The king of peaches

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

More 'early' peaches

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

Japanese beetle and Honeycrisp

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

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

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.