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Calcium uptake, herbal fermentation, liquid fish, pure neem oil, pest options, the mineral fungicides, impact of same on microbes ... from timing and tank mixing to sourcing spray materials and evaluating effectiveness.
Re: The Big Freeze of 2023 - 5 months ago
Up here in N. VT at 1600', after a very cool spring and thus a bloom that went on forever, we're finally at the point where I can tell what the *(!)&^# happened during that freeze. We had 26 deg. throughout the orchard, with early varieties at king bloom and later ones in various pink stages. I'd say damage ranged from 30% to 80%, most early varieties were thinned to zeroby Josh Karp - Grower Research
Re: Sanitizing methods for pruners / saws? - 1 year ago
I agree with Charlie above - I buy a $4 small-size spray bottle at hardware store, fill with 70% rubbing alcohol, and attach it to myself along with my pruning gear. Easy and efficient to spray your tools as often as you want during pruning. I just wipe the pruners on my pant leg to roughly dry them off. It's funny, rubbing alcohol has a slippery property to it as well - so it kinda cleans/lby Josh Karp - Sensible Equipment
Re: balanced crop load - 2 years ago
Perhaps this discussion should be in the 'bicarbonate for thinning' thread, but here we are.. Michael, I know you spray thinned with bicarbonate a year or two ago, and were not excited with the results and swore off this approach. Could you report on what you did: product, timing, rates etc. along with results and also why it ultimately turned you off? And also could you elaboratby Josh Karp - Organic Thinning
Re: bicarbonate for thinning - 2 years ago
Brian C. started this thread back in 2012, but it seems that we collectively haven’t moved forward that much in the intervening 9 years. Or maybe we have…anyone have something to report? It sounds like Brian has the most experience using bicarb., sounds fairly successful, i.e. didn’t eliminate hand thinning but reduced it appreciably. Hey, if it reduced hand thinning by 30-50% that’s a huge wiby Josh Karp - Organic Thinning
Sooty blotch/flyspeck - 5 years ago
I have some vars that are susceptible to summer diseases & want to start doin something about it. Not willing to spray sulfur all summer..was thinking about Regalia - this product claims to give 'induced systemic resistance' to trees so they can fight off these diseases. sooty blotch & fly speck are listed on the Regalia label as controllable diseases. Wondering if anyone'sby Josh Karp - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Heavy duty weed-wacker VS push on flail mower for understory in older trees - 6 years ago
Hi Fabio - Michael was clearly trying to kill me with the 'gifting' of his old sickle-bar attachment. I bolted it on and enthusiastically went out to work. An hour later, my hands and wrists were numb from the vibrations, and I realized these things are best given away to unsuspecting friends. I have since discovered the 'double-acting' sickle bar mower from Earth Tools, wby Josh Karp - Sensible Equipment
Summer Pruning - 6 years ago
Considering summer pruning (of watersprouts only) this year. Looking for the following benefits: 1. letting in more light into tree interior to help color fruits 2. improving air movement within the tree to help with secondary scab issues (yes, I will admit so having some issues this year!) 3. improving calcium uptake in the developing fruit. Is #3 actually true, or am I remembering this iby Josh Karp - Pruning
Re: Fungal disease of bush cherries - 6 years ago
haven't had time to really dig in to this. could be psuedomonas but also wondering if it could be 'verticillium wilt' , a soil borne fungus. identical symptoms to David & same cultivars from Canada. check this link out:by Josh Karp - Fungal Pathogens
2017 insect pest dynamics & NO SPRAY fruit (well, not quite) - 6 years ago
I usually spray Entrust once ('In Dow we Entrust') at petal fall for EAS and early PC, along with surround coverage thru June for PC and to make life generally unpleasant for EAS and CM larvae. I suggested in another post that EAS be employed to help with thinning this year. For those of you that think that was a terrible idea, I'll serve up another slice: thinking about takingby Josh Karp - Bug by Bug
EAS as thinning 'ally' - 6 years ago
Ok, a bit provacative here but: many of us have some European Apple Sawfly pressure. With a huge bloom currently underway, I'm wondering about using these guys to do some thinning for me. Of course the question is , in their exuberance, will they overdo it. But, if we're supposed to thin 90% of the fruit anyway, what are the odds they would overthin?? I know, par of the answer is thatby Josh Karp - Organic Thinning
How cold is too cold? to leave apples on the trees - 7 years ago
Here in Northern VT, we're supposed to get 28 degrees tomorrow night. I've read that apples freeze at 27 or 28 degrees depending on variety & how ripe. Trying to tease out the finer points of this: can I sell as #1 fruit, apples that have experienced 27 deg. for only a few hours on one night?? Other than possibly shortening the storage potential, will the flavor/texture/appearance bby Josh Karp - Healthy Harvest
Re: Apple maggot fly absent some years? - 7 years ago
Holy cow, up here in Northern VT got a massive crop of AMF, most I've ever had to deal with. Put up tons of red sticky traps, catching lots, but still getting some damage on early vars. Hoping if I can keep fresh traps up all season I'll minimize damage to mid season & later varieties. Last few years we've done a good job picking up our drops, so these guys are coming in fromby Josh Karp - Bug by Bug
Re: curculio's end - 10 years ago
Michael, you and I live in virtually identical climes, and probably have very similar pest dynamics. I also spray surround for PC control and call 3-4 weeks of kaolin coverage "good enough". Since my good clay coverage stopped (a few weeks ago), I've seen a few apples and plums/cherries with stings - but only a few, nothing to worry about, really. But the odd thing is thatby Josh Karp - Bug by Bug
Whey as orchard spray - 10 years ago
I have the opportunity to spray raw whey in the orchard this year (i.e. not a spray made from powdered whey). In The Holistic Orchard, Michael P. references experiments done in S. America where whey was sprayed at a 2% concentration with good results. How could whey be beneficial? Michael touches on the possibilities: 1. general nutritional booster (proteins, vitamins, minerals) 2. contby Josh Karp - Grower Research
Re: Surround Price increase $$$ - 10 years ago
Yeah, these regional differences within CPS are striking: I was just quoted $1.97/# !!by Josh Karp - Spray Nuance
Re: Saponification? Emulsifying Neem with Soap - 10 years ago
I found some OMRI listed soap nuts which my certifier has approved for use - haven't tried them yet (still in the mail) but planning on making a liquid soap from them and using that as an emulsifier.by Josh Karp - Spray Nuance
Rootstocks for Zones 3&4 - 10 years ago
My 4 acre orchard is all standard trees. Why? Being in northern Vermont, in zone 3b, I have not been willing to risk planting less-hardier trees to have them do OK for a number of years, only to be severely damaged or killed in one of those pesky 'test winters'. Like this winter, for instance: We've had very little or NO snow cover for weeks at a time, and temps. into the teeby Josh Karp - Orchard Systems