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Ask other growers about sprayers, mowers, scythes, pruning tools, tractors, row-mulchers, wood chippers, cider presses, fermenting vats, and more.
Certified Naturally Grown - Yesterday
For years we have toyed with certification of some kind to bolster our (lowercase) organic credentials, but have always ultimately opted not to. We have zero interest in being USDA Certified Organic, but are looking into becoming Certified Naturally Grown (https://naturallygrown.org/) and are curious to know if any HON members are currently using this national program and can provide any feedbacby Brittany Kordick - Good Fruit Marketing
Re: Promoting new growth on bud heavy varieties - 2 days ago
Perhaps I need to clarify that we are actually trying to induce branching on the trees in question and increase vigor and overall growth, rather than decrease it. In any case, we absolutely do not need to induce fruit budding; the trees are loaded to capacity and beyond with fruit and leaf buds and we are simply having trouble inducing the formation of growing tips. Light and air exposure are aby Brittany Kordick - Pruning
Re: Promoting new growth on bud heavy varieties - 4 days ago
Hi Alan, Actually, funny you mention summer pruning -- we've never summer-pruned our pears before, but yesterday when we were venting about the lack of new growth AGAIN despite best dormant pruning practices, I wondered aloud about the potential effects of summer pruning on such trees. Well, we're definitely going to put that on the list to try during the growing season anyway, andby Brittany Kordick - Pruning
Promoting new growth on bud heavy varieties - 4 days ago
We're knee deep in dormant pear pruning and once again find ourselves frustrated that certain varieties seem to be inexorably "bud-bound," by which I mean, any of the traditional cuts we've made to promote new branching growth fail year in, year out, as the trees just keep on putting out new leaf and flower buds on the same limbs, overloading them to the extent that it'sby Brittany Kordick - Pruning
Re: Miniature Chainsaws - 25 days ago
Kickback has not been an issue for me, but I habitually begin most cuts as far back on the bar as possible (right at the bucking spikes). With a normal, larger saw I'd use the tip of the bar more, as well as make bottom cuts using the top of the bar, but this saw does not seem to lend itself to these sorts of cuts (would not say I experience kickback if I attempt such cuts, just that itby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Coconut milk as a substitute for liquid fish - 30 days ago
Thanks for crunching those numbers -- this is awesome info to have! We became interested in using coconut milk two or three years ago, but didn't get any farther than idly sourcing bulk quantities of the stuff. As you mention, it became rather quickly apparent that it did not make any kind of financial sense. However, I've had it in the back of my mind to keep tabs and check back --by Brittany Kordick - Spray Nuance
Re: Ground Cloths for Harvesting - 30 days ago
Thanks for your concern, Josh -- we also have had snake issues with things like rolled up Hortonova trellis, so are sensitive to things like this. The mesh in OESCO's hail netting is very tightly woven and wouldn't pose any issues for snakes getting caught; not even close to spacing size that would be an issue (ours is all packed up for the season, but off the top of my head, I'mby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Japanese-style Apple Bags - 30 days ago
Yes, obviously, you want to get those bags on as soon as possible to glean protection as soon as possible, but you're kind of stuck waiting for the fruits to size up to the point that you can get the bags on. So between petal fall and June drop is about as accurate as I can say, broadly speaking -- some varieties put on a lot of size earlier than others, so it's pretty variable. I wasby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Ripening sequences, early picking and other oddities.... - 3 months ago
I am tempted to concur on off-the-wall ripening this year, but ultimately, I still don't think we've been harvesting long enough to have the best bead on when we should be harvesting many of our varieties. Earlier in the year, it seemed like everything was trending earlier and we were harvesting summer varieties a week or so earlier than usual. Then by the end of the season it seemedby Brittany Kordick - Just Talk
Spectrum Basics - 3 months ago
Historically, when we wanted to populate general beneficial microbes in our orchard we have always used EM-1 bacteria that we scaled up with molasses, supplemented with occasional applications of Quantum Light. A few forum users have mentioned Tainio's Spectrum in the past year, and we're interested in trying some out. It looks like AEA is the distributor for our region, so we reachedby Brittany Kordick - Spray Nuance
Produce Wash Formulation for Sooty Blotch/Flyspeck - 4 months ago
OK, so I don't know if this should fall under the Sensible Equipment section, and I know that washing sooty blotch and fly speck off apples is featured in other related threads. But this is my favorite section, apparently, and I'm going to put this here for now, Mr. Moderator, since I'm looking for a product, whether commercial or farm recipe. We have a few varieties of apples thby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Japanese-style Apple Bags - 4 months ago
A couple more interesting things to report about Japanese apple bags as we begin picking later varieties that had some bags in the mix. In the earlier part of the season, I was astounded to find that the bagged apples had zero sooty blotch or flyspeck and that the bags could provide such good protection, even once the outer paper was removed and the wax paper underlayer (which is open at the botby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Ground Cloths for Harvesting - 5 months ago
FYI, we ended up purchasing SmartNet insect/bird/hail netting from Oesco upon an Oesco rep's recommendation. He didn't have experience using it for the purpose of fruit collection, but has used it for years as bird protection on his blueberry bushes, and is a big fan of it for maneuverability and washability. We concur. As a trial, we purchased 2 rolls of hail netting that are 7 feetby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Root cellars and cold storage. - 5 months ago
Hey, joking aside, you are very smart to be thinking about cold storage well before an actual bumper crop. In this, our 14th year, the apples are finally coming in at our orchard, and somehow our only cold storage is still my old 8 by 10 walk-in cooler. It, um, doesn't hold a lot of bins. It's quite a dance to keep the apples moving in and out of that thing (speaking of moving, we stby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: The blood runs within - 5 months ago
We are experiencing a curious phenomenon in our redfleshed apple varieties this season: the flesh is just not red! The tip-off was when we sampled our Pink Pearl and Airlie Redflesh for the first time, with much anticipation, and found them to be perfectly ripe, of excellent flavor, but decidedly white-fleshed inside. We wondered if our scionwood from years ago could have been wrong, but the flby Brittany Kordick - Apples
Re: Micronutrient maintenance sprays - 5 months ago
A small group of HON members, including myself, have been working with Dane at Crop Services International as we explore plant sap analysis this season. We share our results, sometimes do group calls with CSI, and often discuss how it's all going via email. Interestingly, one of us was just pointing out the surprising fact that all of our orchards have been consistently low in micronutrienby Brittany Kordick - Spray Nuance
Re: Japanese-style Apple Bags - 6 months ago
Now that we've reached harvest time on a number of our bagged apple varieties, I feel comfortable shouting from the rooftops that I am thrilled with the results. It is rare that I remove a bag and do not find an utterly flawless apple right next to rot-lousy ones, sooty blotched/fly specked ones, etc. In the rare event that something has gotten through, it is minimal, and usually with goodby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Press Aids - 6 months ago
FYI for anyone else interested in utilizing applewood chips as a press aid in a water bladder press: they do not appear to cause damage to the rubber bladder after all. We called Oesco to inquire about a new bladder, and the man we spoke with thought that the damage we described was normal wear and tear, given that three years (as long as we've had the press and the original bladder) is appby Brittany Kordick - Cider Maker's Handbook
Cider Apples for Sale - 6 months ago
Harvest season is underway in North Carolina and our orchard has good quantities of holistically grown cider apples available. Pricing ranges from $45 to $56 per bushel (for non crabapples). Crabapples range from $63 to $94 per bushel. Discounts available at 20 plus bushel orders. We also offer u-pick for commercial customers at a substantial discount. We are located in Westfield, NC, not farby Brittany Kordick - Orchard Classifieds
Re: Canker on Apple Tree - 6 months ago
It's hard to advise without knowing the scale of branch structure (and foliage) involved. If the affected limbs are still full of relatively healthy leaves, and make up a signifiant percentage of the tree's photosynthesizing limbs, I would probably wait until dormant season (perhaps you could mark the limbs in question so that your grandmother could have someone else come and take themby Brittany Kordick - Fungal Pathogens
Press Aids - 7 months ago
We are in the midst of pressing our first apples of the year, 'Early Harvest' June apples. These soft apples are not ideal pressing apples; they do the bad sauce thing, but it's been a couple of years since we pressed any and we had forgotten just how bad they were. Our notes from the first time we pressed them detail how we could not press above 2.5 bar (36.26 psi) on our Lancmaby Brittany Kordick - Cider Maker's Handbook
Re: curculio progress - 7 months ago
I'm glad you pointed out that plum curculio continue inhabiting and feeding in fruit trees after oviposition and traditional control time is passed. I guess it's been a long time since I revisited actual literature on curculio, and did not remember that. After your post, I worked out that the next generation of adults should have started emerging in our orchard two weeks or so ago. Wby Brittany Kordick - Bug by Bug
Ground Cloths for Harvesting - 7 months ago
We have a few varieties of apples that are tricky to keep track of harvest-wise since they ripen gradually and tend to just drop over a course of weeks. Rather than our usual try and keep up with them and keep the grass mowed at the right time and for the duration under the canopies, for next year we're interested in putting out harvest cloths or netting to catch them as they drop for moreby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: curculio progress - 7 months ago
PS: In previous years we applied Venerate exclusively for plum curculio control at 2.5 quarts per acre, always in the weeks surrounding petal fall, and never felt like we saw a difference in pressure or damage. I see the label now reads 2-4 qts per acre. I seem to remember a much wider range on the label in past years, more like 1-4 qts per acre, so they may have updated it. Anyway, it'sby Brittany Kordick - Bug by Bug
Re: curculio progress - 7 months ago
Very interesting stuff! Thanks to all who have posted here recently, and especially Chris for the latest Surround + Grandevo insights. Gives us, and I'm sure others, much food for thought for future attempts at curculio control. We stopped using Surround years ago for various reasons, but will definitely consider applying it briefly and early in the future if we stick with Grandevo goingby Brittany Kordick - Bug by Bug
Re: curculio progress - 7 months ago
We're finally past prime plum curculio time and can try to gauge the effects of our Grandevo apps this spring. We applied 2 lbs per acre twice surrounding petal fall, and felt like our timing was perfect. We were just starting to see the first stings in fruit, but not widespread damage. One thing about Grandevo to keep in mind is that it's slower-acting and it may be days after appliby Brittany Kordick - Bug by Bug
Re: Japanese-style Apple Bags - 8 months ago
Geez, you know we've got it bad when I get my mother thinking about apple tattoos, too. She had a great idea to contribute: a Cricut machine. You can work with much thinner vinyl and die-cut your own designs, get materials locally, etc. Might be prohibitively expensive to purchase a machine, but they're so trendy right now, a lot of people have them anyway for other crafting. I alby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Scythes - 8 months ago
I am embarrassed to say that I have never swung a scythe in my life. Nor, as appealing as scythes are to me, did I ever consider that one might be practical in a larger orchard. However, with fuel prices through the roof, I am curious . . . I know that many or most HON members are avid scythe users. Those of you who are, would you mind sharing what kind of acreages you're tending with aby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Japanese-style Apple Bags - 8 months ago
Wow, I feel a separate fruit tattoo thread in the making. Forget you, fireblight, I've got vastly more important things to consider . . . lobster tattoos on apples, for instance. I was just thinking about your vinyl sticker comment. Even if we found a source for "Japanese apple tattoos" stateside or imported, the stickers themselves are probably pretty standard iterations of gooby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment
Re: Japanese-style Apple Bags - 8 months ago
Can't wait to hear how the Clemson bags work out for you! I was checking that website again yesterday to see if there were any updates beyond the flurry of media attention back around 2016 surrounding Dr. Schnabel's hopes to ignite an organic peach industry in the Southeast via bagging (couldn't find anything new, but glad to see you can still order bags from Clemson). It would dby Brittany Kordick - Sensible Equipment