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Ask other growers about sprayers, mowers, scythes, pruning tools, tractors, row-mulchers, wood chippers, cider presses, fermenting vats, and more.
plant sap analysis - Yesterday
This year's research efforts center around fine-tuning foliar nutrients based on three rounds of plant sap analysis. One goal here is to identify the timing of essential nutrients with respect to flower viability, cell division in the fruitlet, and robust photosynthesis all summer long. Leaf samples are being taken from the same trees each time in two different blocks. The block aspect let's me tby Michael Phillips - Grower Research
Re: balanced crop load - 13 days ago
Nutrient investment that supports fruit bud development really well yet in modest amounts across growing seasons is a better way of articulating this idea. There's really three phases to this: * Critical minerals like boron and manganese applied either side of bloom time. Site-specific additions like iron and zinc tie in as well to establish baseline amounts in available form of what's indicatedby Michael Phillips - Organic Thinning
Re: Prestop WP biofungicide - 15 days ago
Always curious which biology has been called to the fore to outcompete disease. PreStop turns out to be spores and mycelia of Gliocladium catenulatum strain J1446, a naturally occurring soil fungus. AgBio is making this available in the states but here's a Swiss flyer about it. Those of you in the Pacific Northwest need to nail down the timing for anthracnose and share results here. I would certby Michael Phillips - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Borer repellent - 18 days ago
Suggested neem oil rates for spray application range between 0.5% and 2.0%. We generally assume a foliar rate of no more than 0.5% biological fats (neem, karanja, etc.) to be safe as regards phytotoxic damage to leaves . . . but as observed in other posts in this forum, certain cultivars (oh, those tender pears!) seem especially sensitive and thus a 0.25% spray rate might be a better rate. Dittoby Michael Phillips - Bug by Bug
balanced crop load - 4 weeks ago
The bees had a tremendously warm week to pollinate and now the crop awaits revealing. Bloom here was encouraging in that a number of last year's heavy bearers (like Sweet Sixteen) had enough blossoms this year to look promising. Of course there are trees still deep into a biennial funk (like Fortune) but not quite so many as in year's past. I'm pondering how biology and nutrition tie into a balanby Michael Phillips - Organic Thinning
Re: Apple tree suddenly dying - 5 weeks ago
Looks like fire blight all the way, Karen. That nasty-looking canker makes me wonder if you had low-level infection in this tree in 2019? Or if any sign of blossom or shoot strikes on any other varieties this year? It would be an act of god if Erwinia amylovora bacteria drifted into place from on high and only struck this one tree. Vilberie may be one of those European bittersweets with very limby Michael Phillips - Bacterial Opportunists
Re: Farm marketing during COVID - 6 weeks ago
My thoughts hadn't turned to the marketing end of these viral times yet as we're still anticipating fruit potential here in northern New Hampshire. (Bloom time is a week away if not more.) Our orchard intensive class in June is looking very unlikely so that will be a first shot across the bow of my apple income. The stores in nearby towns that offer our fruit are not allowing customers in the dooby Michael Phillips - Good Fruit Marketing
Re: Quantum Thinking - 2 months ago
Discussing "quantum" seems to be happening in parallel universes. This answer was posted to your earlier versions of these questions the day before on the thread about fermenting (activating) this organism consortium: The 2019 season marked my first trials with Quantum microbes, Linda. My goal then was twofold: See that this additional product cost was warranted and to show how recomby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Adding Quantum to ferment tea brewing? - 2 months ago
The 2019 season marked my first trials with Quantum microbes, Linda. My goal then was twofold: See that this additional product cost was warranted and to show how recommended rates could be lowered in a holistic (nutritional) context. Results in both respects were a go, as reported earlier. If anything, I'm more excited now as I see good return bloom on trees that gave a good crop last year. Suchby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Adding Quantum to ferment tea brewing? - 2 months ago
The quick answer is no. The whole reason for photosynthetic bacteria (and other equally important players in Quantum) being treated differently lies in the details. Read that earlier thread on Quantum Thinking and/or the paper posted in the Library again. EM mother cultures include Rhodopseudomonas palustris but it's becoming more evident you don't see much if any of the purple guys in the fieldby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Spray tank heat effect on microbes - 2 months ago
I'm intrigued that your spray tank water heats to such a degree that you are expressing concern, Karen. I have not experienced this. I've heard PakTank sprayers sometimes need adjustment with respect to where the agitator paddles are positioned on the shaft but that certainly shouldn't lead to noticeably warmer water. Perhaps the pump action warms things slightly at the tail end of each tank? Iby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Sour milk - 2 months ago
Here's how to think about such things, Brandt. Calcium is still in that sour milk. Perhaps more to the point, how have the microbes shifted? Certainly those versatile Lactobacilli are still going strong. Who is new on the scene? Is that good or bad or indifferent? Fermentation will have converted the lactose sugar to lactic acid, which gives unpasteurized milk a sour flavor. Once introduced ontoby Michael Phillips - Tree Fruit Nutrition
Re: Cider apple trials in Quebec - 2 months ago
Well done, Claude! It's good to have some French introduced to our apple conversations. I like that Pommette d'Olaf has a history in Quebec cider making. The one apple I have from your repertoire is Banane amère but these two trees have yet to bear. I'll just share with others what you told me recently about the viral quarantine in Quebec province. Claude lives in Quebec City but his orchardby Michael Phillips - Cider Apples
Re: Tom Burford - 3 months ago
One of my Tom stories (and I'm already writing this with a Virginia accent) pertains to the Fallawater apple. Known as well as Winter Blush in northern New England. Tom and I were teaching a class at Cider Days and I brought out this green-yellow apple with a bright red cheek, explaining how it kept really well and made a decent pie. Then I said it was widely known throughout Appalachia. Turns ouby Michael Phillips - Just Talk
Re: TerraNeem - 3 months ago
I had to go down in the cellar and pull out a jug of TerraNeem so I could read about recommended rates. (Terramera sent me a case each of TerraNeem and Rango last year so I could trial their two neem products.) The 2019 label recommends using a 0.6% concentration of TerraNeem as an insecticide and a 1.3% concentration as a fungicide and for sever insect infestations. Keep in mind this is high-quby Michael Phillips - Spray Nuance
Re: Jim Martins Original Microbes from the 50's - 3 months ago
I'm all for microbe diversity. That said, I get the sense that this particular rendition of "Jim Martin's Original Microbes" is designed for soil application. That would explain the inclusion of Glomus species to beef up mycorrhizal connection (which only happens in affiliation with roots). I have the sense, Brandt, that's what you intend when you speak of a spring and fall applicatioby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Sprayer pressure impact on microbes? - 3 months ago
A friend was asking about Venturi-type sprayers in this regard. (I urged him to add his thoughts to this thread.) In the meanwhile, here's some numbers to chew on. Finding search wording to get biological perspective about sprayer parameters has proven difficult. This comes from a pdf about Gearmore Venturi Sprayers: "Laboratory tests show that there is a substantial difference in the siby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Sprayer pressure impact on microbes? - 3 months ago
You bring up a very important point, Jake. I use a PakTank sprayer with a hydraulic (handheld) gun. I have the pressure set at 100 psi which oscillates down to more like 90 psi when the gun is engaged. Similarly, last year when I applied parasitic nematodes as a ground application, I dropped the pressure down to 60 psi. Nor do microbes like to be squeezed. The adjustment on a handheld gun has limby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Microarthropod grazers? - 3 months ago
Decomposers on the orchard floor tied to specific plants provides a whole new perspective. I recall research into fungal antagonists, Microsphaeropsis spp, that lessen ascopsore production from scab pseudothecia on apple leaves. This paper entitled Effect of Fall Application of Fungal Antagonists on Spring Ascospore Production of the Apple Scab Pathogen, Venturia inaequalis. details what's knoby Michael Phillips - Ecosystem Connections
Re: Quantum Thinking - 3 months ago
FULL SPECULATION ALERT This notion of working with the microbes in cider lees is to be discovered. I can see a correlation to activating effective microbes, in that blackstrap molasses is a carbon source to launch both lactobacilli and yeasts. Two plus gallons of lees plus two gallons blackstrap makes for a 44 gallon batch of effective cider microbes (based on same proportions used with EM motby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: TerraNeem - 3 months ago
Terramera has decided to be more competitive as we come into the 2020 growing season. You will find TerraNeem EC selling for $58 a gallon at Seven Springs Farm. Usha at Ahimsa Organics will be adjusting her price as well in this next week. This could possibly be a useful neem variant for those with hard water issues. I'm still full on board for 100% neem oil and quite willing to pay a few more dby Michael Phillips - Spray Nuance
Re: Quantum Thinking - 3 months ago
Microbe diversity is fascinating stuff. Let's add a little more to the quantum story first by pointing to the Winter 2020 edition of Community Orchardist to reveal a few more pertinent details. I determined to my own satisfaction that we can use lower rates in a holistic orchard than suggested by the manufacturer (who more often than not anticipates a sterile tree canopy from chemical use). Thby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Using neem as dormant oil spray - 3 months ago
Bud swell through green tip applications are made for an array of reasons. This Start Me Up phase is detailed in the June 2018 edition of Community Orchardist. That's the framework to continue this discussion. Dormant oil is petroleum-based, applied typically at 2% concentration. It's use is to smothers tiny insect eggs and to help spread copper grains into twig lesions (this can be at a lowerby Michael Phillips - Spray Nuance
high hopes - 3 months ago
We had a great opening session at this year's Berkshire Meeting on breeding apple cultivars, courtesy of Eliza Greenman. Much was learned; much more can be learned. Meanwhile, I promised to open a new forum category to share genetic potential and proven techniques that put bioregional prospects on everyone's radar screen. Nor do the discussions need to be limited to Malus species. If this is yby Michael Phillips - Breeding Flavorful Fruit
a new category on beneficial microbes - 4 months ago
You will find a new section in our orchard index entitled Arboreal Microbes. We 've been talking all along about compost tea, effective microbes, indigenous microbes, and niche protection from disease in general. Some pertinent posts by Karn Piana have added particular depth on this front. What I have deemed the "arboreal food web" is integral to competitive colonization as well as micby Michael Phillips - Making It Better
Quantum Thinking - 4 months ago
Last year's primary research project at Lost Nation Orchard consisted of comparison trials between suggested manufacturer rates of Quantum Force and my own intuitive take on cutting those rates in the context of a holistic program. Fatty acids equal deep nutrition, ergo, beneficial microbes carry forward. Please go to our Library and read the paper just posted on Quantum Thinking to come up to spby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
Re: Vinegar unleashed - 4 months ago
My advice, Liz, is never ever ask bureaucrats one damn thing. Yes. Apple juice needs to ferment to make alcohol which the acetobacter then turns to acetic acid. It's just wrong that guv'mint has to put a 'holier than thou' grasp on this natural process. Lie low, pay the sales tax if your state has such, and join the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. I have not advanced in my study of vinegaby Michael Phillips - Good Fruit Marketing
Vinegar unleashed - 4 months ago
I was introducing David Buchanan of Porterfield Cider to "my mother" this afternoon down in our farmhouse cellar. Not your ordinary mother mind but a hefting steaming heap of mind-blowing acetobacter that convert alcohol to acetic acid . . . and voila, now we have kickass cider vinegar. All community orchardists should be on top of this. More than that be savvy -- tell your customers hby Michael Phillips - Good Fruit Marketing
Re: Ripening mystery - 4 months ago
What I'm about to share is untried territory, Brian. A few weeks back I co-taught with John Kempf at No-Till on the Plains out in Kansas. He was talking about use of foliar boron to desiccate a wheat crop for an even grain harvest. He added that a generous foliar application of boron on fruit (such as tomatoes or apples) will speed up the natural sugar transport into the fruit. That this can helpby Michael Phillips - Tree Fruit Nutrition
Re: MicoGrow soluble added to holistic spray? - 7 months ago
Mycorrhizal fungal spores are for soil application, Karen, not foliar surfaces. These are fungi that work with plant roots in the soil. The same is mostly true for Trichoderma. I'll agree that some of those beneficial bacteria strains will hold arboreal sway . . . but you don't want to be paying for premium mycorrhizal inoculum to get such into a foliar application.by Michael Phillips - Spray Nuance