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Opinions of cider apple varieties from flavor and growth habit to disease resistance and harvest hints.
Quince - do I need to thin? - 8 years ago
My 3 year old Quince of Portugal tree is loaded with blossoms. If this were an apple, it would be very clear - I would need to aggressively thin if I wanted either decent size fruit, or a crop next year. Does anybody have any experience with quince? Do I need to thin them? Last year I got a dozen 1 pound fruits off this tree - these are big fruit, and it is plausible that I would need to thinby David Maxwell - Organic Thinning
Re: Unidentified egg cases on terminal twigs - 8 years ago
Fantastic! Unfortunately my eggcases did not look like the ones pictured on Google. The pictures on Google show a flattened, ridged structure; mine was smooth with a rounded capsular shape. I have not looked closely for more of them this year. And it is pouring rain at present, so I shall delay doing so for a day or so. But if I do find any more, I shall do as you did, and report back on reby David Maxwell - Bug by Bug
Re: fruit bud development - 8 years ago
I don't want to flaunt our good fortune, but here in Nova Scotia, (not that far away from Maine...) we have had a delayed (by about 2 weeks) bloom period, but otherwise entirely normal. Most of my apples were at full bloom about June 5, and I noted today , (June 8), that many are starting petal fall. The only exception is Brown's Thorn, which is only now reaching pink. (This is usuaby David Maxwell - Pollination
Re: Budding in Spring... - 8 years ago
I am embarrassed to admit that this is not the first time I have found myself with a tree with no bark leafing out in spring. In the past I have done exactly what you suggested, (or essentially so, because I was using root suckers rather than newly planted nurse roots), and done inarch grafts to try to save the tree. It seems that it takes too long for the inarched shoot to establish new vasculby David Maxwell - Grafting
Budding in Spring... - 8 years ago
I have an awkward situation: two trees (only) of Jansen's Seedling, (a cv. developoed by Fred Jansen, one of the founders of NAFEX), both completely ringed of bark (I think the actual origin of this bark loss is previous Saperda destruction of the cambium underlying it). The trees are sufficiently large that there is enough moisture and nutrients present to permit both leaf and blossom budby David Maxwell - Grafting
Re: Bamboo for 3-wire Trellis construction for Tall Spindle System - 8 years ago
I am in Nova Scotia, and have seen the trellis systems described in the Perrenia sheet. It is critical to appeciate that the bamboo stakes are not the primary support here at all. The trellises are 10 ft high , supported with heavy posts (at ends and every 50 ft.), with high tensile steel wires stretched between posts. The bamboo (or electrical conduit) stakes are simply to provide support toby David Maxwell - Orchard Systems
Re: My EMs are growing fungi! - 8 years ago
I think your description of my fungal contamination as a "mat" is absolutely accurate, like the "flor" in sherries. And I don't think it is necessarily harmful. The only difference between my flor and Michael's is that mine developed with a couple of weeks, not after being held over from last year.by David Maxwell - Arboreal Microbes
My EMs are growing fungi! - 8 years ago
Tell me whether I need to do anything more than run them through a filter, (so they don't block the sprayer). I brewed up a batch of EMs (from mother culture, with blackstrap mollases for food) - 3 days warm, followed by a week at room temperature. When I went to spray my first spray (at green tip) I found there was a mat of fungus on the surface of the jug of EMs. They were easily filtereby David Maxwell - Arboreal Microbes
Re: activating effective microbes in big batches - 8 years ago
Slightly off the thrust of this thread, but perhaps useful for us small-time growers. I have 1/3 of an acre, with ~180 trees, so need less than barrel amounts, but more than backyard amounts. I am brewing in 1 gal batches from mother culture, and bumped up against the question of how best to maintain the desired initial 50 degree C temperature. There is a surprisingly sophisticated gadget solby David Maxwell - Arboreal Microbes
Re: barrel pumps - 8 years ago
How about this: This is called a "Sludge Pump" and is designed to pump - well,... sludge. They even have a model designed to pump tile grout.by David Maxwell - Sensible Equipment
Re: Unidentified egg cases on terminal twigs - 8 years ago
No. I took them to the Research Station. They shrugged their shoulders and said I should hatch out whatever was in the cases, and bring the hatchling back to them, and - maybe - they might be able to identify it then. By this point, all the beasties had already hatched (without my being able to catch them). So I do not know. I have not noticed any so far this spring, but will keep an eye ouby David Maxwell - Bug by Bug
competitive colonization for skeptics - 8 years ago
Michael touches on "scientific proof " in the February 2014 edition of the Community Orchardist, citing several commercial products' efficacy against fire blight and brown rot in support. As a scientist, I have no problem assessing the validity of these studies. Where I have more of a problem is when this is generalised as evidence of the benefits of the holistic spray program,by David Maxwell - Grower Research
Re: Disaster! Advice please... - 8 years ago
This is quite straightforward: trees ringed more than 50 or 60% don't survive in my (unfortunately extensive) experience. You have not specified whether we are dealing with grafted trees or rootstocks, but I infer that these are already grafted from your reference to being able to get rootstocks. The other question is what state they are in - still dormant or broken dormancy. Let's dby David Maxwell - Grafting
Re: The Merits of Drops ? - 8 years ago
What a neat question! Being an academic physician, I was prompted to pursue this more scientifically. Not surprisingly it is a bit fuzzy. You are absolutely correct that the issue has nothing to do with whether the fruit is on the ground or still on the tree. Patulin is produced by molds in rotting fruit, (mainly a species of Penicilium). In fact, if the size of the mold colony is less thanby David Maxwell - Healthy Harvest
Re: Hard Cider/Vinegar as valued-added Income - 8 years ago
This is not a direct answer to Robbie's question but perhaps the "flip side". The difficulty is not so much promoting the process, but rather, avoiding it. If you are making hard cider, and want to keep it as hard cider, you may be wise to keep the vinegar making as far away from the cider making as possible, in order to reduce the likelihood of infecting your cider with Acetobacby David Maxwell - Good Fruit Marketing
Harvest timing - 9 years ago
I had sort of forgotten about the angst I endure each year trying to figure out when and whether to harvest. May I pick your collective brains for advice? Each year my apples start falling off the trees, as early as the first week of August. Are dropped apples a sign that the fruit is mature? I think not. Generally, (but not always), the seeds are still white, and the flesh still pretty tartby David Maxwell - Healthy Harvest
Re: Rootstocks for Zones 3&4 - 9 years ago
I just came across Bernie Nikolai's website (http://members.shaw.ca/BNikolai/apple_notes.html). He is in zone 2b. To quote him: Dwarf Rootstock in Zones 2 and 3 I've tested many kinds of dwarf rootstock in my Alberta orchard. Guess what? They ALL work fine if irrigated. None of them die. Keep in mind I always have a good snow cover in winter. Ottawa 3, Bud 9, Bud 118, or theby David Maxwell - Orchard Systems
Re: improve the soil, say goodbye to pests? - 9 years ago
Nope, I am not familiar with Science in Agriculture, (and it is not listed in any of the public library catalogues here, nor in any of the university libraries, including the Agriculture College.) Sorry, I can't comment. My impression currently is that resistance to pests has a lot more to do with cultivar than with soil. For example, with 50-odd different cultivars growing in an area oby David Maxwell - Tree Fruit Nutrition
Re: pruning concepts - 9 years ago
I am not so sure that I would give up on dwarfing rootstocks so quickly. I agree that most of the Malling stocks would be unwise, but, for example, Ottawa-3 is very cold hardy and quite dwarfing. Or the Budagovsky series. Or Alnarp-2, which gives a semi-dwarf. All these are hardy to zone 3. An alternative is something like Antonovka with an interstem of something like O-3 to dwarf it. (I actby David Maxwell - Orchard Systems
identifying RHAB adult beetles - 9 years ago
Like Michael, I have long struggled against this wretched beast (Saperda candida). I know only too well what the grub looks like. However, when I came across a couple of very pretty black-and-white bugs sitting in my trees I did not recognise them for what they were. A visiting entymologist identified them for me after I had taken a photograph. This photo was so absolutely gorgeous thatby David Maxwell - Bug by Bug
Re: Wood Chips - 9 years ago
I am a really small operation, (1/6 ha.) I have been getting loads of chips from the crews trimming the power lines, (at least when they are in the immediate neighbourhood - apparently they have no shortage of folks willing to take the chips off their hands). I have spread them evenly along the tree rows, (not in piles), to a depth of 2-4 inches. This seems to act as an excellent suppressive mby David Maxwell - Sensible Equipment
Re: EAS and varietal susceptibility - 9 years ago
Now we have an additional complication. In the past 2 years we have had a clear marked emergence of sawflies, (half of the total emergence over a 5 day period), as manifest by trap catches on non-UV-reflective sticky white cards. At peak emergence we were trapping up to 30 sawflies a day. This spring was inordinately wet, raining virtually every day. Sticky cards caught a total of 12 sawfliesby David Maxwell - Bug by Bug
Re: disease protection from above - 9 years ago
Virtually all my cultivars are heritage varieties. And most of them are scab resistant. The ultimate cooking apple is Bramley's Seedling. Belle de Boskoop is equally scab resistant. Pomme Gris, (now this one is really a heritage variety, going back to the 17'th c.) ditto. Peasgood Nonsuch - only minor scab. Ananas Rtte - a little scab on leaves, but clean fruit. Or Lady (Pomme d�by David Maxwell - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Anthracnose - 9 years ago
I have a neighbour with established apple trees, (full size), which are riddled with cankers which look like this. But.. it is apparent that the infection is occurring very early on. The tree produces masses of great long water sprouts, (the owner is very hesitant to prune as aggressively as it needs), and if one looks along these sprouts, the bark on a quarter to a half the length of the sprouby David Maxwell - Fungal Pathogens
Spur bound - 9 years ago
I have a tree (Gideon, which you will never have heard of - it is a local variety form New Brunswick), grafted onto Ottawa-3 rootstock. I did not prune it in its early years (as I probably should have done) but allowed it to simply grow, figuring that it would develop side branches from which I could select framework branches. It did put out multiple side branches, but every one of them promptlby David Maxwell - Pruning
Re: EAS and varietal susceptibility - 9 years ago
My Snow apples were moderately attacked - 20% damage. (Some cultivars were as high as 72% . Other susceptible cultivars: King, Yarlington Mill.) There is another factor operative in comparing attack rates across different orchards - there is a striking variability (at least at present) geographically. EAS arrived in Nova Scotia within the last 10 years. Around the Agricultural Research Statby David Maxwell - Bug by Bug
Re: photos in the forum - 9 years ago
I was using Flickr, and was getting an error message about getimagesize() in a little box where the image should be. I thought it was Flickr issue, but I can reproduce it in Photobucket also: How did I do this? Right Click on the image (in Photobucket, etc.), choose from the drop-down list "Copy Link Location", plug this in for the image link, and voila! (We talk French up herby David Maxwell - Making It Better
Re: improve the soil, say goodbye to pests? - 9 years ago
I am in entire agreement with Todd. And yet... here is this guy Eliot Coleman not only preaching that with maximally healthy soil there is no disease or insect attack, but making his living in market gardening, (where cosmetics are just as important as in tree fruit), and doing it. And the blueberry grower. And even those abandoned apple trees in the woods up the road from me which are produciby David Maxwell - Tree Fruit Nutrition
disease protection from above - 9 years ago
I have dealt with the problem of scab simply by growing scab-resistant varieties rather than the usual stuff in commerce. I do not use any treatments at all. A much more interesting approach for those who grow a full range of apple varieties, however, is used by Derry Chase in British Columbia. His climate zone is the "rainy west coast". They have covered each tree row with a canopby David Maxwell - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Unidentified egg cases on terminal twigs - 9 years ago
One thing you have in the States which we have lost in Canada is Land Grant Universities and state ag reps. Now, in NS ordinary folk like me are not permitted to aproach the staff in the Ag Research Stn., (although bona fide commercial growers do still have access.) I do think, however, that I very probably can get advice either from the entomologist in Kentville, or from the officially pay-forby David Maxwell - Bug by Bug