and app. 12 feet between rows (~1,200 trees per acre) to achieve high early yields, high sustainable yields, reduced labor costs, and highest return on investment compared to apple orchards planted at lower or higher densities.

Although Robinson has been on the TS speaking circuit for several years now, and co-authored several publications on the TS apple production system, there is a new website – tallspindleapple.com (Fig. 1.)– with links to other websites, publications, and videos on how to do the TS.

Tallspindleapple.com is broken down into Publications, Presentations, and Video with links to the best TS resources on the web. For example, under Publications, there is a link to ‘The Tall-Spindle Apple Production System’ by T. Robinson in the New York Fruit Quarterly. Presentations include ‘Different Approaches to Tall-Spindle Establishment in Apple’ by R. Perry, and ‘The Tall-Spindle: critical steps to Suceess’ by J. Clements. Videos show ‘4 Rules for Pruning Tall Spindle Apple’ and ‘Pruning the Tall-Spindle from a Platform’ among others. New content and links will be added as they are published. Website visitors are encouraged to submit or identify new content for publication on tallspindleapple.com.

Tallspindleapple.com is the work of me and is hosted by the UMass Fruit Advisor (umassfruit.com). I bring 10 years of experience to tallspindleapple.com beginning with a 2001 visit to Italy where the Tall-Spindle apple is grown in quantity, visits to other progressive apple growing regions such in Europe and North America, studying Terence Robinson’s teaching, and my own experience growing Tall-Spindle apples at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard and cooperating apple growers throughout Massachusetts.

Pruning the tall-spindle apple - Take 4

2011-02-06T14:20:00.001-05:00

Pruning the tall-spindle apple - Take 2

2011-01-28T18:08:00.000-05:00

An apple orchard support system failure...

2010-09-19T10:09:00.003-04:00

2010-07-20T11:13:00.007-04:00

Wow, I am getting better on the posts. A few observations from my quick look-around:

Sunburn on apples is the worse I ever seen it. Undoubtedly from 2 weeks ago when several days approached 100 F. with full sun. (Is that like Washington weather?) I don't think this is going to go away by harvest. What to do? Well, if it is going to get hot and sunny again the only solution I know of is to apply Surround. I would do it only on my high-value apples like Honeycrisp and yellow varieties (maybe Gala?). Surround will also keep Japanese Beetles at bay. I am not sure if apples get more prone to sunburn as they ripen or not?

Dogwood borers in pheromone trap -- 19 in less than a week. Borers are mating and laying eggs on tree trunk/rootstocks with burr knots. Perpetual infestation by the borer larvae can eventually girdle and weaken or kill the tree. A trunk coarse spray of Lorsban targeting the above ground portion of the rootstock and lower trunk is indicated, particularly on rootstocks that have a tendency to form burr-knots (M.106, M.26, M.9).

Codling moth (CM) in dogwood borer pheromone trap. Hmm, what to think? I am concerned, although apple maggot sprays with an OP insecticide like Imidan should do the job in killing hatching eggs. I think, however, it is a matter of time before CM becomes more of a problem here in Massachusetts -- could this be the year? We may have to think about using newer chemistries such as Altacor, Delegate, and Turismo (among others) to control internal leps. I am confused -- are you? I would say there are no less than 15-20 chemical options, plus you could do mating disruption. (Too late for that this year.) Be sure to visit the NEWA website for real-time predictions on CM and other insect pests and diseases of apples.

Good luck. JC

2010-07-18T20:43:00.002-04:00

A week? LOL! More like months, let's see April 30, now July 18. Cherries have all been picked. See here for my harvest results. Now we are picking early peaches, and likewise, see here for harvest results. All I can say is daily temperatures are averaging 5-10 degrees above normal, so I would think that, combined with the early bloom, are adding up to a very early peach season. Right now, easily 10-14 days ahead of 'average.' Based on the forecast, I think this is going to keep up -- I foresee Redhaven harvest commencing about July 31, which is a good 10-14 days ahead. We'll see.

Also of note, good attendance, 75+ at the Annual Summer Meeting of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association, last Thursday, July, 15. Orchard tour of the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown, followed by BBQ lunch catered by Outlook Farm, and then presentations by Peter Jentsch (Cornell's Hudson Valley Lab), Dan Cooley, and Duane Greene.

Uni-baum cherries

2010-05-08T10:27:00.004-04:00

I seem to be about a week behind on these posts, but on Friday, April 30 I planted 75 sweet cherries at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard 2 ft. apart. These cherries -- 25 each of Rainier, Skeena, and Benton, on either Gisela 3 or 5 dwarfing rootstocks -- were excess trees grown by Willow Drive Nursery for a 2010 NC-140 cherry planting. After going to IFTA in Michigan in March, and specifically after visiting SWMREC during a pre-conference tour to see MSU Greg-Lang's sweet cherry planting there, including trees planted 2 ft. apart, I decided to give it a try. According to Italy's Stefano Musacchi, who demonstrated pruning these 'uni-baum' cherries, they can grow large cherries on relatively short (3 m. high) trees. I thought they would be easy to cover to prevent loss from birds and rain cracking, and thus such a system might be suitable for small-scale plantings in Massachusetts for retail or U-pick plantings of sweet cherries. I have 25 Regina trees coming next year to complete the planting. We'll see how it goes. JC

2010-04-17T16:36:00.007-04:00

Last Saturday (4/10/2010) me and 38 or so MassAggie attendees planted an apple 'fruiting wall' at Brooksby Farm in Peabody. After a morning indoor primer, and when the sky was just clearing we went out and dug a trench, planted 25 apple trees -- 5 Novaspy, 5 Novamac, 5 Liberty, 5 Topaz, and 5 Autumn Rose Fuji at between-tree spacings that ranged from 2 to 4 feet. All the trees were on the dwarf apple rootstock Budagovsky 9 (B.9. ) and were supplied by Adams County Nursery. Just before lunch we limed and fertilized the trees, and just after lunch built a support system consisting of end- and line-posts, and conduit. I should say here that trees planted 2-ft. apart are going to be trained to the super-spindle, 3-ft. apart tall spindle, and 4-ft. apart to a hybrid tall-spindle/vertical axis. So much was all explained to the MassAggie attendees with the hope that they would plant their own 'fruiting wall' and benefit from home-grown apples. Indeed, I had some extra trees available and they were all asked for by the end of the session! And thanks to the Brooksby Farm staff -- Pat, Joann, and Brian(?) -- for their help during the planting. I hope to repeat this successful MassAggie Seminar next spring in western Massachusetts. For more information on this kind of hi-density home orchard planting, see this publication by Duane Greene of UMass. JC

Why I don't like 'mouse' guards

2010-04-08T20:31:00.002-04:00

'Mouse' guards may be a good old-school Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practice, but increasingly I find them to be a BAD horticultural practice. Reasons?

impractical, labor-intensive, and expensive when planting modern, hi-density orchards of 1,000 or more trees per acre
provide refuge for dogwood borers
accumulate debris and promote burr-knots and/or scion rooting
don't allow for easy maintenance/removal of root suckers
give a false sense of security against mouse or rabbit damage in some cases
are not maintained over the long run and make monitoring the health of the graft-union area over time problematic

My recommendation NO MORE MOUSE GUARDS in new, hi-density plantings. (In reality they should be called 'vole' guards because the meadow vole is the primary rodent that chews apple bark in the winter.) Focus on "good ground cover management = effective vole management." And good ground cover management means: establishment of low-growing fescues or other turf-type grasses in the row middles at new orchard planting; frequent mowing; effective herbicide use that maintains clean strips of soil down the tree row; and if necessary, application of rodenticides in the fall before the snow falls when vole populations are too high for you to sleep good all winter. JC

NRCS programs for fruit growers

2010-03-25T14:57:00.004-04:00

Abbreviated from presentation at NH Fruit Growers Annual Meeting, March 25, 2010.

NRCS Programs for Fruit Growers (abbreviated from presentation by NRCS representative)

EQUIP

Environmental Quality Incentives Program

AMA

Agriculture Management Assistance

deer fencing (EQUIP)

existing orchard
documentation of deer browsing
photo of deer in orchard
photo of damage and tracks
8 ft. high, 12.5 ga hi-tensile woven wire
must meet standards
full payment rate is $11 per foot
consider using a professional installer

bird netting (AMA)

highbush blueberry, grape, cherry?
documentation required
$3534 per acre
plastic netting

high tunnels

financial assistance for 2,178 sq. ft
seasonal polyethylene covered structure (no electric, ventilation, heat)
4-year lifespan (then you can do what you want)
has to meet criteria
$5.52 per sq ft payment

IPM

IPM activity plans ($2,900 per plan)
certified provider
payment made to implement plan
scouting, monitoring equipment

May 14, 2010 funding cut-off cycle

paperwork needs to be completed by completed mid-April

#iFruittree

2010-03-01T17:57:00.008-05:00

The International Fruit Tree Association (#iFruittree) is meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, February 27-March 3 for it's Annual Conference. The Conference includes 2 days of speakers and 1 day of orchard tours in the apple production region near Grand Rapids. Here are some take-home messages from selected speakers, and hopefully at least

John Palmer "Apple and Pear Tree Physiology, What Have We Come Up With?"
Key concepts to understand:
Carbon acquisition -- light into total dry matter = linear relationship
• site factors; latitude; cloudiness; frost-free period
• tree factors -- leaf area index; tree height; row orientation; tree width; cultivar
• light interception sets the upper limit for production

Harvest index: total dry matter harvested in fruit (up to 70% possible)
• commercially actually less: why? young trees; biennial; size profile
• management changes have increased harvest index: dwarfing rootstock, minimal pruning, branch manipulation; PGR's
• "We can achieve up to 70% harvest index at maturity"

Fruit quality - think of as "hydrated dry matter ready to eat, attractive, good flavor, saleable, etc."
• shade decreases: fruit weight, red color, SSC, flower bud number, fruit set
• "shady business is to be discouraged in the orchard for more reasons than one"
• never forget link between light and fruit quality

Light interception and distribution; maximize use with minimum misuse: "every bud counts"

Future challenges of "precision horticulture"
• every bud counts
• improved rootstocks
• increased automation
• consistent high fruit quality at POS
• increased development of multidisciplinary teams including molecular biologists
• orchard systems in a wider context -- sustainability and carbon footprint

Steve McCartney "Flower Bud Formation in Apples and Strategies to Help Break Biennial Bearing Habit"
A successful post bloom thinning program in itself not enough to increase return bloom in some varieties
Flower bud initiation: 60-120 DAFB depending on variety (later than I though?)
Use of bio-regulators NAA and ethrel can increase return bloom
Summer NAA: four bi-weekly at 5ppm beginning 8 weeks after bloom
Pre-load (for stop-drop): 5 ppm NAA weekly preceding harvest
Ethrel; single app six weeks after bloom (rate is variety dependent)
What about 5ppm NAA with cover spray every 2 weeks? (Question: simple, but effective?)
More research needed!

Duane Greene "Predicting Thinning, Fruitlet Model"
Greene received the iFruittree 'Researcher of the Year' Award (bio and pict)
Has developed predicting thinning procedure (with colleagues) based on assessing fruit growth rate after chemical thinner application to determine the need for more thinning. Directions available on-line and Excel spreadsheet-based form to run the model.

Terence Robinson "Predicting Fruit Set, Carbohydrate Model"
Basic question: can we predict chemical thinning response using environmental variables?

Factors that affect thinning/final fruit set
• chemical thinner concentration
• application process: uptake, leaf environment, cuticle thickness
• sensitivity of the tree: bloom density, initial set, leaf quality, previous yield history

• temperature, sunlight, tree vigor

Carbon-based hypothesis: fruit sensitivity to chemical thinners primarily a function of carbon supply available for fruit growth from both current production and reserves: temp and sunlight influence trees carbon production; trees more susceptible to chemical thinners when carbon supply is limited and vice-versa

Carbohydrate model
• sunlight + temperature used to calculate photosynthesis = carbohydrate available
• temperature affects carbohydrate demand (higher temperatures more demand via respiration and growth)
• supply vs. demand determines balance (thus, surplus or deficit)

2009 experience:
• Western NY (Lake Ontario): no carbohydrate deficit during thinning window; growers had huge hand-thinning bill; multiple applications necessary to thin Gala
• Eastern NY (Hudson Valley); had some deficit and surplus during thinning window; thinning during deficit worked well

"Optimum thinning level" needs to be developed and visualized as target

Future work needed; test models (relies on good weather forecasts); develop a thinning prediction table; simplify carbohydrate model

Stefano Musacchi "High Density Planting Systems for Apple and Pear"

HDP High Density Planting (HDP, VeryHDP, UltraHDP)

Basis for HDP

• downsize canopy volume and tree height

• pears: quince rootstocks (MC, MH, Adams)
• apples: M.9

Practices
• pre-formed nursery tree (knip-boom)
• root cutting
• ridge planting
• Plant Growth Regulators (apogee; auxin and ethephon; GA's; Promalin)

Production always a problem (lower) in the lower canopy

Quality more important than total yield; yield increased only to a point before quality suffers

Latest development: Bibaum apple nursery tree -- dual leader tree developed from double chip bud or bench graft; obviates need for canopy formation; productivity same as single but with less trees; quality equal or improved

#MAFVC

2010-02-08T14:46:00.002-05:00

I attended the Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Convention last week (Feb. 2-4) in Hershey, PA. The Convention is a collaboration of the State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association, the Maryland State Horticultural Society and the New Jersey State Horticultural Society. Penn State University, University of Maryland and Rutgers University Cooperative Extensions all assist in organizing the three days of educational sessions. The Convention has become one of the premier grower meetings in the Northeast with about 1,800 attendees.

While there I ‘tweeted’ to my Twitter. As you may (or may not) know, Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, i.e., they are brief. So, what follows are my ‘tweets’ from #MAFVC with a little more elaboration than Twitter allows. :-)

Easier to define what is NOT sustainable (soil erosion) than what is sustainable - David Granatstein #mafvc

Granatstein is with the Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources at WSU’s Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee. After trying to explain what IS sustainable agriculture, which most parties agree is farming that is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable, Granatstein said it is a lot easier to provide examples of what is NOT sustainable agriculuture. Clearly, he said, soil erosion is not sustainable. Agreed?

Pests of increasing importance with 'soft' pesticide programs: PC, SJS, WAA, plant bugs, borers, EAS, and AMF. Dave Biddinger #mafvc

Biddinger is a long-time partner with entomology researchers (including Larry Hull) at PSU’s Biglerville Fruit Research & Extension Center. ‘Soft’/reduced-risk pesticide programs typically use newer chemistries targeted at controlling specific insects (usually the moth larvae fruit-feeders: codling moth, oriental fruit moth, oblique-banded leafroller, etc.) in lieu of broad-spectrum insecticides (organophosphates, pyrethroids, etc.). Mating disruption (MD) is also commonly used. Unfortunately, the softer pesticides and MD are letting certain pests ‘slip through’ and build up in orchards, resulting in more incidental but nonetheless important fruit and tree injury from Plum Curculio, San Jose Scale, Wooly Apple Aphid, European Apple Sawfly, Apple Maggot Fly, etc.

Only thing more contagious than passion, ironically...is the lack of it. Harold Lloydd #mafvc

Lloyd was the inspirational and entertaining general session speaker “Am I the Leader I Need to Be?”

#1 Worker Protection Standard infraction - failure to realize covered by WPS. Jim Harvey, PSU #mafvc

The Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is a federal regulation designed to protect employees on farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses from occupational exposures to agricultural pesticides. As a rule of thumb, all non-immediate-family members who work in a field or site that is within 30 days of a pesticide’s Restricted-Entry-Interval (REI, see ‘Agricultural Use Requirements’ on the label) and who receive compensation (of any kind, does not have to be money) are covered by the WPS. Hence, all requirements of the WPS -- including training, central posting, pesticide application notification, providing personal protective equipment, etc. -- must be followed by farm owners/operators/employers and (hopefully) employees.

20th century IPM 'Industrial Age, time for another poison' vs. 21st century IPM 'Information Age, what management action, and optimized combination of tools.' John Wise MSU #mafvc

Wise, of Michigan State University’s Trevor Nichols Research Station says pest management is becoming much more complicated with new pesticide chemistries, which are more insect- and application timing-specific to be effective. Hence, the need to have more information about the pests current status, such as life stage and abundance, are necessary to be effective in this new ‘information age’ of pest management. Tools used to collect this information include research, weather monitoring, and pheromone traps. Growers are going to need help assimilating this information into effective pest management decisions.

Trying to use new chemistries on a calendar-based spray schedule is not going to be economically sustainable. J Wise #mafvc

Again, growers are going to have to time spray applications that target specific insect(s) at specific life stage timing vs. broad-spectrum applications on a fixed schedule or ‘time for another poison.’

Maxcel @ 200ppm effective at reducing fruit set (and hand-thinning time) in heavy-cropped Asian pears. Dan Ward #mafvc

Asian pears can set heavy crops, requiring labor-intensive hand thinning to produce large fruit that the market requires. Colleagues Dan Ward and Win Cowgill of Rutgers University have demonstrated that the apple and pear thinner Maxcel can be an effective tool under the right conditions for thinning Asian pears.

Fruit quality and yield are directly related to light interception and management-trees are solar collectors. Kevin Day #mafvc

Day is an extension specialist/researcher at UC Davis/Kearneysville. He gave the Ernie Christ Memorial Lecture -- ‘Training Systems in Peaches and Their Costs.’ The more light you can intercept (and distribute) by the orchard canopy, equals higher fruit yield and better fruit quality. We all know that, right? Oh wait, see next post. :-)

Short [peach] trees had greater ability to size fruit than large trees, yield did not suffer (need 70% light interception). K Day #mafvc

Interesting, because Kevin and his colleagues in California had been promoting the perpendicular-V peach planting and training system, which normally has tall (12-14 foot high) trees. But, he showed when the canopy grows together at the top, approaching 100% light interception, yield and quality did not increase above an orchard that is intercepting 70% light. Therefore, they are cutting perp-V and quad- and hex- peaches down to 8 foot height, while maintaining yield and quality compared to taller trees. In fact, fruit were larger in the shorter trees.

Bubble gum plum TM a winner according to Paul Friday http://flaminfury.com/?a=PG:448 #mafvc

Enough said?

Our biggest limiting factor is to fill the space quickly (re. hi-density apples). Chris Baugher #mafvc

Chris runs Adams County Nursery's production orchard. When planting young, hi-density apple orchards using 3 to 4 foot spacing between trees, to make the economics work you need to fill the space between trees quickly (in 1-2 years) and begin producing fruit. Factors such as nursery tree quality, site prep, promptly supporting and irrigating, N fertilization, etc. need utmost attention.

2.8% leaf N for peaches ideal. K Day #mafvc

This is a little lower than what we typically recommend in the east, that is 3.5 to 4%. Of course California is not the east too. Something to think about, could we have somewhat firmer fruit at mature harvest and/or overall better fruit quality and yields with N a little lower. I might try it.

Use monoammonium phosphate (MAP) @ 1/3 lb per tree at planting -- trees get off to much better start. K Day #mafvc

Phosphorous promotes root growth -- much work has been done on using supplemental P when planting new orchards. Highly advised for all new peach and apple orchards.

Monitoring with pheromone traps the basis of IPM. Larry Hull #mafvc

Hull is a PSU guru on insect management, particularly lepidopteran pests. Models that use a biofix -- typically when a certain number of adult moths have been captured or first appear -- are increasingly being used to time targeted pesticide applications. See the obliquebanded leafroller mode l.

Automated pheromone traps that send results by e-mail where we are headed. L Hull #mafvc

Pheromone traps that take pictures of accumulated moth trap captures and automatically e-mail (via wireless I presume) the results? I like it. Next step, just compute whether the threshold has been met or not -- that is all the end user needs to know. You heard it here first. :-)

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, October 22, 2009: PAD Analysis for apple scab

2009-10-27T08:49:00.003-04:00

Reducing overwintering apple scab inoculum using fall-applied urea and leaf shredding

2009-10-21T10:05:00.004-04:00

I was (October 20-21) at an annual meeting of tree fruit entomologists and pathologist in Burlington, VT. After what was a high-pressure apple scab year, it's likely there is some (or a lot) of scab out there in the orchard which will be the source of infection for 2010. All things being equal, the more overwintering scab inoculum the higher the scab pressure will be for next year. So, if you can take some steps to reduce the inoculum now -- like right now -- you can help yourself out for next year when it comes to managing scab. There was pretty much agreement on taking these two steps this fall to significantly reduce (up to 90-95%) the amount of overwintering scab inoculum:

First, spray your apple trees right now with 50 lbs. of urea (spray urea, 44 lbs. is the actual recommended rate, but hey, 50 won't hurt and that is the bag size) per acre in 100 gallons of water while the leaves are still on the trees. Contrary to popular belief, this will not impact winter hardiness. Just keep in mind you are adding app. 23 lbs. of actual nitrogen per acre to the orchard, so adjust your fertilizer program accordingly.
Second, flail mow/chop the orchard as late as you can and when the majority of leaves have fallen from the trees. Sweep or blow leaves into the orchard middle from within the row is helpful so that the majority of leaves can be chopped/shredded.

Doing these two integrated apple scab management practices this fall will help to reduce the number and intensity of fungicide applications and go a long way towards making your overall scab management program in 2010 a success.

Thanks to Bill MacHardy for doing the research on these practices.

Also see F-134 Reducing Apple Scab Risks and Saving Scab Sprays on umassfruit.com.

UMass Video Fruit Advisor-October 12, 2009: Crimson Topaz Apple

2009-10-13T13:42:00.001-04:00

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, September 30, 2009: Liberty apple

2009-10-04T14:04:00.002-04:00

NEW apple maturity report, 09/29/2009

2009-09-29T19:55:00.002-04:00

General comments on 09/29/09 apple maturity: Empire, except those treated with ReTain, are ready for start of harvest. Pick over the next week. ReTain-treated Empire could go another week. Royal Empire (left) looks real nice, although fruit size is lacking on these rather weak trees on B.9 rootstock planted 2 feet apart. McIntosh and Honeycrisp harvest should be complete by now. I expect Golden Delicious, Mutsu, and 'Red' Delicious will be ready to pick the first full week in October (next week). Full report here.

NEW apple maturity report, 09/14/09

2009-09-15T11:11:00.002-04:00

NEW apple maturity report, 09/14/09: Snappy Mac, Rogers Red and Redmax McIntosh, Honeyrcrisp, Brookfield Gala. General comments on 09/14/09 apple maturity: all fruit tested picked at UMass Orchard, Belchertown. Fruit maturity is moving along rapidly, particularly McIntosh and Honeycrisp. There is less than a week left to pick McIntosh for CA storage. (September 19 to be exact in Belchertown.) Honeycrisp are at their optimum harvest maturity, but will soon start to go by and drop will become excessive unless fruit was treated with ReTain. Honeycrisp fruit should be kept at app. 60 degrees F. for 5-6 days after harvest before being put in cold storage at 38 degrees F. Gala has a bit to go but is adequate for first harvest. Background color change from green to yellow-cream is evident. Let's hope the sugars develop in Gala over the next week. Full report here http://bit.ly/10ILU5

Apple scab-resistance: Honeycrisp vs. McIntosh judged no contest

2009-09-14T12:12:00.008-04:00

I have been collecting some yield data on an orchard planted in 2006* at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown, MA this past week. I can't help but observe how much more apple 'scab-resistant' Honeycrisp is compared to McIntosh. Now, this orchard received a 'normal' fungicide schedule to control scab, but, it was a very wet summer, so scab became more apparent on McIntosh fruit (pictured) as the summer wore on. I estimate 5-10% fruit scab on McIntosh. I observed no scab on any of the Honeycrisp fruit or foliage. It's clear Honeycrisp orchards can get by on a reduced -- not necessarily none -- fungicide spray program compared to McIntosh.

*Honeycrisp, and 'Rogers Red' and 'Snappy Mac' McIntosh on M106, M26, and B9 rootstocks planted to three systems (NZ central leader-3m between trees, vertical axis-2m between, and tall spindle-1 m between) with three replications.

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, 09/09/09: tall spindle MOPUP apple planting

2009-09-12T15:19:00.002-04:00

Apple maturity report: 09/08 and 09/09/09

2009-09-09T22:56:00.001-04:00

General comments on 09/08 and 09/09 apple maturity: Honeycrisp are definitely coming along nicely, with much improved color development and starch-index approaching 5-6. Harvest should begin in earnest, although sugars could be higher. Don't expect much in sugar development and varietal flavor given the unusally wet and cloudy summer of 2009, but fruit harvested and tested today (09/09) in Belchertown were very good flavor. Full report here.

Apple maturity report: 09/07/2009

2009-09-08T09:23:00.001-04:00

General comments on 09/07/09 apple maturity: Gala maturity still lags, however, a cursory inspection of some Brookfield and Buckeye Gala fruit in Belchertown this morning (09/08) showed some good background color change from green to yellow. Those fruit will be harvested later this week. McIntosh are just starting to get 'good' and I expect rapid development of maturity now. Honeycrisp still need more time to develop varietal flavor, and fruit are holding on the tree nicely. Color development is creeping along. Full report here.

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, 09/04/09: Silken and Lindamc apples

2009-09-06T20:44:00.002-04:00

Apple maturity report: 09/04/2009

2009-09-05T10:20:00.002-04:00

General comments on 09/04/09 apple maturity: Shelburne and Deerfield in upper Connecticut River valley. Gala and Honeycrisp need more time, at least another week, in Shelburne. Marshall McIntosh being harvested in Deerfield, Honeycrisp could be spot picked on color now. In Belchertown, Silken (pictured at left) is a very nice, yellow apple which is approaching harvest. Lindamac McIntosh will be picked Monday, and they have great color. Full report here.

Apple maturity report: 09/03/2009

2009-09-03T21:41:00.003-04:00

General comments on 09/03/09 apple maturity: Lindamac, Gale Gala, Buckeye Gala, Honecyrisp (Northboro, MA). Lindamac, Gale Gala, Honeycrisp (Stow, MA). My first look at Gale Gala. With the exception of Northboro Honeycrisp, all fruit from 2nd leaf trees. With the exception of Northboro Honeycrisp, all fruit needs a week to develop better sugar, maturity, and flavor. Starch index of the Northboro Honeycrisp was unusually high, meaning the fruit were very mature, or there was not much starch, and hence sugar, to start -- harvest of these Honeycrisp should commence as soon as color is adequate. Full report here. Also see 09/02/09 apple maturity report.

Show me the money...

2009-09-02T20:05:00.003-04:00

A colleague of mine in NJ just reported that he picked one (20 bushel) bin of Lindamac apples off 100 trees planted last year to a tall-spindle training system that I had sourced from Willow Drive Nursery. These were knip-boom trees, so they were decent, but the branching was a little variable and they may have been 2'nds, so I can't say they were truly great. Nice, but not great, probably equivalent to a decently feathered 1-year nursery tree. Now, some head-only math:

20 bushes, assuming an average count of 100 apples per bushel, equals 20 apples per tree -- more than the 5-10 recommended on 2nd leaf tall-spindle trees, but you got to hand it to McIntosh, it can be a very productive variety
at orchard-run wholesale, 50 cents per pound, that is $400/bin. My colleague says he is selling for $300, so it is a bit of a give-away Win... :-)
at full retail, $1.00 per pound, and 90% pack-out, that is $720/bin. Let's call it $700
if the Lindamac were planted 3 ft. X 12 ft., that is app. 1,200 trees per acre, equals 12 bins/acre, equals wholesale value of $3,600 (might as well give then away) and retail value $8,400. At $8,400 you would have come CLOSE to paying for the trees in the 2nd leaf! Well, for 2/3 of the trees anyways...

Not bad. After the 3rd leaf, assuming everything goes well, it should be all gravy for retail apple growers planting to tall-spindle. Anyone care to refute my logic???

JC

Apple maturity report: 08/31/2009

2009-08-31T19:57:00.002-04:00

General comments on 083109 apple maturity: I was a little taken aback by the maturity of some of the Honeycrisp -- 6 out of 9 apples were 7's on the starch iodine index, and indeed ate very well. The other 3 were 2 to 3 on the scale. (Not ripe.) These Honeycrisp were from dwarf trees and had decent red color. Certainly a first pick is warranted this week, but beware, Honeycrisp is the apple that loves to taunt, and some are going to be ready, and some less than desirable. Good red color and a loss of the green background as well as flavor should be your guide to picking. Orchard-to-orchard and block-to-block variation is the norm with Honeycrisp. One fruit exhibited significant core browing/breakdown. The Lindamac can be picked later this week and sugar (soluble solids) was good. It's not too late to put ReTain on Macs right now, and this will hold them on the tree well into late September. (7 day pre-harvest interval.) Silken could be better, so I would wait until at least late this week if not next week to pick them. This is a beatiful, yellow apple for this season and eats very well. Full report here.

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, August 27, 2009

2009-08-28T12:23:00.002-04:00

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, August 27, 2009

Sansa, Ginger Gold, Zestar! apples

at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard

Belchertown, MA

27-August apple maturity report

2009-08-27T16:25:00.002-04:00

General comments 08-27-09 apple harvest: all these apples are nearing the end of their harvest window, although Ginger Gold has another 7-10 days. Maturity is moving along rapidly. Cooler weather will promote color development. Keep in mind there can be significant variability within and between orchards. Taste is one of the best indicators of apple maturity. Complete report.

Apple maturity report: 08/25/2009

2009-08-25T19:47:00.000-04:00

General comments on 08/25/2009 apple harvest: all apples harvested at UMass Cold Spring Orchard, Belchertown, MA, unless otherwise noted. Ginger Gold is ready to go and should be harvested in earnest. Quality and flavor are very good. Silken was harvested because signficant pre-harvest drop was noted. It is not as good as it could be right now, but should be harvested within the week. Lindamac is a highly red coloring McIntosh strain. It is a little early, but harvest of these could begin anytime, and should be done next week. Harvest appears to be a few days ahead of last year which was average. Complete maturity report.

08/24/2009 Apple Maturity Update

2009-08-24T16:47:00.004-04:00

General comments on 08/24/2009 apple harvest: we are largely waiting for some cooler weather to promote color development on McIntosh, etc. Sansa is very good, Akane is mediocre at best. See: http://www.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/2009/082409applematurity.htm Observed some significant drop on heavily-cropped Silken trees. Honeycrisp are HUGE, but have no color. The Mac harvest will start next week with Marshall McIntosh if we get some cooler weather.

Apple maturity report: 08/21/2009

2009-08-21T16:16:00.002-04:00

General comments on 08/21/2009 apple harvest: maturity does not appear to be overly advanced nor overly retarded. I am a little concerned about the condition of large, early fruit because of this heat and the potential for sunburn. You may want to consider applying Surround to Honeycrisp to prevent sunburn if the hot, sunny, weather continues. Ginger Gold is also ready for the 1st pick based on some testing I did on 19-August. JC

(P.S) I apologize for the formatting, I will work on that in the future. But you can figure it out.

Cultivar

date
pre-harvest drop
fruit diameter inches
color % red
firmness lbs
soluble solids
starch index
comments

Akane

08/21/2009
few
3.2
75
17
14.2
6.9 (5-7)
younger trees with a lightish crop; quality is sub-par; some water core and sunburn (internal flesh browning); some flyspeck

Zestar!

08/21/2009
none
3.2
35
14.2
15.1
4.5 (3-6)
lacking red color but otherwise excellent; fruit in very nice condition; definitely ready to go, but would like to see better color

Sansa

08/21/2009
none
3.1
65
14 (13-16)
13.7
5 (4-7)
a nice early apple reminiscent of Gala; ready to pick but will develop better varietal flavor with time; a touch of water core

IFTA I: Sunday evening meet and greet

2009-08-02T18:14:00.006-04:00

Bienvenue from Wolfville, Nova Scotia (NS). Sunday evening IFTA 'meet and greet' after a day of touring around Bay of Fundy, including Cape Split and Hall's Harbor.

Bill Craig, Horticulturist: the Nova Scotia Tree Fruit Industry

1.) Extension cut, about 7-8 years ago. But, government funding for 'AgraPoint,' grower has to pay for scouting. Bill is a horticulturist for them, also involved now with NS wine industry.

2.) Annapolis Valley, Digby to Windsor, most of the apples in Kings County. Water (Bay of Fundy and Atlantic Ocean) is somewhat of a moderating factor. Extreme minimum temp. -24 F. Annual precipitation total 46 inches, of which over 100 inches is snow. Frost-free period 138 days. Soils are variable, clay, loam, sand.

3.) 2 to 2.5 million bushels of apples annually, app. 6,000 acres. Minor pears (Bosc) and stone fruit (Redhaven peach). McIntosh (19%, 33% in 1996), Cortland (11%), Spy (19%), Honeycrisp (8%, no-show in 1996.)

4.) 35 to 40% fresh fruit; 15% peeler; 40 to 45% juice (one plant only now)

5.) Typically, transition from standard to semi-dwarf to dwarf (M9, B9) rootstocks. 800 trees on high side of hi-density.

6.) 10 +/- fungicide applications for apple scab the norm. Seem to be having more mildew. Ugh, never had fire blight until late 90's. Now, every year one or two infections, including 2009. New cultivar selections likely a factor.

7.) Codling moth and apple maggot primary insect pests -- export, so has to be clean for AM. NO plum curculio! Winter moth, leafrollers, aphids (rosy), mites also of concern. IPM/IFP the norm. Monitoring, traps, mating disruption.

8.) Harvesting, local and Newfoundland. More Mexican and Jamaican recently. Picked into 18 bushel wooden bins mostly. Harvest runs from mid-September to late October. Modern packing houses number 3-4 including Scotian Gold. Few pick-your-own orchards.

9.) Organic production of minor interest.

Marina Myra, MSc: Variety Research at the Atlantic Food & Horticultural Research Center, Kentville

1.) Works with Charlie Embree, research scientist; new charge to collect apple varieties from around the world, formerly helped with breeding.

2.) Earlier Kentville releases include Novaspy, Novamac. More recent releases include Cotton Candy (Redfree X Oberle), scab-resistant, ideal for u-pick, backyard; Evangeline, mid-October, great flavor, but not scab-resistant; Masonova, scab-resistant with Empire a parent. They are also evaluating several (9 discussed with no name), mostly scab-resistant, advanced selections.

Tomorrow, first day of tours, hopefully a report.

JC

Peach disease field day

2009-07-23T21:02:00.008-04:00

Today, Botond Balogh, PhD. ('Bo') from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and Lorraine Los, of UConn Fruit IPM, visited the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown, MA in search of bacterial spot of peaches (picture). Bo has a particular research interest in using bacteriophages to control bacterial diseases, and has worked in citrus (Florida) and vegetables in the past. We were also joined by Dan Cooley.

Indeed we found bacterial spot in two sub-acid stone fruit varieties from the Zaiger breeding program out of California -- in Honeykist nectarine (foliage and fruit) and Country Sweet peach (foliage and fruit). Now, I knew these varieties are susceptible to bacterial spot, no big surprise. The reason being is California does not have much rain, which is essential to spread the disease, so the breeding program does not necessarily screen for this disease. Peaches and nectarines from east coast (Rutgers) or Michigan (Paul Friday and Stellar) breeding programs are far more resistant to bacterial spot. But it can still be an issue for peach and nectarine growers in Massachusetts and Connecticut depending on what varieties they grow, the season's (wet) weather, and the diligence of their control effort, including copper and bactericide (FlameOut) sprays. A form of biological control (other than cultivar selection) would be highly desirable.

Note that we also found some nice (if you are a plant pathologist) brown rot in fruit. Brown rot is going to be be problematic with all the wet weather we are having. Consult this table of brown rot fungicide options from Cornell to stay on top of it.

While in the peach orchard, Lorraine noticed twist-ties used for peach tree borer mating disruption. (They were from 2008.) Lorraine and Bo have a SARE research-extension grant to promote peach IPM. Lorraine said adult peach tree borers are likely at peak emergence, and indeed we found the spent pupal case at the base of an infected peach tree. (We also found similar for lesser peach tree borer in a scaffold limb.) Ties for mating disruption and/or broad-spectrum insecticide sprays (pyrethroids) will prevent the adults from laying eggs and infecting trees. Based on my experience, peach tree borers are a major pest of peaches in Massachusetts, and need to be aggressively managed with mating disruption, Lorsban trunk sprays, and/or cultural practices that discourage egg laying such as white trunk paint, no mouse guards, and keeping weed-free strips at the base of trees. Note that peach trees damaged by borer infestation will particularly attract more adult egg-laying. For infested trees, it's the beginning of the end of the peach orchard.

Finally, while looking for more bacterial spot in a Southampton, MA orchard, we apparently found choke cherry (Prunus virginiana) on the woods edge of a peach orchard that had some trees showing signs of X-disease. The suspect plant, however, was later identified as pin cherry, Prunus pennsylvanica, which is not an host of X-disease. Nevertheless, choke cherry, when found, should be destroyed (systemic herbicide best) within 500 feet of peach orchards to prevent the disease from infecting your peach trees! Alan Eaton, UNH entomologist, has a good write-up on X-disease in his July 15, 2008 IPM Newsletter.

Here are the picture albums (all pictures) from our field day by Botond Balagh, Dan Cooley, and Jon Clements.

MFGA Summer Meeting

2009-07-18T13:13:00.004-04:00

Last Wednesday (July 15) was the summer meeting of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association (MFGA). Held at the current MFGA President's orchard, Andre Tougas of Tougas Family Farm, over 150 tree and small fruit growers and others from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine were in attendance.

In the morning, Mo and Andre Tougas leaded a tour of their orchards, including:

potted bench-grafted apple and seedling blueberry nursery (picture)
one acre of 1st-leaf sweet cherries (picture) to be covered with a Haygrove Tunnel
producing blueberries covered by a Smart Net Systems net
1st, 2nd, and 3rd leaf tall-spindle apples (picture), including bench-graft and nursery trees, such as a Daybreak Fuji orchard that yielded 400 bushels per acre in the 2nd leaf

In the afternoon, invited guest Dr. Andrew Landers of Cornell University could not have made the subject of air-blast sprayer calibration and performance any more informative while at the same time being entertaining. Landers 2-hour presentation (picture) was supported by a Region 1 EPA Strategic Agriculture Initiative grant and MFGA. Landers discussed the three factors that determine sprayer application rate: pressure, flow rate, and travel speed, and how to measure and modify them to match the desired spray output. He also discussed the pros and cons of different kinds of nozzles, including ceramic core and disc, hollow cone, and air-induction (picture). The latter proven to significantly reduce drift, although their performance using contact insecticides might not be adequate in all orchards. He also used a 'patternator' to examine spray pattern (picture) and adjust airblast sprayer nozzle orientation to match the canopy and spray output on both sides of the fan. (Which differ because of fan direction unless nozzle direction is adjusted.) Landers also talked about how growers can make their own pattenator and finally brought out the famous Cornell 'donut' (picture) that can reduce the speed and volume of air output form the airblast sprayer. Again, useful in reducing drift where tree canopy volume is on the lower side. (Early in the season, dwarf trees.) Landers gives a real good show and is undeniabley an expert on the subject of sprayer calibration and drift reduction. (Despite being a 'Brit'!)

In case you missed any of the links to pictures above, here is my Flicker set from the meeting.

Life in East Hardwick

2009-07-04T20:59:00.006-04:00

I have been house-sitting and taking care of animals (16, total) for my good sister Julie in East Hardwick, VT for the past 8 days. Going home to Massachusetts tomorrow. God, so much to tell.

WEATHER: in a nutshell, has sucked. Rained almost every day. But I am from Vermont. And we love to complain about the weather. (Or, expect the worse.) I have lived in Massachusetts and Michigan now, and believe me, Vermont weather takes the cake. Hands down. As I write this, it is 56 and drizzling rain in East Hardwick. On July 4 at 7 PM. I still cooked chicken on the grill. Like several unregistered -- dare I say it, junk? -- cars in the yard, a real Northeast Kingdom tradition.

ANIMALS: 16, count them. Sophie the Beagle is a real handful. (P.S. the neighbor, Charles Morrissey thinks her name is 'Josie' -- Google Charles T. Morrissey, and ssshhh!) Quarter horses, Diablo and Cody are easy. Timothy the cat, I love him, and I am allergic to cats. That says a lot. Chickens -- 6 laying hens (barred rocks?) and 6 white meat chickens. (Stupid animals, they deserve to be eaten. Where did humans, as food breeders, go wrong?). Did I miss someone? I hope not!

FISHING. The upper Lamoille River is a renowned Rainbow and Brook Trout head-water. Alas, despite the fact I contributed $30 to Vermont Fish and Wildlife for a 7-day fishing license, the River has been mostly un-fishable because of the high water. I did get out twice, and made out OK. Really, really wish I had been able to fly-fish more of this spectacular stream.

HIKING AND KAYAKING: Caspian Lake, infamous breeder of large and copious amounts of Lake Trout. (Salvelinus namaycush.). Including fireworks from my kayak. Hiked Bald Mountain on 1-July. Totally socked-in and wet. But, I did run into a trail crew form the Northeast Kingdom Youth Conservation Corps, aka 'Kingdom Corps.' I was one of the first 'campers' of a federally funded YCC in the Green Mountain National Forest in 1972 in Danby, Vermont. Trail maintenance, deer exclosure, etc. I appreciated the effort these kids and their crew leader from the NorthWoods Stewardship Center had put into the trail up Bald Mountain, despite the miserable, wet conditions. On 4-July, up Wheeler Mountain. Spectacular views, again, despite largely overcast skies and cool temps. It's like Religion to me hiking these Northeast Kingdom peaks, and I can't imagine any more spectacular scenery. I signed the log book at the terminus of the Wheeler Mountain Trail (Eagle Cliff) 'Alexander Supertramp.' Into the Wild...

P.S. It took me a week to get around to finish this posting, largely because I wanted to include my pictures. JC

Regina/Gisela 6 sweet cherry planting 1st leaf pruning

2009-05-27T20:44:00.001-04:00

Time flies

2009-05-16T17:54:00.005-04:00

Wow, it's been too long. Very busy. Apple trees have bloomed and that has gone by. In a week or two, we will know how set looks. So, here is what's on my mind.

Go take my sprayer calculation quiz!
Organic 'pesticides' with DANGER signal words. Huh?
Photo album of what I have seen the past two months.
What is it with those Honeycrisp? Here, lacking return bloom. Very frustrating.
Twilight meetings this week coming up.

Apple IPM: Saving Early Season Scab Sprays

2009-03-20T08:51:00.002-04:00

For more information, see the fact sheet 'Saving Early Season Scab Sprays' on the UMass Fruit Advisor

MFGA winter meeting

2009-01-22T20:20:00.006-05:00

A week ago today, the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association (MFGA) and UMass Extension Winter Tree Fruit Education Program was held at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown, MA. Over 100 members of MFGA, interested fruit growers, industry personnel, and Extension/University personnel attended on a cold, but bright, winter day.

Highlighting the Education Program was Dr. Terence Robinson of New York's Cornell/Geneva Agricultural Experiment Station. Robinson is a worldwide authority on intensive apple production systems and crop load management. Hence, he gave two excellent talks in the morning -- one on the tall-spindle apple production system, and one on new technology being developed to better manage apple crop load with chemical thinners. In the afternoon, however, was the real treat, a trip out into the UMass Orchard to demonstrate pruning of mostly young super-spindle, tall-spindle, and vertical-axis apple trees by Robinson. In a nutshell, he espoused 4 rules for annual pruning tall-spindle (or other intensely planted) apple trees:

limit tree height to 0.9 times row width
remove 2 to 3 of the largest branches on the tree
"columnarize" all remaining branches
on 'Gala' in particular, cut pendant or weak branches back to pencil-size wood

Here is a slide from his talk further illustrating these rules.

We were extremely fortunate to have Robinson give the pruning demo, and all in attendance gained significant pruning and production savvy during the daylong Program.

Cherry study trip

2009-01-04T21:14:00.011-05:00

To start the New Year I traveled to New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania with Mo and Andre Tougas of Tougas Family Farm to specifically look at Haygrove Tunnel technology for producing dwarf sweet cherries. The Tougas's are contemplating adopting high-tunnel sweet cherry culture and thought an up-close and personal look at some existing high-tunnel sweet cherry orchards would be worthwhile. They were right, and I learned a lot about the 'highs' and lows of cherry production under high-tunnels on the humid Eastern seaboard.

In New Jersey, we met up with Win Cowgill, Hunterdon County Extension Ag Agent and Rutgers North Jersey fruit specialist to first visit Melick's Town Farm in Oldwick, NJ. There, John Melick gave us a quick run-down on Haygrove hi-Tunnels they are using for tomatoes, cut flowers, and raspberries. These tunnels have 4-foot sides only and are not suited for cherries, but John talked about the season-extending and disease-prevention benefits, as well as allowing workers to be productive when it is raining outside. Video.

Next we went to Terhune Orchard in Princeton. Owner Gary Mount showed us an existing cherry planting of about one acre that he covered with Haygrove Tunnels after enduring a nearly total crop loss to fruit cracking one year. Gary says that he can't afford to lose a hi-value crop such as cherries that he sells for $5 per pound pick-your-own. He says the tunnels are insurance against frost and cracking, despite their high cost ($35,000 per acre give or take). But his optimism was a bit tempered by a significantly reduced crop in 2008, a result he thinks, of poor pollination. Despite using purchased bumblebees, it is a problem that is not acceptable until it is fully resolved. Video. Others have expressed similar concern over pollination of sweet cherries in tunnels. For a little more on Gary's thoughts, read a short article he wrote -- 'Haygrove High Tunnels - Control of Nature?' -- for Terhune Orchards newsletter.

Next, on to Elkton, Maryland to visit with Molly Brumbley of Walnut Springs (Strawberry) Farm. Molly has been a serious study of dwarf sweet cherry production and it showed. A newbie to tree fruit growing, she has pursued sweet cherry production under tunnels with no preconceived notions but with a lot of research, travel, and consultation with the experts. Her two acres of 28 ft. wide Haygrove Tunnels were nicely done -- three rows of three- or four-year-old cherries planted in a bed, with one travel row. She has planted mostly Black York and Cavalier, all on Gisela 5 rootstock, and has been very pleased with the early production to date on Black York although the Cavalier have been a little shy-bearing. She is shooting for just a two-week open-to-close pick-your-own cherry season, and the response so far to her cherries -- which sold for $2.95 per lb. in 2008 -- has been very good. Molly is using 'smart ends' to help stabilize the Tunnels on a very windy and exposed location. Her research has paid off and it was very evident with the attention to detail she has put into her tunnel-covered sweet cherry production system. For more information see a recent article on Molly and her cherries in the Fruit Growers News titled 'High-Value Crops Perfect for High-Value Land.' And, watch this short video where Molly discusses erecting the Tunnels after planting the cherry trees, and the benefits of a 28 ft. wide Tunnel vs. 24 ft.

A visit to Elkton mean't we also had to see American Fruit Grower's Apple Grower of the Year Even Milburn and his son Nate of Milburn Orchards. Milburn has grown cherries -- nearly 2o acres at last count -- successfully for many years in the 'open,' although Nate admits not every year is a winner because of frost and fruit cracking. Still, they attract large crowds of u-pick customers seeking sweet cherries every year and are planning to phase out an older cherry orchard in a cold site and distant from the 'home farm' and plant to a more favorably location close by. Milburns represent a classic Eastern sweet cherry orchard (if there is one?), and despite the challenges presented by frost and cracking, seem to be quite successful in their cherry production practices.

Finally we stopped at Weaver's Orchard in Morgantown, PA. Although owner Ed Weaver was not available, there was plenty to look at on our own, including: young and mature cherry plantings covered with Haygrove Tunnels; effective use of Promalin 'paint' with notching to promote branching; and perpendicular-V peaches. A phone conversation with Weaver indicates he has mixed feelings about the covered cherries, hence the hesitation on covering another young cherry planting. (He may have had enough?)

Weaver's is clearly a large, diversified orchard with a lot going on. Hence, my summary thoughts on cherry production under hi-Tunnels:

Tunnel production of sweet cherries is not for everyone. Management skill, extra time, and attention to detail are required.
There are some unresolved issues, including ability to provide frost protection and adequate pollenation that need to be considered.
The cost of entry is very high, however, as long as you can get good money for your cherries, the potential to pay back the cost of a Tunnel is high. Plus there is no doubt it reduces your exposure to weather issues, particularly rain-induced fruit cracking, and will result in higher-quality, larger, and sweeter (more mature) cherries.
The Tunnel needs to be 'skinned' with new plastic after 3-4 years, at additional cost.
Cherries can be grown without hi-Tunnels, but expect to lose a crop to frost and/or fruit cracking 20% or more of the time.

GLEXPO

2008-12-09T23:21:00.003-05:00

I am at the Great Lakes Fruit and Vegetable Expo in Grand Rapids, MI for a couple days. Today, the Art Mitchell Symposium on Fruit Thinning and Return Bloom. Speaker highlights:

Dr. Terence Robinson, Cornell University

apple fruit thinning should be driven primarily be economic considerations
the carbohydrate balance of trees from bloom through about 15-20 mm fruit size is important to understand the potential effect of a chemical thinning spray
temperature and light during the same period described above primarily determines carbohydrate balance
carbohydrate balance can be modeled, and thus some form of numerical 'thinning index' can be developed as a tool to assist growers in making chemical thinning decisions

Dr. Jim Schupp, Penn State University

the 'Darwin' mechanical thinner has proven useful (with modification) in bloom thinning peaches to consistently reduce amount of time hand thinning and improving peach fruit size. More...
the Darwin thinner was also used in apples, and may have particular utility in organic apple orchards; but, there is increased risk of transmitting fire blight because of it shreds foliage; more research is needed in apples

Duane Greene, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Greene covered timing (bloom to 25 mm), chemicals (NAA, NAD, carbaryl, 6-BA, and ethrel) and the impact of light and temperature on the activity of chemical thinners

Phil Schwallier, Michigan State University

Honeycrisp has a strong capacity to overset
crop load of Honeycrisp should be no more than 4 to 6 apples per sq. cm. trunk/limb cross-sectional area to get adequate return bloom
young Honeycrisp trees should probably be hand-thinned only to achieve desired results (chemical thining too risky because of ease of over-thinning)
mature trees can be thinned with a combination of carbary (1 pt) + BA (100 ppm) or NAA (8-10 ppm) to reduce crop load to <>
summer NAA treatments can improve return bloom

Dr. Gregory Clark, Valent Biosciences

Clarke gave an excellent overview of the theory behind fruit thinning and talked about how Valent is looking at ABA (abscissic acid) and AVG (ReTain) as potential additions to the thinning/crop load management toolbox

NC-140 meeting/Mexico update

2008-11-28T16:34:00.001-05:00

As promised, video (below) and picture gallery. Ciao.

Santa Cruz Valley (AZ) Foodways Festival

2008-11-24T20:30:00.008-05:00

While visiting old friends Joe and Carol Costante of SaddleBrooke/Catalina, AZ last weekend, we took a ride down to Tubac to check out the Santa Cruz Foodways (Sabores Sin Fronteras/Flavors without Borders) Festival. Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance, I was directed to the Festival while visiting Suzanne Nelson, PhD., Director of Conservation for Native Seeds/SEARCH of Tucson, AZ. The Festival was co-sponsored by the University of Arizona's Southwest Center. Although small, what a delightful event! Among others, we visited a Sun Oven demonstration by Baja AZ Sustainable Ag, and an educational display by the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project. I even tried a Sonoran hot dog with 'Mexican Candy' which was 'delicioso!' Entertainment included Mariachi Plata (Band).

A bit more about the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project, whose primary goal "is to assist the National Park Service in replanting historically, culturally and botanically appropriate fruit trees of this land." 'This land' refers to Sonoran desert region of Arizona and Mexico, and specifically the Tumacacori National Historical Park, an important mission site in southeast Arizona. We visited the orchard at Tumacacori after leaving the festival, here with a fig tree.

Wow!, the food, culture, and history of southeast Arizona rolled into a small but intimate event in the Sonoran desert. A reminder of what's important to our lives and culture, and not soon to be forgotten...

¡adiós! amigos

JC

Buenas dias

2008-11-20T21:19:00.006-05:00

I just returned from Chihuahua, Mexico where I attended the NC-140 Annual Meeting. (Well actually I am in Tucson, AZ right now for a few days of R&R after a busy summer and fall harvest, but more on that later.) We traveled in Mexico from Chihuahua City, to Nueva Casas Grandes, to Cuauhtemoc for orchard tours and the meeting venue at La Nortenita Fruit Company. (I could not find a website for La Nortenita?) I could probably go and on about this visit to Mexico, but it's likely I won't get to it. Thus, quick impressions of my visit:

our hosts, Carlos Chavez, University of Chihuahua, and Rafael Parra, INIFAP were very gracious (among others) and eager to show us the Mexican apple industry and infrastructure
Delicious and Golden Delicious are the primary apples grown; all are sold to the Mexican market and they like sweet apples -- Gala is gaining a foothold; Mexico produces app. 30 million 42 lb. bushels annually (vs. U.S. 200+ million)
orchards are mostly on semi-dwarf (MM111, M7) rootstocks; some orchards are experimenting with dwarf rootstocks, however, the high soil pH and hot environment seem to be particularly stressful to these rootstocks
most (viable) orchards are covered with hail nets
La Nortenita Fruit Company is state-of-the-art storage, packing facility, and sales house -- unsurpassed by no one in the world if I had to guess
Mexicans eat a lot of apples (app. 12 lbs. per person, vs. U.S 18 lbs.) and are proud of their role in North American history, despite what may seem to be many years of slavery and strife; Dr. Terence Robinson from Cornell University, a decendant of Mormon settlers and farmers in the Nuevos Casas Grandes area told of the history of the Mexican people and was also very gracious in hosting the meeting along with his fellow Mexicans

I am going to get together a photo album of orchards we visited, and video of La Nortenita Fruit Company packing house someday -- will update ASAP.

Gracias

Juan

UMass Video Fruit Advisor -- Topaz apple and hi-tunnel blackberries

2008-10-25T16:29:00.001-04:00

Super-spindle Cameo apple trees on B.9 rootstock

2008-10-13T19:39:00.002-04:00

I picked these Cameo ('Caudle' cv., trees from Willow Drive Nursery) apples that were planted in 2002 as part of a larger super-spindle (2 ft. X 10 ft. tree spacing) block at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard today. These were very nice fruit -- see the results of my testing. Harvested eight (8) bushel boxes off twenty (20) trees. Thus, assuming app. 2,000 trees/acre, projected yield should be 800 bushel boxes per acre. (I did not pick all the fruit, only the nicest 'target' fruit.) Not bad, but the real story is the ease of management of these trees. Most are easily kept under 10 ft. in height, pruning and spraying is simple. This apple variety (Cameo) with this rootstock (B.9) planted to a super-spindle (2 ft. between trees by 10 ft. between rows) can't be beat. The only down side is tree cost to establish, and maybe, Cameo has a tendency to be a little biennial -- a major problem with varieties such as Gala, Cameo, Honeycrisp when grown in these intensive orchard systems that needs more research!

I also looked at Topaz, a particularly red strain being sold as 'Crimson' Topaz. (Adams County Nursery.) Topaz is scab-resistant, attractive, seems to yield early and heavy, and I like it -- I believe it has Cox Orange Pippin' as a parent, so it is quite tart (but with high sugar) with a rather complex flavor. Widely planted in organic orchards in Europe I understand. Organic growers must seriously consider.

Ciao.

Peaches and Cream (aka 'Together at Last')

2008-10-09T20:56:00.002-04:00

I received an e-mail this week from Dave Lokken of Oshkosh, Wisconsin with attached words and music for a song titled 'Together at Last' where Dave professes his love for fresh peaches and appreciation for the fruit growers who produce them. Wow. I listened. I loved. I knew exactly what I had to do -- put the words and music to a slide show of all the peaches I picked at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown, MA this year (2008). I started harvesting July 16 (with a numbered apricot selection) and the show chronicles all the peaches (in order) I picked and evaluated through September 25. (In reality, I just picked the last peaches up on the hill yesterday, October 10, but they did not make it into the show.) Many shown are numbered selections from the Fruit Acres/Stellar peach breeding program, but many are named too, such as Earlystar, Brightstar, Risingstar, Jade, Country Sweet, Glowingstar, Honeykist, Starfire, Blazingstar, Redhaven, Allstar, and Blushingstar.

Oh my gosh, what's not to love? How lucky are we to be in this business of growing these 'tender' fruit? And how very, very special are peaches grown in in Massachusetts on the northern edge of their range? (See this Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Assoc. press release about the 'Golden Days.')

Well, thank you very much Dave for the inspiration and I hope you enjoy the show:

'Together at Last' (words and music by Dave Lokken)

B.118 apple rootstock -- B.9 on steroids?

2008-09-23T10:16:00.003-04:00

I am late on this one, but last week I picked 9 Honeycrisp trees on B.118 rootstock planted in 2006 as part of a mini- orchard systems trial at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown. To make a long story short, I was very impressed by the yield, fruit size, and fruit quality of these Honeycrisp trees on B.118. One tree had a yield of 60 lbs. of fruit, which if I extrapolate to a per acre yield (10 X 15 ft. spacing, 290 trees/acre), that's 400 bushels/acre in the 3rd leaf! (In reality, the rest of the trees had less fruit, but 200-300 bushels/acre could be expected.) So I have to wonder -- considering B.9 is very precocious and high-yielding -- if B.118 has these traits in a semi-dwarf stock? I would consider it closely, particularly vs. planting M.7. Willow Drive Nursery was the source of these trees. And check out NC-140 for more rootstock information.

And the early Fuji winner is...

2008-09-11T19:17:00.006-04:00

I was kind of surprised during a visit to eastern Massachusetts (Northboro specifically), and upon prompting by Mo and Andy Tougas of Tougas Family Farm, to look at their Daybreak and Early Auvil Fuji's for maturity. Indeed, they were quite ripe -- see my 09/11/08 apple harvest report -- for details. Daybreak seems a little ahead of Auvil, otherwise, they were similar, although Daybreak seems to be a bit more intense in red color. I would not normally expect these to be ripe until more towards the middle of the month, but clearly harvest could start any day now. Daybreak was particularly impressive in terms of classic Fuji flavor and sweetness for this early harvest date. These were also very large fruit on 2nd-leaf tall spindle apple trees, with a crop load of 10-15 apples per tree easy.

I also returned to the UMass Orchard in Belchertown and looked at September Wonder (formerly Jubilee) and Rising Sun Fuji. Not nearly as impressive, I have never cared for September Wonder that much, and the Rising Sun were way over-cropped, so not really a fair comparison.

Still, in my mind the clear winner is Daybreak, followed closely by Auvil Early. Run, don't walk, to get some of these very high quality, large-fruited, and what are going to be very profitable early Fuji's in the ground. Daybreak is exclusive to Adams County Nursery, and Auvil Early is available from Van Well Nursery.

UMass Video Fruit Advisor -- Sept. 2, 2008. Slender-axis Lindamac McIntosh

2008-09-06T14:00:00.002-04:00

Update: these apples were picked on 9/03. 15 bushels from 20 trees, equals 750 bushels/acre. So I was a little optimistic on the 1,000 bushels. Still a respectable yield in this climate. Ciao.

4 rules for pruning tall-spindle apples

2008-08-26T15:10:00.002-04:00

On August 19, 2008, and thanks to Mike Fargione of Cornell's Hudson Valley Extension Fruit Program, Dr. Terence Robinson hosted a two hour tour of 3rd leaf tall-spindle apple research plantings at Dressel Farms in New Paltz, NY. Here is a video of Robinson explaining how to (dormant) prune this system for best results. Enjoy.

Observations from Belchertown

2008-08-12T19:31:00.003-04:00

Some late-summer observations at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown:

Flyspeck on Zestar! I expect summer diseases -- sooty blotch and flyspeck, fruit rots, etc. -- to be problematic this year with the wet weather we have had. Continuous fungicide coverage has been necessary to prevent these summer diseases.
Frog-eye leafspot -- a classic symptom of black rot fungus, another disease that loves a wet summer. Mostly a non-issue unless it infects fruit as most season-long fungicide programs keep it at bay. Cultivar susceptibility seems to vary widely, this on Zestar! But Honeycrisp (see below) and Cortland seem to be particularly susceptible. (Among others I suppose.)
Cherry leaf spot -- this one snuck up on me. Here, in a cherry orchard planted in 2001, I have not had much of a problem yet. But I suspect inoculum build-up and a wet summer have combined to cause a problem. Should I have maintained fungicide sprays after harvest? Of course. Did I? Noooo...not a good thing as it can lead to premature defolation which can pre-dispose trees to winter injury.
Turkeys (feathered types) love Honeycrisp -- need I say more? But I am not happy, they have managed to pretty well destroy the fruit at (their) 'peck-level,' these on 3rd leaf Honeycrisp in a tall-spindle planting with relatively low branches. I figure each fruit is worth about a half-dollar at retail. That makes them a serious pest in my book, far worse than the fruit I have lost to plum curculio or apple maggot. Arghh...
More black rot on Honeycrisp? -- I am wondering if this is black rot moving in where the infamous Honeycrisp 'Yellows' has presumably made the foliar tissue susceptible to infection? I don't know, but I don't like it. Honeycrisp does maintain 'mummies' which I think continue to Honeycrisp's susceptibility to black rot. (Also see my web gallery of Honeycrisp disorders.) Honeycrisp is the apple we 'love to hate.'
On a brighter note -- I am a bit enamored by the appearance of these 'Snappy Mac' from Stark Brothers Nursery. Supposedly a limb sport of Rogers McIntosh from the lower Champlain Valley of New York, they color much earlier and better than Rogers. Who says we can't grow good colored Macs in Massachusetts?
OBLR damage -- a little oblique-banded leafroller damage to Honeycrisp, this apple was a 'double,' which OBLR seem to prefer. An emerging insect pest. Many, and rather complicated, control options.
Active scab in August? -- yup, more wet-weather woes. These trees did not have a real strong fungicide program. Fruit is not particularly susceptible when it starts to color, but I would still include Captan and/or Pristine in a summer fungicide program to slow or halt it's spread. (Three weeks of dry weather would help too.)

Are we having fun yet?

Two new Fruit Advisor web pages

2008-08-08T09:53:00.002-04:00

I have finished two new UMass Fruit Advisor web pages recently:

2008 Peach Harvest Record, UMass Cold Spring Orchard. I maintain a nominal peach harvest and testing program, concentrating on newer varieties. A small sample of peaches (usually 5) is collected at what I think is optimum harvest time, and the Peach Harvest Record form filled out. More...

Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) for tree fruit growers: links to information. Consider these a short list of links to quality information on Good Agricultural Practices that might be of particular interest to tree fruit growers. There has been much abuzz about GAPS lately -- I hope some of these information sources help. More...

What's with these apple prices?

2008-07-29T16:24:00.002-04:00

I was in a Big-Y 'World Class' Market here in Amherst, MA this afternoon, and was quite taken aback by the pricing on some of these apples I saw (click on the link for a picture):

Fresh sweet Jazz apples, $3.69/lb.

Organically grown sweet crisp Fuji apples, $3.99/lb.

Organic Royal Gala apples, $5.99/lb.

Organically grown Gold Delicious apples, $3.99/lb.

New Zealand Braeburn apples, $1.88/lb. (regular price $2.49/lb.)

Organic Red Delicious apples, $3.49/lb.

Granny Smith apples, $2.29/lb.

$5.99/lb. for Organic Royal Gala apples???!!! Is anyone buying these things? (To be honest, it looks like the most popular item was the NZ Braeburn for $1.88/lb.) And we sell direct-market, locally grown, 'world class' quality apples for about an average of $1.00/lb. There is a disconnect here, and I am sure there are many reasons and opinions for and about it, so I'd like to hear them. I have to ask again -- Organic Royal Gala apples, $5.99/lb., is anyone buying these? Oh, and notice Big-Y is pretty good about adding value to some of the apple variety descriptions. Ciao.

Jon Clements for what???

2008-07-25T20:28:00.001-04:00

Hail damage to apples...

2008-07-14T21:58:00.006-04:00

Hail is one of the most short-term devastating weather events that can happen to an apple grower. It's so bad we usually don't like to talk about it. But this year, it has been so widespread -- from New York, to Michigan, to parts of the the Northeast (including New England and mid-Atlantic region) -- that it is likely to put a dent (no pun intended) in the production of marketable apples in the U.S. (On top of a spring freeze which diminished the Washington apple crop.) Hail is a good reason to purchase crop insurance. (Enough said.) Growers who have been hailed usually attempt to make the best of it by hand-thinning out obvious culls (pictured above), but that is a labor-intensive (= costly) input that at best might help them break even. It is truly sad. A few growers have asked me what they should do in terms of a spray program -- particularly for diseases -- when they have been hit by hail? First and foremost, they must apply streptomycin in orchards with a history of/or potential for fire blight infection. This has to be applied within 24 hours of the hail. Other than that, Cornell's Dr. David Rosenberger published a synopsis of what kind of spray program should be maintained in a hail-damaged orchard in Scaffolds Fruit Journal recently.

On the bright side, most growers try to make the best of it, and highlight the fact "we still have apples!" (Which is true.) But it's tough and I feel for them...

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, July 1, 2008: Lorsban trunk spray for peachtree borer

2008-07-01T14:18:00.002-04:00

What shall we do with a drunken sailor...

2008-06-24T10:59:00.002-04:00

McIntosh 'visual' fruit thinning with numbers

2008-06-15T10:05:00.003-04:00

Having reviewed A Growers Guide to Predicting the Response to a Chemical Thinner Application developed by Dr. Duane Greene, I decided that I did not have the time to complete the full measurement protocol, however, I was very interested in doing some fruit measurements and getting a 'visual' history of how a group (30) of 'Redmax' McIntosh apple trees trained to a super-spindle would behave during the fruit set and thinning period. (I also did not think I really needed to take all the measurements and use the accompanying predicting apple thinning spreadsheet in this small group of trees to get a handle on what was going on.)

So, I selected and tagged 5 spurs on 5 trees, and using digital calipers measured all the fruitlets on each spur (beginning 20-May) for a total of 125 spurs. I felt this was good representation of the fruit spurs on this group of trees. I made subsequent measurements on 24-May, 1-June, and 11-June for a total of 4 measurement dates.

I applied thinning sprays as follows: first, a petal-fall spray of Sevin XLR Plus (Bayer CropScience) on 17-May at 1.5 pt./acre, and then Maxcel (Valent BioSciences) on 25-May at 75 ppm. Note that the first thinning spray was applied 3 days before the first measurement date (20-May), and that Maxcel was applied between the 2nd (24-May) and 3rd (1-June) measurement dates. I should also mention that from June 7–11, temperatures exceeded 90 F. each day. (Temperature chart | Light chart)

Here are the visual results (click on a tree number below). They should be self-explanatory, but for each tree there are 5 spurs (rows), and 4 columns for each measurement date. The numbers under the picture(s) are the actual fruit measurements in mm.

Tree 1 | Tree 2 | Tree 3 | Tree 4 | Tree 5

So what? Well, by 24-June it was not clear to me if the petal fall spray of Sevin had done enough to thin the crop fully, although I was starting to see some pretty good size differentiation of (mostly) the king fruit. So I proceeded with the Maxcel spray at a moderate rate. By 1-June, however, it had become pretty clear that things were thinning down quite nicely and I decided that the two thinning applications were headed in the right direction. The heat wave described above cinched things for me.

Looking at the figures for final fruit set, it ranges from 8 to 20 %. I still have to make one final check to see how many fruit remain, and need to do an estimate of how many fruit I want per tree. My conclusion at this point, however, is that I have certainly thinned enough, and in fact, there may be less fruit per tree than I would like to reach my yield per acre goal of 600 to 700 boxes/acre.

Finally, my overall conclusion is that this process certainly helped me get a very good visual and numerical picture of what was going on. I do think I would have reached mostly the same conclusion without taking the measurements while using observation and experience to ascertain how my thinning sprays had worked and where final fruit set was ultimately headed.

It's here...

2008-06-11T21:32:00.003-04:00

I found fire blight today in a block of 1st leaf Golden Delicious apples. (See more pictures.) Not unexpected, these trees had quite a profuse bloom. I suspect they were in bloom during the last week in May, which saw an increased -- in fact, threatening -- risk of fire blight. Of course existing apples were already mostly past bloom, with the exception of some cider varieties, so they were immune. But 1st leaf trees often get planted a little late, take a while to break bud and bloom, and can be in bloom when the weather conditions that favor fire blight are more likely. Thus, my recommendation is to plant as early as possible, apply copper after planting, de-bloom the trees, or make sure to apply streptomycin sprays as the trees bloom and weather indicates a high risk of fire blight infection. You do not want to get fire blight in a 1st leaf orchard on dwarf rootstocks! See F-133 An Annual Fire Blight Management Program for more information. But, in a nutshell for this grower, I would recommend first pruning out all the visible strikes (on a dry day), and maybe treating with a lower rate of copper once or twice. (Cuprofix MZ Disperss from Cerexagri-Nisso would be a good choice, it contains both copper and mancozeb.) Good luck.

MD for PTB, LPTB

2008-06-02T21:24:00.004-04:00

Acronyms got you abuzz?

MD = Mating Disruption

PTB = Peach Tree Borer, found at the trunk-soil interface (most common)

LPTB = Lesser Peach Tree Borer (found on the scaffold limbs, including peaches and cherries)

Talking points from a recent Scaffolds Newsletter (http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/scaffolds/):

In NY, there are two species of sesiid (clearwing) moths that attack peaches — the peachtree borer (PTB), Synanthedon exitiosa, and the lesser peachtree borer (LPTB), S. pictipes. The adult borers are striking clear-winged moths with yellow and steel-blue body markings.
The PTB enters the tree near soil level and does not require the presence of wounds or breaks in the bark for entry, but the LPTB nearly always enters the tree at a pruning scar, canker, mechanical injury, or winter-injured area. The LPTB additionally attacks cherries, causing the same type of injury in the upper trunk and scaffold branches of these trees.
Injury is caused by larval feeding on the cambium and inner bark of the trunk close to the soil level (PTB) or on the upper trunk and lower scaffold branches (LPTB).
Control is difficult, owing to the concealed habit of the larvae, growers have traditionally relied on one or more coarse insecticide sprays (e.g., Asana, Lorsban, Proaxis, Thionex, Warrior) of the trunks and lower scaffold branches to deter egg laying and kill newly established larvae. Because this is a labor-intensive measure that often fails to completely control these pests, many growers choose not to elect treatment, or else do an incomplete job, with the intention of getting what they can out of a planting until infestations combine with other peach production factors to warrant tree removal. However, there is a good alternative in the form of pheromone mating disruption (MD) tools for the control of these perennial pests.
At the end of May each year, Isomate-LPTB ties (CBC) were placed in the test blocks at a rate of approximately 200/acre (1/tree). It should be noted that this blend is formulated to be appropriate at this rate for disruption of both borers in situations where PTB is the predominant species or at least comparable in occurrence to LPTB. Although we assumed that LPTB was the main species at these sites, we chose to be conservative and not use the lower (100 ties/acre) rate recommended for such situations.
The pheromone dispensers completely suppressed trap catches of both PTB and LPTB at both sites for both seasons, compared with relatively heavy flights noted in the non-disrupted comparison blocks, showing that this pheromone treatment was highly successful in disrupting the chemical communication of males and females of these two species.
We concluded that these trials provided sufficient evidence that mating disruption alone is able to provide adequate protection from borer infestations in commercial orchards, giving growers an effective non-chemical alternative to trunk sprays for managing this pest complex in their stone fruit plantings.

For the complete article see: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/scaffolds/2008/080602.html

Don't underestimate the importance of these pests!

UMass 'Video' Fruit Advisor: Using BA (Promalin) to promote branching in young apple trees, May 25, 2008

2008-05-27T22:36:00.001-04:00

UMass 'Video' Fruit Advisor: Apple full bloom at UMass Cold Spring Orchard, May 10, 2008

2008-05-19T20:57:00.002-04:00

UMass Video Fruit Advisor, May 1, 2008 -- freeze injury to sweet cherry

2008-05-03T11:25:00.000-04:00

UMass Video Fruit Advisor: Sweet cherry bud removal, the results

2008-04-29T17:37:00.000-04:00

UMass Video Fruit Advisor: tight cluster oil, plant bug traps

2008-04-22T23:47:00.000-04:00

Update March 4, 2008 OP alternatives

2008-04-20T20:42:00.002-04:00

My March 4, 2008 post concerned a talk by Cornell's Art Agnello on OP alternatives at the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers' Annual Meeting on February, 26, 2008. Lorraine Berkett of the UVM Apple Team has posted the talk (in PDF format) on the UVM Apple Orchard. Well worth looking at...

Some catching up to do...

2008-04-12T22:31:00.006-04:00

I have been pretty remiss about timely updates lately, and I have some catching up to do, so here goes:

Fruit Notes archive -- According to an e-mail from Wes Autio, “Fruit Notes was the first UMass publication to be digitized under the Boston Library Consortium/Internet Archive Digitization Project. This projects goal is to digitize volumes of historical significance to the various institutions in the consortium. We are very pleased to have Fruit Notes recognized this way.
“Within this archive, you can search the Table of Contents, either a few years at a time or within all years at once. You also can search within the text of the articles. Adobe pdf, flip-page, and DjVu versions of all articles from 1935 to 2004 are available.”

‘Apple Scion/Rootstock planning for Michigan’ and associated tree spacing calculator -- Don’t be mislead by the title, the tree spacing calculator is mostly appropriate for any humid growing environment in the Northeast. With the calculator, you can input the most important factors that determine tree spacing: scion, rootstock, soil, irrigation, management intensity, orchard system, and tree height. The result is recommended tree spacing -- feet between trees by feet across rows, number of trees per acre -- for your choice(s). Anyone planting trees this spring should give it try to justify their tree planting density decision. The apple tree spacing calculator was recently revised by Dr. Ron Perry of Michigan State University and myself to include new rootstocks and orchard/training systems.

1st Annual Precision Sprayer Conference -- Mo Tougas (Tougas Family Farm) and myself attended this Conference convened by Dr. Andrew Landers (Cornell University) April 8 - 9 on the shores of Canandaigua Lake in western New York. Landers brought in speakers from research, industry, government, and growers to update us on the latest technologies and progress made to reduce drift, better target applications, and retain good pest control while orchard and vineyard spraying. Clearly the impetus to minimize spray drift for various environmental, social, and regulatory reasons is upon those of us doing tree and/or vine spraying. Fortunately, the use of various canopy sensors ('smart' sprayers), new nozzle technology (air-induction), sprayer design (tunnel, tower sprayers), and orchard architecture (taller, narrower canopies) are making the goal of drift reduction somewhat easier. But there is more work to do -- expect very new technologies currently being researched, such as robotics, 'Lidar,' precision GPS guidance, and lessons learned from field crop spraying to have a greater role in making the goal of precision spraying a reality in the not-so-distant future. Oh, and I had a little time (very little) to relax while at the Inn on the Lake. (See pict above.)

Current bud stages, UMass Cold Spring Orchard -- I have started my annual update of current bud stages (apple, pear, peach, cherry, plum, apricot, grape) on the UMass Fruit Advisor. FWIW. But in reality, I have now been doing this since 2001 (8 years including 2008!), so it is starting to be a pretty good historical picture of bloom timing at the Orchard. (See Clements Corner Web Articles for past years.) FWIW. Still, I kind of enjoy doing it and I get some visual scouting done while taking the pictures. :-) Interestingly, I just ran across Project BudBurst. Although apple is not specifically a species of interest for Project Budburst, it is apparently one of the two agricultural Calibration Plant Species of interest for the U.S.A. National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). But I have yet to find where I can report my observations...

VT Tree Fruit Growers' Assoc. Meeting and OrganoPhosphate Alternatives

2008-03-04T20:15:00.003-05:00

Although I gave two talks last week at the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers' Association 112th Annual Meeting in Middlebury, VT, so did Art Agnello from Cornell University. I thought his talk "OP Alternatives in Apple Arthropod Management" was most interesting. In that he laid-out a season-long program for controlling the major insect pests in northeast apple orchards using mostly new, 'reduced-risk' insecticide alternatives to Guthion, Imidan, etc. I actually took notes:

PINK spray for RAA and LM...

Actara, Assail, Calypso
Movento* for RAA

PETAL FALL spray...

for PC: Actara, Avaunt, Calypso
for EAS: Actara, Assail, Avaunt, Calypso, Altacor*
for internal leps (CM, OFM): Assail, Avaunt, Calypso, Delegate, Intrepid, Rimon, Altacor*, Belt*
for OBLR: B.t., Delegate, Intrepid, Proclaim, Rimon, Altacor*, Belt*

SUMMERS sprays...

for LM, LH, aphids: Assail, Avaunt, Calypso, Provado, Movento*
for internal leps (CM, OFM): same as PETAL FALL
for OBLR: same as PETAL FALL
for AMF: Assail, Calypso, Delegate

*new insecticide, probably not available for 2008, but most likely for 2009

NYS Fruit & Veg Conference

2008-02-13T21:37:00.006-05:00

A few trade show newbies from the New York State Fruit & Vegetable Conference (Feb. 13 and 14, 2008) in Syracuse, NY:

I just asked about 'Gale' Gala on the apple-crop discussion group and here it is, thanks to Adams County Nursery. Turns out it is a solid red, similar to 'Buckeye' Gala. A limb sport from Washington. They look good, but some have concerns about it being too much like 'Buckeye' without a characteristic Gala appearance. You be the judge.
John Harper, AMVAC technical representative with the new Fruitone-L label. Fruitone-L is a liquid formulation of Fruitone-N, which will make handling easier. Transitioning from -N to -L will be simple too -- the liquid ounce of -L is equivalent in amount of NAA to the solid weight ounce of -N. In other words, if you used 4 oz. of Fruitone-N to get 10 PPM of NAA per 100 gallons, you would use 4 liquid oz. of Fruitone-L to get 10 ppm in 100 gallons. Interestingly, the AMVAC label for -L suggests a rate of 1.0 to 4.0 ounces per 100 gallons on 'moderately difficult-to-thin' varieties such as Gala, Honeycrisp, Ginger Gold, Jonagold, and Empire, which equates to 2.5 to 10 PPM. The -N label, in the same table, uses PPM only -- no mention of rate in oz. Interesting.
Paul Wooley of Stark Bros. has something new up his sleeve, and no, it is not 'Candy Crisp' on the information sheet he his holding. (Although he is still high on it!) The red apple concealed under his left hand is a chance seedling discovered in a hedge row in the Hudson Valley, which although Mac-like in appearance, Paul says had a very high firmness at maturity (like 28 lbs.), and was still firm and tart-sweet at this point (I tried a slice) despite what he says was being kept under less-than-ideal conditions under 'garage' storage. Keep on plugging those Candy Crisp for now Paul!
OESCO's Howard Boyden shows off a Lancman water operated fruit press. This Slovenian beauty is stainless steel, and can be loaded with five bushels (of chopped) apples with an output of 15 gallons of juice/cider. Ideal for the hobby fruit grower or very small marketer of fruit juice(s). Note that it can be used for grapes (wine makers, have to be crushed and de-stemmed first) and other fruits too, such as cherries (?) or peaches/plums.
Mark Shannon of Suterra holds one of his CheckMate mating disruption products, in this case the sprayable formulation for oriental fruit moth. Suterra also manufactures traditional clip-on dispensers and a new 'Puffer' applicator for codling moth. Time-release dispensers and the 'Puffer' are OMRI approved.
Steve Zimmerman of Valent Biosciences is proud of their new label for Clutch insecticide, an new neonicotinoid insecticide that is effective on most insects with chewing or sucking mouth-parts, including aphids, leafhoppers, leafminers, apple maggot, codling moth, plum curculio, and more. It is registered for use on apples and pears. Steve says there is 3 feet of snow on the ground up in south-central Maine where he lives!
Finally, Cynthia Turski, IPM Product Specialist with Spectrum Technologis shows off one of their new 2000 series WatchDog weather stations. These stations are ideal for pest/disease forecasting, particularly with the optional Apple/Pear alert software package.

BTW, all picts taken with Apple's iPhone -- I can't recommend it highly enough, for many reasons, among them, this.

4 easy steps to peach pruning

2008-01-19T12:25:00.000-05:00

Normally we don't prune peaches until April or May, however, the warm weather last week and an upcoming presentation with a need to have a video on peach pruning prompted us to do this. Wes Autio, Professor of Pomology, UMass Amherst, demonstrates a simplified '4-step' method for pruning young peach trees. These peaches, 'PF-14 New Jersey,' planted at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard will be in their third growing season, and are being trained to an open-center. During the first two years, excess branching was left to establish the trees and force some branching 'out,' but now is the time to select the permanent scaffold limbs and prepare the tree for fruiting -- we would hope to pick about 20 lbs. of fruit off this tree this year. In reality, further shoot and fruit thinning may likely have to be done this spring after a crop is set. Enjoy.

It's January

2008-01-12T10:12:00.000-05:00

It's January. What can I say? (Happy New Year?) At least the days are getting longer. Some significant events over the past few weeks (or month):

1.) New England Vegetable and Fruit Conference in December. Well-attended, but a major snowstorm on the last day made getting home very difficult -- 'historic' gridlock on major highways in east and south New England. It took us 6 hours to drive from Manchester, NH to Belchertown, MA, normally a 2 hour ride.

2.) Northeast Meeting of American Society for Hort. Science, at Rutgers last week. Presented a poster '5-year performance of three dwarf apple rootstocks with Cameo apple.'

3.) Got home from that meeting and saw that it had fallen to -12 F. in Chicopee, MA last Friday morning. We got down to -4.3 F. in Belchertown. Not low enough to do any damage to stone fruit, but getting there. I would hold off on apple pruning until the weather becomes more seasonable.

4.) You got to see this to believe it: http://edwardsorchard.info. Ken Hall was president of IDFTA when we were helping them with their website several years ago, and I could not imagine a more supportive, intelligent, and well-rounded individual. What happened to them last week is simply unbelievable. But, as you can see, their cup is always half (or more) full! What is the deal with this weather? Imagine if this had happened during the growing season or when they were open for business? I guess they were ultimately very lucky in that no one was hurt, it happened this time of the year -- giving them time to rebuild -- and new opportunities abound. Good luck Ken and family/Edwards Orchard with rebuilding.

5.) I have been working on revising the herbicide section(s) of the 2008 New England Tree Fruit Pest Management Guide. Keeping up with all the label changes and new products is not easy. There seems to be rapid change in the agri-chemical industry with new products being introduced and manufacturer changes. Which begs the question -- how do YOU get your detailed pesticide information (i.e., rates, re-entry and pre-harvest intervals, labeled crops, etc.)? Please take my survey right above.

6.) AGR/AGR-Lite Crop Insurance Meeting on January 28.

6.) Finally, just found out MFGA was awarded a $95,000 grant from Mass. Dept. Ag. Resources Ag. Innovation. This, to plant 10 acres of tall-spindle orchard in 10 MA orchards over the next two years. Should be an interesting project, more on it to come.

JC

Colorado NC-140 video

2007-12-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

A few thoughts (too busy for much else)

2007-10-01T20:11:00.000-04:00

Harvest has been in full swing, so not much time for extras. But, a few things that have come to mind recently:

1.) Why do we charge more for some apples, i.e. Honeycrisp? Supply and demand? Are they really that much better than say, a good Jonagold, Gala, Empire, and many more 'commodity' apples. Please vote at right.

2.) NPR Saturday (29-Sep) Weekend Edition, an interesting story on how codling moth has become resistant to the granulosis virus in Germany.

3.) 2nd leaf Liberty planted on B.9 rootstock yielding a bit more than 5 lbs. (or more) per tree, if you could get $1 a pound retail that should pretty well pay for the cost of the tree -- well, if you get a good deal on the trees!

4.) September has been significantly warmer (and dryer) than average, yet drop has been minimal and fruit quality seems to be holding very well. Particularly trees treated with ReTain® PGR. You be the judge.

5.) Now finishing Macoun's, last of Honeycrisp (unbelievable), McIntosh (more unbelievable), and Cortland. In the middle of Jonagold. Empire just starting.

6.) Spent last Friday at the Big-E handing out slices of Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Macoun, and Gala in front of the Massachusetts Building. Massachusetts specialty foods on the lawn sponsored by Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources. Honeycrisp clearly a winner. Jonagold almost as good, and I think this apple is every bit as good as Honeycrisp and not promoted as such. "I did not know you could grow Gala here" a common comment. These eastern grown Gala (Buckeye and Brookfield) are again in a class with Honeycrisp I think. Macoun for those who like tart apples -- we in Mass. kind of have a cult following for them. Funny, apple tastes seem to fall in to either liking it sweet or liking it tart and never should the two cross! Although I think Jonagold comes closest, being a nice blend of sweetness and tartness. Sweet-tart? Tart-sweet?

:-)

Early Fuji's, Crimson Crisp, and some yield observations

2007-09-15T19:11:00.000-04:00

Harvest is cranking and we are amidst McIntosh and Honeycrisp. Recently, several new 'early' Fuji strains have become available that are in this mid-September harvest window. They include September Wonder (formerly Jubilee), Auvil Early, Daybreak, and Rising Sun. There are probably others. We have September Wonder, Daybreak, and Rising Sun at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard. I favor Daybreak which is available from Adams County Nursery. September Wonder, although good in appearance, lacks flavor IMHO. Rising Sun, an International Plant Management introduction, I don't have much experience yet. My colleague Win Cowgill from Rutgers has done significant testing of these early Fuji cvs. but I am not sure if he has published any of his results yet -- Win?

Mo Tougas (Tougas Family Farm) just told me he thought Crimson Crisp (pictured) was looking nice. Crimson Crisp is a scab-resistant apple recently introduced by PRI and tested in the 1999 NE-183 planting. I looked at it too, and indeed among scab-resistant apples it has merit. See my latest round of apple maturity reports.

Finally, a couple quick yield observations. 6th leaf Lindamac on M.9 planted at 4x12, 675 boxes/acre. 2nd leaf Honeycrisp on B.9 (Stark Bros. trees) planted at 3x12 app. 230 bushels/acre. (See Sep-12 video post.) Both nice, easy to manage trees. The way to grow apples.

Ciao until next time.

2nd leaf Honeycrisp on B.9 rootstock

2007-09-13T21:21:00.000-04:00

Blushingstar a fine maiden

2007-09-05T20:26:00.000-04:00

I think of this very early September period as the 'golden time' for tree fruit. Early fall apples are starting to come along and peaches are still going strong. It is the start of a rapid transition to true fall, but summer is still definitely in the air. Case in point is the fact McIntosh has reached acceptable harvest maturity -- at least for a first pick based on color -- as have also Honeycrisp. And I just picked Blushingstar, pictured at left, another of the Fruit Acres series of Stellar peaches. White flesh, aromatic, somewhat firm, large, and very attractive. This is a premium piece of fruit that we can grow here in southern New England that rivals any piece of tree fruit grown anywhere in the world! Absolutely beautiful. Hence, the 'golden time.' Enjoy it's fleeting days while you can.

'Early Macs' or the best early McIntosh?

2007-08-28T20:14:00.000-04:00

Pre-Labor Day Macs. Yuck. Yet they are always picked and commonly marketed as 'early Macs.' I can't really blame the growers, it is a bit of a herd mentality (sorry) and the customers want them. But no self-respecting Mac should be picked before (an early) Labor Day. Stick with the Paulared, Ginger Gold, Sansa, Zestar! etc. IMHO.

That being said, Marshall McIntosh is commonly one of the earliest McIntosh strains picked, as it does color up a little early, it does mature a little earlier, and it will drop earlier than anything else. All good reasons to pick them IMMEDIATELY AFTER Labor Day! Or before, as you will :-)

But, I have been looking at a new Mac strain which I think represents a superior alternative to Marshall Mac. It is Lindamac, pictured above. Just look at this picture comparing the two side-by-side. (Marshall Mac on the left, Lindamac on the right.) Lindamac has at least 90% red skin, vs. just 65% or so for Marshall. (BTW, both these were treated with ReTain PGR.) Otherwise, flesh firmness and soluble solids were comparable. Interestingly, the starch maturity index was a full point higher (3.5) for the Lindamac vs. the Marshall Mac (2.5). You can bet I will pick these Lindamacs next week, when I expect the starch index to be about 4-5, and they will be very good-to-go, including decent flavor and a nice full red blush over the entire apple.

Lindamac is available almost exclusively through Summit Sales.

Early apple season is here

2007-08-23T20:37:00.000-04:00

Early apple season is here. What can I say? Kind of what we have been working towards all season. Picked:

Sansa -- 'an early, fresh-market apple' according to HortResearch NZ. Not to be confused with Sansa® music player, which interestingly enough holds a registered trademark for Sansa®.

Ginger Gold -- discovered as a chance seedling in Virginia. Very good quality and has grabbed a substantial portion of the early market. Available from ACN.

Akane -- a parent of Sansa. Pictured above. Under-appreciated and overlooked.

Paulared -- a McIntosh-type apple with average quality, but large, reliable, and productive. The first apple of the season with true fall-like flavor.

Zestar! -- introduced by the University of Minnesota. Note that Zestar! is a trademark name, the true cultivar name of this apple is 'Minnewashta' (yea, right), the name of a lake close to the U of M arboretum where Zestar! was born. I find the taste of Zestar! to be somewhat lacking, but I probably do not let it get ripe enough. A grower-friendly tree, but fruit readily drops and above average scab susceptibility. Not overly productive, but large fruit. Don't plant too many. More here in this Minnesota Public Radio article.

I collect 10 apples of each when I think they are ready for a first pick and subject them to a number of measurements, including size, skin color, flesh firmness, soluble solids, and starch-index. And taste. All maturity indexes, some better than others. I will be publishing my results here for the rest of the harvest season. Hope it goes well.

The king of peaches

2007-08-14T20:20:00.000-04:00

Well I think Redhaven is the king of peaches here in Massachusetts. A fairly bud-hardy, reliable and heavy cropper with classic yellow-peach flavor that ripens in mid-August. Size is very good, almost 3 inches. The only real downside I can think of is it does not have as much red color as some of the newer varieties. BTW, Redhaven was introduced in 1940 by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station in East Lansing. If someone thinks something is wrong with Redhaven, I would like to hear about it. It makes a great perpendicular-V tree.

I also picked my first 'donut' peaches ever -- Njf16 in the ACNursery catalog. (Holy cow! $4.50 royalty -- who's getting rich?) These are young trees, so there were only a few of these 'peento' peaches. Kind of attractive, high in sugar. A little russet where fruit was oriented on top/bottom of branches -- my New Jersey source tells me care should be taken when hand-thinning these to leave fruit on their sides, not oriented up or down. They were quite firm to the touch but clearly ripe. I am looking forward to having more of these next year -- I am not sure why they don't give them a name? Joe? Phil? (You know who your are...)

Early peach/nectarine video

2007-08-08T21:48:00.000-04:00

More 'early' peaches

2007-08-07T21:25:00.001-04:00

Well, we are approaching the mid-August heart of (Redhaven) peach season here in Massachusetts. But there are still some earlier peaches being picked. Today, at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard I picked Jade (pictured) and Risingstar. Jade is a white-fleshed nectarine from France. Risingstar is from the Fruit Acres/Stellar breeding program. Jade is very aromatic with a rather exotic white-flesh nectarine flavor. But, it has not been terribly bud hardy, except for this past winter, which was an easy one, and it has some susceptibility to bacterial spot. (It appears to be a bad year for this disease.) Risingstar is a typical yellow flesh clingstone peach with 85-90% red skin. Very attractive. It needs to be thinned good to get size. I like Risingstar for an early peach. No split pits. I also looked at Country Sweet peach and Honey Kist nectarine -- both yellow flesh, low-acid fruit from Zaiger Genetics. Both rather heavily infested with bacterial spot. If you are going to grow these unique varieties -- I, and our customers, particularly like Country Sweet -- you need to maintain an aggressive bacterial spot program beginning in the spring. Both ready or close to harvest right now. Be sure to check my 2007 peach harvest record for details. Note these peach varieties are available from Adams County Nursery.

While listening to WAMC Northeast Public Radio this noon, an excellent story on the 2007 New York apple crop. Very well done, I thought. Even got to hear my old friend Tre Green of Chazy Orchard -- largest McIntosh orchard in the world! (Or so THEY say!)

And, related to above, read the NY Times article 'Food That Travels Well' on 'food miles' vs. 'life cycle measurement.' Very interesting.

Ciao.

Cornell/Geneva (Tree) Fruit Field Day video

2007-08-01T20:59:00.000-04:00

Japanese beetle and Honeycrisp

2007-07-30T20:17:00.000-04:00

Chalk up another Honeycrisp disorder. At the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown, MA, I planted an orchard in 2006 with Honeycrisp and McIntosh (cvs. Rogers and Snappy Mac) on three different rootstocks (MM.106, M.26, and B.9) and three tree training systems (NZ central leader, vertical axis, and tall spindle). The point is to demonstrate training systems and collect some yield and economic data. But, although there has been lots of anecdotal evidence that Japanese beetles are particularly attracted to Honeycrisp, I am now able to put some numbers on it. This morning I did a quick look at all trees (150 total, 75 of each cultivar divided across the three rootstocks) and determined that 36% of the Honeycrisp had reached a treatment threshold -- which to me was active beetle feeding -- vs. 0% (that's right, zero) on the McIntosh. Now, if McIntosh were the only choice, would they be on those? I don't know. But clearly Honeycrisp are significantly more attractive to Japanese beetles than McIntosh, requiring some kind of treatment for control. And although the beetles are largely foliar feeders, which is bad enough in itself, they can also damage fruit. And Honeycrisp are just too darn valuable to lose any!

Duck weather

2007-07-28T12:17:00.000-04:00

Duck weather and brown rot go hand-in-hand. And we have duck weather. I am seeing a little more brown rot than I would like to see already, and as peaches, plums, and nectarines mature, expect more. There are many fungicide options on the fruit rot phase of brown rot, including the SI's -- Indar, Orbit, Elite, etc. -- and Captan, Topsin-M, sulfur, Pristine, etc. Resistance development to SI's is a real concern, so rotate classes of fungicides whenever possible. SI's rotated with Captan and/or Pristine would be a wise idea. If the weather stays like this, brown rot sprays applied to ripening peaches will have to be applied every 3-5 days in the one to two week window preceding harvest. Good luck.

Briefly, I noticed the latest issues -- including Spring 2007 -- of the New York Fruit Quarterly are on-line. A tremendous resource and every article should be of great interest to you.

And, check out this Zestar! tree -- would make a beautiful tall spindle.

And finally, Earliglo and Garnet Beauty peaches are being harvested in Belchertown at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard and in eastern Massachusetts.

Report from Geneva

2007-07-25T21:41:00.000-04:00

Today I attended the Cornell Fruit Field Day and Equipment Show at the NYSAES at Geneva, NY. 8 AM to 5 PM. Tree fruit, grapes, and berries. Four 2-hour tree fruit sessions with multiple speakers. AM I. Fire blight management with grad students Dewdney and Russo. Managing apple scab using phosphite fungicides with Cox. Koeller on apple scab resistance management including a new generation of SI fungicide(s). Plum varieties for NY -- Freer. AM II. Wild apple tree/germplasm collection with Forsline. Geneva rootstocks with USDA/Fazio. High density cherries and managing canker with Robinson and Carroll. Chemical peach thinning with Osborne. BBQ chicken lunch thanks to industry sponsors and welcome to Geneva -- including 125th Anniversary by Station Director Burr. Hot and sunny. PM III. Landers -- following the money, keeping control of your canopy sprays; apple chemical thinning (timing) by Robinson; Cheng, how much nitrogen needed to grow large Gala; tall spindle apples and return bloom of Honeycrisp by Hoying. PM IV. Promising new apple rootstocks by Robinson (and hi-density pears which I skipped); NEWA weather stations by Carroll; Brown and Maloney on apple and cherry breeding/selections; Agnello on mating disruption with new dispenser technology. Whew, did I miss anyone? Lots of information. I have made this trip to western New York for the past four years now and it has always been very worthwhile -- cutting edge growing technologies transferable to New England tree fruit growers. Video to come soon.

Oh, and previous afternoon tour of Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail. Including discovery of Vergennes White Wine, Arbor Hill. From the City of Vergennes, VT City Council Meeting, March 27, 2007 -- "A bottle of white wine has been presented to the City by Arbor Hill Grapery of Naples, NY, advised Manager Perry. The wine is called Vergennes White Wine. It was named after William E. Green because the grape was discovered in his garden in Vergennes in 1874. The label on the bottle states that in the early 1900’s Vergennes was best known as the table grape that shipped well and had the best keeping capability. Wine master John Brahm has offered to come to Vergennes on Vergennes Day or French Heritage Day to present a case of this wine to the City and the same to any surviving family member of William E. Green." Rumor has it John followed up with his promise on Bastille Day (that is July 14th, otherwise known as French Independence Day, pretty much an [un]official holiday in Vermont north of I-89!) including the planting of a vine on the City green. All new to moi, and quite a little vayniac find! Ciao.

Earlystar and bacterial spot

2007-07-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

As promised, I picked Earlystar peach today. It is very good for a very early yellow peach -- I think superior to PF-1. You can see some data here. I also observed a fairly raging case of bacterial spot, which I knew was coming. Bac spot is evident on Shiro plum, Countrysweet peach, and Honeyckist nectarine. The latter two are Zaiger sub-acid peaches. Having been bred in California, they have not been selected for bac spot resistance. But they are real sweet stone fruit, and have done well for us otherwise. Control of bacterial spot needs to begin early -- see the fact sheet from West Virginia University. I can expect considerable early defoliation now, and some fruit defects, although the Countrysweet peaches still look pretty good. I have posted a gallery of pictures I took today from these three stone fruit cultivars. I am not 100% sure all the symptoms are bac spot, but am reasonably sure most are. Sometimes nitrogen deficiency can look like bac spot, but given the cultivars we are dealing with here, it's the latter. Someone PLEASE remind me next year I need to get on a bac spot control program!

Honeycrisp 'yellows'

2007-07-20T20:52:00.000-04:00

I still get calls about this 'disorder' if you want to call it that. Honeycrisp foliage has this propensity to turn a mottled yellow by mid-July on some trees, and it is endemic to wherever Honeycrisp is grown. Weak trees with a light crop are most likely to exhibit the symptoms. Annual, moderate bearing -- with good fruit thinning every year -- should minimze it. Keep the nutrient status of the trees up to snuff too. I have written about this before way back in 2000, and here is a good comparison of Honeycrisp with the 'yellows' and one without. The disorder should not be confused with potato leafhopper injury, which looks similar. But you'll get the 'yellows' with no PLH in sight. Studies have shown that it is likely caused by an inability of the tree to mobilize starch. So, don't worry about it too much if you have it, but it is a sign that you may want to make sure the trees are in good health. Oh, and check out the video. Ciao.

Peach harvest starts

2007-07-19T16:35:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been no more than a week since cherry harvest ended -- with Balaton, Regina, and Sweetheart -- than peach harvest has begun. Today, we picked PF-1, pictured on the left, which is the first ripening peach from Paul Friday's Flamin'Fury peaches. PF-1 looks good for an early peach. There were a few split pits, but color was good and the fruit are attractive if not a bit small. I would say maturity is a little uneven so you have to pick carefully. (You can keep track of my 2007 peach harvest date here.) I want to compare this to Earlystar (formerly FA-101) which I may 1st-pick tomorrow or Monday at the latest. You should remember that as peaches ripen, they become far more susceptible to brown rot, particularly with this warm, humid, rainy weather we are having. At least two or three fungicide sprays need to be applied in the two to three weeks prior to harvest. Brown rot fungicide workhorses include Captan, Indar, Orbit, and Elite. The latter three are all SI fungicides, and it would not hurt to rotate with Captan. Pristine is also a very new option and would be good to rotate with either Captan or the SI's too. All-in-all it looks like an excellent peach harvest coming up in Massachusetts. Stay tuned.

Back to work

2007-07-18T13:25:00.000-04:00

I have just returned from Cape Cod after a few days of R&R to a little rain and fog. Welcome to my blog, an attempt to keep interested tree fruit growers in Massachusetts up-to-date with what is on my mind as I go about my job and what is currently happening at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard in terms of pest management, horticulture, and marketing the fruit we grow. I hope to update daily, and be sure to leave a comment or contribution as you see fit. Thanks.