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All are invited to discuss how our site can best serve orcharding discourse. Take the phorum software out for a spin, see how it works, suggest improvements, and share lessons learned so others can do the very same.
keeping up with the club crowd - 10 days ago
Trademarked apple varieties are weaving their way into supermarket chains all over. I'd be curious to grow EverCrisp, given it's grower origins through the Midwest Apple Improvement Association – though admittedly even this would be a marketing move on my part just so I could replace finicky Honeycrisp. Otherwise this current thrust of apple patents and club varieties misses the mark foby Michael Phillips - Breeding Flavorful Fruit
Re: codling moth and Entrust - 13 days ago
You're like the last guy on the planet that I'd expect this to happen, Brian! Seems you've been reminding the rest of us since forever about resistance issues with Entrust. How applications need to be rotated with different materials so the target species doesn't develop individuals with a genetic end-around to the spinosad toxin. It would be useful for you to expound on this.by Michael Phillips - Bug by Bug
phorum quirk and two reminders - 30 days ago
The Quirk If you enter the discussion forum from the Portal Page, by clicking on a Hot Topic or Forum Category where a post was recently added, you're likely to see a "non-enhanced view" of this forum. One additional click within that subsequent view will get you to the more familiar HTML view. This is a software issue having to do with interacting with an updated https site likeby Michael Phillips - Announcements
Re: combining the use of potassium bicarbonate and micro sulfur - 30 days ago
As it happens, Brian's isp connection to the forum is cutting out when he attempts to post . . . so here's his response: Thanks Peter, for your detailed comments! I will study them. For now, I should point out that when I spray potassium bicarbonate I also add Silmatrix (potassium silicate) and a bit of Golden oil, plus 1 fl oz per 100 gal of Therm X-70 as a sticker. I think thby Michael Phillips - Spray Nuance
Re: jugs of spinosad - 6 weeks ago
Back on the synthetics versus organics front... This spinosad product is available from Keystone Pest Solutions: Radiant SC Insecticide (1 Quart) Replaces Spintor New and improved product to replace Spintor! We call it Spintor on Steroids! The "innovative molecule" delivering broad-spectrum control in this formulation for vegetable crops is spinetoram, delivered as a 11.7% conceby Michael Phillips - Spray Nuance
Re: Who is that noob asking dumb questions? - 6 weeks ago
This might help you even more, James. I opened your LINK on ImgBB... and then I right-clicked on the image you posted... and chose 'Copy image address' from the mouse menu. Now I am simply pasting that URL here: And for purposes of analyzing the full direct link to your image, you will find what's said above to be true: https://i.ibb.co/f47khT0/IMG-0625.jpg Houston, we haby Michael Phillips - Just Talk
Re: Who is that noob asking dumb questions? - 6 weeks ago
Here's what's to be learned this time about inserting an image into a forum post... for what it's worth. The first two are IMAGE FILES posted on my orchard website for purposes of layout on a given page. When the Phorum software sends it to a PHP function (getimagesize) that image is recognized, its parameters deduced, and a thumbnail properly produced. The URL for an actualby Michael Phillips - Just Talk
To sulfite or not to sulfite - 6 weeks ago
That is indeed the question. Use of sulfites is generally considered standard practice among cider makers. These are commonly used in wine as well to help minimize oxidation, maintain freshness, and prolong shelf life. Additionally, certain types, such as potassium metabisulfite, are used to sanitize barrels and equipment. Yet to serve a truly healthy drink, some would argue, means use of such prby Michael Phillips - Good Fruit Marketing
Re: jugs of spinosad - 6 weeks ago
Chris was responding to a "perfect apple reply" in a thread on Marketing and the "Eat Ugly Apples" Campaign. This shift in topic deserves separate attention... and thus has been split out for discussion within Spray Nuance. Such are the powers of a forum administrator, for better or worse. That jugs of spinosad reference is more about synthetically-derived formulations of tby Michael Phillips - Spray Nuance
Re: Who is that noob asking dumb questions? - 6 weeks ago
I'm testing what went awry with your image link, James. The first instance is directly pasting in image address into message; the second is using the image button in the menu bar and pasting in image URL there. Both work brilliantly. Now let's see what happens with your image link, again using both approaches: Needless to say, I'll ask the guru!by Michael Phillips - Just Talk
Re: Who is that noob asking dumb questions? - 7 weeks ago
Welcome to our grower's forum, James. Sounds like you have some topworking to do in that comeback orchard of yours. As for being a noob... I like your enthusiasm to dive right on in! You're one who has taken on "deferential silence" appropriately, as eloquently stated by Brittany in a recent comment (fourth reply down) concerning gumption to join the fray. Bouncing aroundby Michael Phillips - Just Talk
biennial blessings - 2 months ago
A grower out in British Columbia asked me about including Baldwin in his cider orchard. This heirloom variety has a strong tendency to bear a decent crop only every other year no matter what you do thinning-wise or choice of rootstock. My consulting advice verbatim: The biennial bearing factor should not be so relevant to a cider maker, in my opinion. An apple like Baldwin that gives a phenomeby Michael Phillips - Cider Apples
Re: Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria as a foliar spray? - 2 months ago
The microbe scene sort of feels like we need to collect them all, eh? Not unlike baseball cards when I was a kid! Two of the three nitrogen fixing bacteria celebrated in this Sci Hub paper are included in Tainio's Micro5000. This concoction of foliar-friendly organisms also includes the "purple guys" I've spoken of with high praise elsewhere in the forum. Here's my conby Michael Phillips - Arboreal Microbes
slip sliding away - 2 months ago
That ol' apple vortex carried me right along this harvest season. And apparently the summer edition of The Community Orchardist newsletter that I thought got posted back in late August just as our 2020 harvest began was not actually ever posted. SMILEY THING Those of you on the network mailing list will be receiving notice of this and other updates over the course of the next severalby Michael Phillips - Just Talk
Re: Testing, one, two - 2 months ago
The third version of the portal will be back later today and fully engaged. You will see the center block (the spotlight feature) now has a yellow background. If you use the portal page regularly, like I do, you may need to do a "hard refresh" to get beyond a browser cache locked on a previous view... the keyboard instruction Ctrl+Shift+R will achieve that. The flowchart that establisheby Michael Phillips - Making It Better
Testing, one, two - 3 months ago
No posts have been made in November. This is a test to make sure the forum is working. We are experiencing some background coding issues on the portal page... but few of you are likely to notice if rotating message panels appear locked. The discussion forum is other software so this is merely about checking the linkage. Some browsers will present a simplified version of the forum on the firstby Michael Phillips - Making It Better
Bulk cooling tank - 4 months ago
I was 'gifted' a 60s era dairy cooler with the vintage cider press I'm refurbishing but it has three strikes against it: too big, antiquated technology, and the water jacket leaks. That last settles the matter! I would like to find a stainless-steel bulk cooler in the 200-250 gallon range, ideally narrow (say 42 inches or so) and absolutely no longer than 82 inches. Some modicum ofby Michael Phillips - Orchard Classifieds
Grading the crop - 4 months ago
Recently I shared grower perspective with our orchard customers. I'm fairly confident about my "grading standards" but now I'm curious how other growers handle the organic side of perfection. I grade apples as I pick, those "good enough to eat" versus outright cider apples. The driving imperative in the first case means there will be no surprise within. I hold smaby Michael Phillips - Good Fruit Marketing
Re: Marketing and the “Eat Ugly Apples” campaign - 6 months ago
My grading standard is good enough to eat, period. Barn customers take it from there, choosing apples from bushels of orchard run fruit (picked with that standard in mind) to fill their peck or whatever size bag. Now and then I'll skim the "passed by apples" off the top and these become utility fruit for pies and sauce, now sold at a lesser price in half-bushel amounts only. Iby Michael Phillips - Good Fruit Marketing
Re: crazy snake worms - 7 months ago
This invasive worm species is very much an ecosystem threat: nrdc.org/onearth/crazy-snake-worm-invasion-you-havent-heard-aboutby Michael Phillips - Ecosystem Connections
site downtime - 7 months ago
You may have noticed that there have been periods this past month when all aspects of GrowOrganicApples have been unavailable, including the forum. In a nutshell, we're being subject to a cyber-attack by a French ISP address. Our webster reports that "somehow the slime dwellers are managing to open connections and keep them open. This is a variation on what's called a Denial of Serby Michael Phillips - Making It Better
Re: Borer repellent - 7 months ago
We completed "neeming" the east block trees finally. It was interesting to find a few borers a foot or two off the ground where the female must have decided last year to avoid the oil-treated base of the tree. This method really works! And what's so appropriate is that this is tree medicine for trees, a powerful gift indeed. I'm still not inclined to paint neem higher on the tby Michael Phillips - Bug by Bug
plant sap analysis - 8 months ago
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&#by Michael Phillips - Grower Research
Re: balanced crop load - 8 months 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'sby Michael Phillips - Organic Thinning
Re: Prestop WP biofungicide - 8 months 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 wouldby Michael Phillips - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Borer repellent - 8 months 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 - 9 months 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 tby Michael Phillips - Organic Thinning
Re: Apple tree suddenly dying - 9 months 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 - 9 months 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 customersby Michael Phillips - Good Fruit Marketing
Re: Quantum Thinking - 10 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