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Ask other growers about sprayers, mowers, scythes, pruning tools, tractors, row-mulchers, wood chippers, cider presses, fermenting vats, and more.
Re: porcupine damage ? - 1 year ago
Porcupines do eat apples. They prefer some varieties over others. In my orchard, they really went after water sprouts in late summer/early autumn, on apples and Asian pears.by Ed Anthes - Mammalian Tales
Re: Resource for used/new orchard ladder - 1 year ago
I like the idea of wooden ladders, and have used them, but I like the utility of aluminum ladders--don't have to carry them back to the barn every night to keep them dry.by Ed Anthes - Sensible Equipment
Re: Unidentified egg cases on terminal twigs - 5 years ago
I have them in my orchard, too. I've seen them both empty, with a small hole like a predator got in, and full, with the same inhabitants you pictured. I don't know what they are. Any recommendations for books or sites for photos of egg cases?by Ed Anthes - Bug by Bug
Re: Scythes - 6 years ago
I've been using the same straight handle wooden snath for about 30 years (knock on wood) for a variety of mowing: close work near the trees, bigger areas of mixed grasses and forbs, fence row clearing. It's not my only mowing tool, but in some situations, it's the best. I usually make my first clearing in Spring of the ground under the drip line with the the scythe, near the end of scab ascosporby Ed Anthes - Sensible Equipment
Don't chip the poison oak - 6 years ago
As one who has been reacting strongly to poison ivy over the years, and to a Caribbean carrier of the urushiol oil, I can say you do not want to aerosolize the urushiol! I don't know of a safe way to use your poison oak.by Ed Anthes - Understory Management
zone 5a - 6 years ago
Odd. Especially since the USDA Hardiness map uses the years 1976-2005. USDA Hardiness Mapby Ed Anthes - Hardiness Considerations
average, not absolute, minimums - 6 years ago
Please note that the temperatures listed by Paul are NOT "minimum temperatures", but rather "average minimum temperatures". So Claude in Zone 4 could well experience a -40 every fifty years. I've measured -26 here in my balmy Zone 5b, with avg minimum temp of -10 to -15 F.by Ed Anthes - Hardiness Considerations