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Biological insights for prepping ground, cover crops, recommended soil amendments, and establishing fungal dominance in the soil
Re: Agriphage for Fireblight Control - 3 months ago
Brittany, you described how Agriphage seemed to halt the spread of infection. I observed this as well. I missed a key moment with a late bloom in hot weather. Got some strikes. Sprayed Agriphage after the fact and the infection seemed to stop at the spur. No oozing, no canker developed, no no shepherd's crooks, despite a lot of heat and rain. The spur dried up and that seems to be it. Normalby Nathaniel Bouman - Bacterial Opportunists
Re: Does (tree) size matter? - 3 months ago
What a dream to live without fear of fireblight. I'm trying a hybrid approach. Not do-nothing but very far from dwarf/high density management. From my financial/time perspective I couldn't do much else and it also seems like the best way to grow fruit for cider or brandy--unless you happen to already own a mature, standard orchard. When I visited Normandy and talked to farmers thatby Nathaniel Bouman - Cider Maker's Handbook
Re: Does (tree) size matter? - 3 months ago
Craig, is G.890 too big for you?by Nathaniel Bouman - Cider Maker's Handbook
Re: Does (tree) size matter? - 3 months ago
Very interested in this topic as well and I will be ordering your book, Claude. We've got 500 trees on B.118. Trying to do as little as possible. My first concern is fire blight. I can imagine tolerating many other problems but fire blight seems like an achilles heel. Wilding trees that are full grown and healthy probably have natural resistance to fire blight (the ones that didn't diedby Nathaniel Bouman - Cider Maker's Handbook
Re: Zinc! - 11 months ago
These are really valuable insights as to how to confront a zinc deficiency but I'm just baffled as to how my soil tests show an abundant level of zinc--almost too much--and yet the leaves indicate that they are struggling with not getting enough zinc. They lack this mineral more than any other nutrient/mineral.by Nathaniel Bouman - Tree Fruit Nutrition
Re: Wood ashes - 11 months ago
An older thread but thought I'd chime in just to say I killed a two year old apple tree and a lilac bush with a couple shovel fulls of good wood ash. It's potent stuff.by Nathaniel Bouman - Tree Fruit Nutrition
Zinc! - 11 months ago
I just got the results of a late (8/27) leaf analysis I did and it indicated that zinc levels were low or deficient. The pH of the soil is not high (it's a bit low) and neither are phosphorous levels. Zinc is the only mineral in our soils that test above the optimum--so it seems strange that it is deficient in the leaves. We've had a lot of rain this summer. Probably too much for our heby Nathaniel Bouman - Tree Fruit Nutrition
Re: Agriphage for Fireblight Control - 1 year ago
Thank you for this great information. I tried AG this season. Like you, I’m still checking for new symptoms. So far only the Bedan are showing strikes. They bloomed really strangly—in three stages spread over weeks. I missed spraying the last bloom and I think these are the ones that got hit. Also, I did tank mix with potassium bicarbonate once. Do you know anything about compatibility with Pot bby Nathaniel Bouman - Bacterial Opportunists
Re: RHAB ad nauseum - 1 year ago
Chlorpyrifos aka Lorsban is the recommended chemical. It’s an organophosphate. For an infestation on your scale I would think it’s warranted.by Nathaniel Bouman - Bug by Bug
Apple blooming like a cherry - 1 year ago
My Bedan are blooming right now, before any real leaves are present. This variety always leaves out really late here, but this behavior is new to me and seems somewhat ominous. These trees are just beginning to bear at 7 years on b.118. I'm sorry that this isn't strictly a thinning issue but close-ish? Has anyone observed this happening in Bedan or another late blooming variety?by Nathaniel Bouman - Organic Thinning
Re: Quantum Thinking - 1 year ago
Karen Brindle Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Second: with the brewer doing a wild ferment with > our apples, I'm wondering what effect, if any, all > these microbes have on the natural yeast in our > orchard which produced an extraordinary brew this > year! And, will the Terroir be changed? > > Cider is basically apple wine, wby Nathaniel Bouman - Arboreal Microbes
Airblast sprayer, time to get one? - 1 year ago
I found a good deal on a 500g Durand airblast sprayer and now that I have access to a 75 hp tractor I'm sorely tempted to get it. My little 23 hp Kubota and 200g Rears Pul Tank worked great but now that the trees are 5 years old it just takes forever to spray. More than a day to do a full cover. I've got 500 trees on b.118 on 18' in row and 24' between rows. Huge variationby Nathaniel Bouman - Sensible Equipment
Re: Borer recovery - 1 year ago
Just thought I'd throw in my favorite borer tool. I use a piece of heavy duty plastic "string" from a string trimmer/weed whacker. Flexible but not too flexible, it can really ferret out a long borer tunnel. Plus, it's easy to do Michael's suggestion and cut in barbs at the tip to draw the beast back out to make sure it's really, truly dead. Boy, borers are the worsby Nathaniel Bouman - Bug by Bug
Re: combining the use of potassium bicarbonate and micro sulfur - 1 year ago
This is great info. Thank you. In 2020 I used only potassium bicarbonate and stylet oil in 1/2 the orchard and alternated sulfur and bicarbonate/oil in the other 1/2. The alternating thing was hard because I was trying to space at least 2 weeks between an oil spray and sulfur. In the end, I observed very little scab in either 1/2 and better control in the 1/2 that only got bicarbonate and oil. Thby Nathaniel Bouman - Spray Nuance
combining the use of potassium bicarbonate and micro sulfur - 2 years ago
I think I'm going to need allopathic treatments for powdery mildew and scab this year. I came across this research pub on the "integrated" use of potassium bicarbonate and wettable sulfur. organic ontrol of scab and powdery mildew using potassium bicarbonate and wettable sulfur However, I couldn't figure out how to "integrate" the treatments. The researchers specifiby Nathaniel Bouman - Spray Nuance
Re: Overlap of oils with sulfur - 2 years ago
Well, I believe I get a phytotoxic response to doing sulfur one day and neem oil the next. As I mentioned in my post above, there were no immediate signs of phytotoxicity. It was only a few weeks later that things seemed off. Leaves were small and dry looking on Ashmeads and some Hewes. Similar impact on other varieties but less pronounced. I won't do that again.by Nathaniel Bouman - Spray Nuance
Re: Powdery Mildew - 2 years ago
I’ve tried milk. Started with powdered milk and rehydrated to make “milk” and then added to tank to make a 10% solution. I sprayed early in the PM season and mid growing season. I noticed no appreciable difference, sadly.by Nathaniel Bouman - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Overlap of oils with sulfur - 3 years ago
Last week I did a holistic spray, which included .5% neem. The next day I sprayed micronized sulfur. 10lbs per 100 gallons. I decided to gamble on it because we were about to get a huge rain and I knew I wouldn't be able to get sulfur on after the rain. The trees were between 1/2" green and pink. It was cool--high forties/low fifties. Partly sunny. It's now four days since I spraby Nathaniel Bouman - Spray Nuance
Re: Overlap of oils with sulfur - 3 years ago
So, if I'm understanding this the prohibition on overlapping oils and sulfur is primarily about cosmetic damage to the fruit?by Nathaniel Bouman - Spray Nuance
Cleaning - 4 years ago
Got a pretty solid film of fatty acids, oils and sulfur stuck to the outside of my tractor and sprayer. Anything recommended to put in the sprayer to use to clean off the tractor?by Nathaniel Bouman - Spray Nuance
Re: varietal responses to neem sprays - 4 years ago
I can confirm that Dabinett is intolerant of neem. I just accidentally sprayed mine with a holistic mix that included .5% neem. Past two years I avoided spraying neem on the Dabs and didn’t have a problem. Now, 4 days after spraying the leaves are bronzing up. Doh! Hopefully the damage won’t progress further for either of us. My Dabinett just can’t catch a break.by Nathaniel Bouman - Spray Nuance
Cheap Alternative to Row Mulcher - 4 years ago
Thought I'd pass on this info in case others found it useful. I've been bringing woodchips to trees by wheelbarrow and I needed a faster, less labor intensive way to do this. The row mulchers I've seen online look great but are beyond my budget (my trees are not yet bearing). Same for the side-slinging manure spreaders. Then, I found a used silage wagon on craigslist for $1,000. Iby Nathaniel Bouman - Sensible Equipment
Powdery Mildew - 4 years ago
I've got a bad powdery mildew problem in my apple orchard. The stokes red are particularly bad off (the whole orchard is 3 years old) and it's affecting the growth of the trees. Most of the smaller branches are sheathed in white on the stokes red. It's a problem that really took off during the drought of 2016 (no rain but it stayed humid enough here). I was too inexperienced to catby Nathaniel Bouman - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Branch cankers caused by black rot - 5 years ago
Thank you for the advice and thoughts. I will continue with the holistic treatments. I have heard that black rot can be associated with drought stressed trees and my trees were definitely drought stressed last season. But if it doesn't quite look like black rot to either of you then I'll rule that out for now. After more poking around, white rot or Botryosphaeria dothidea might be a bby Nathaniel Bouman - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Branch cankers caused by black rot - 5 years ago
Darn it. I'm really hoping the affected branches don't have to be pruned out because they represent my first scaffold in a lot of cases. Sorry I'm having difficulty with the image thing. Here's another shot. An image pops up when I actually click on the box...I'll keep trying to figure it out.by Nathaniel Bouman - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Branch cankers caused by black rot - 5 years ago
Hi Todd, The small cankers or blisters don't seem to be more associated with the crotch of the tree. I have them on a few varieties but the Bedan seem to have more of them. Here is a photo (the tree is a Bedan). Sorry the image is so giant when you click on it.by Nathaniel Bouman - Fungal Pathogens
Table Salt - 5 years ago
I'm thinking of using table salt (4 lbs per 100 gallons) this year to thin the bloom. Any tips, suggestions, warnings?by Nathaniel Bouman - Organic Thinning
Branch cankers caused by black rot - 5 years ago
I've got a fair number of my young trees (going into their third leaf) with what look like very small black rot cankers on the first scaffold limbs. I am going to do a copper spray before 1/4 green but after that I was hoping to avoid allopathic treatments. Can someone tell me how seriously I need to take this disease? Can it be slowed/managed holistically? Will a healthy season help the treby Nathaniel Bouman - Fungal Pathogens
Re: biochar - 5 years ago
Wood ash is pretty potent stuff in my experience. Years ago I killed half a lilac bush, an amelanchier tree, and stunted a couple young apple trees by tossing ash/charcoal too carelessly. I thought I would be helping and turns out I was really doing damage. I think ash and charcoal are doing very different things and you want to be able to control the amount of each you add. There always be aby Nathaniel Bouman - Understory Management
Re: Fermenting EMs - 5 years ago
I could be wrong in this, but I think that sealing the EM fermentation is unnecessary. Sealing a fermenting wine or cider is important to help prevent infection from spoilage organisms (yeast, bacteria, fruit flies) from contaminating the cider and causing off flavors but in this case I don't think that any of the spoilage organisms would be bad for fruit trees. I just put window screening (by Nathaniel Bouman - Arboreal Microbes