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Grower forays into competitive colonization, microbe brews, and microbe-mediated foliar nutrition deserve attention. Let this forum be the place to celebrate and explore bacterial and fungal allies up in the tree canopy.
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Results 1 — 30 of 56Re: 2017 scab review - 4 years ago
First an apology for "stepping out" for about 8 months. Great dialogue going on above...some of the best I can remember. Michael should be happy with all that input. So, 2017 has turned out to be my worst year ever--lost 2 acres and 31 pear trees to floods last Feb.The smallest crop in my 34 years here with the least amount of income ever. Some extremely unhealthy looking trees all seasby Tim Bates - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Secondary Scab Infection Control Strategies - 5 years ago
The Lime/Sulfur is here and so also another 6 days of rain. Pears do not seem to moving along much yet...thanks, someone. I had a second round of flooding and have lost more land and 12 pears trees destroyed. Sigh. Mike, I will lay out my 2016 program for you soon, as I can't even make pruning a part of my day. There is now 6" more rain than average for the whole year. Should we move thby Tim Bates - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Secondary Scab Infection Control Strategies - 5 years ago
WOE WAS ME--I have mentioned elsewhere shortly that the results above turned into absolutely the worst scab scenario I could have imagined. I send my apologies to you all for basically taking most of a year off from commenting here and other threads I follow--excuses? Pretty good amount of depression and nail biting as I had the lowest $ fresh sales in many many years (thank the lord for being asby Tim Bates - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Did that spray work? - 6 years ago
Well, a nice new twist on explaining how it all works, Michael. But for me 2016 is a quaking in my boots experience I hope never to repeat. It seemed nothing could stem the tide of scab I got last year---worst ever by far. See the beginnings of my woes in Fungal Pathogens under secondary infection strategies. Would that we have 2 days of sunshine coinciding with sprays 1-4 and potential rain evenby Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Secondary Scab Infection Control Strategies - 6 years ago
Wowser (as Michael might say). Just when I thought I was getting serious scab control the last 2 years with only 1 or 2 added sulfur sprays (and not the whole orchard!) 2016 comes along. I'd have to say it is the worst primary infection I've even seen---and the earliest---but then green-tip and bud swell were the earliest I've ever seen. Will cogitate on how it might have happenedby Tim Bates - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Hi folks - 6 years ago
I know it's not fair to compare in my "zone" but i am in full bloom and beyond in certain varieties and the pears are set. Welcome Pat! You sound like the right kinda folk for this group.by Tim Bates - Just Talk
Re: Other Syrups - 6 years ago
Gonna go crazy if I keep this up--I decided to take pH's of products...probably quite inaccurate as my eyes are getting weak and paper strips don't seem too awfully reliable (we have spent many bucks to get better pH meters and they seem way beyond my capabilities---buffers...bulbs that break if you sneeze...or just don't work)so pH's; my syrup-- 3.1-3.3: molasses-- over 4: EMby Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Re: Holistic Approach to Fireblight - 6 years ago
Piping in on CCB's I have only used it once last year, but only because it was a dry Spring. This year...wet Spring and I've been out twice on my pears and other early bloomers already. My concern is scab at this time with concern for pollinator and petal damages with more Neem. I ran out of money and now time to get some Karanja (next year), but used EM, Compost Tea, and my own cider sby Tim Bates - Bacterial Opportunists
Re: Other Syrups - 6 years ago
Did a small light bulb go on? Since my cider syrup has a low pH, it should maybe be better CCB (Competitive Colonization Boost) spray ingredient than molasses. Thinking that like sulfur which lowers the pH making leaf surfaces etc uninhabitable for scab spores. So, how low do the pH go? with sulfur. Yeah, it's raining at 60 degrees and 350+ DD's.by Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Re: Other Syrups - 6 years ago
Update. Now we have pH papers and were "happy" with the small batch, so we went for a 40 gallon test---guess what? the pH came in at less than 3.5 right away. 5 days later it's up to 3.5 and seems to be holding. What does it all mean oh you folks who understand this better than me. Also, the first couple of days it smelled more like fermenting cider or beer than the molasses batchby Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Re: Newbie question about spray concentrations - 6 years ago
To add to the confusion---I have an air blast sprayer and was originally trained to to go slightly beyond the point of runoff with 200-400 gallons an acre! At 400 with full grown trees (14 + ft high) they were dripping...pretty scary cause back then I was using lotsa lime sulfur/micro sulfur (my warrior days). I had a 400 gallon tank. I settled on 200 gals for a couple of years and was convincedby Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Re: Valerian for frost protection - 6 years ago
It is surprising that there is so little info on Valerian. I must have read it in my early BD days. Here real frost damage in Spring is rare---only twice in 30 years did I get cute little rings on the bottom of my Bartletts...but from memory only I heard valerian can give you 2-4 degrees protection. In my "lower" blocks it is often 2 degrees colder than at my house and that is where myby Tim Bates - Biodynamic Orcharding
Re: Other Syrups - 6 years ago
PS. Michael, I've never heard the "three drops of an intern's blood" before but I get the drift. Congrats on that one!by Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Re: Other Syrups - 6 years ago
Thanks for the affirmation guys. We went ahead with a half batch with cider syrup. Two days later it smelled and looked the same. We were concerned about the probable higher acidity of the cider syrup---but guess what...no Ph testers on hand! Getting ready for a new year you sure find out quick what you hadn't thought of. It's now been five days at 94 degrees and still looks and smellsby Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Other Syrups - 6 years ago
Well, the California "earlier than ever" --again-- presence of Spring has Sprung! And me without some EM brewing yet. I cannot get a hold of some Molasses for a week and need to brew ASAP. We make apple cider syrup here at the farm and we're thinking maybe it would work as well--especially as we save the bottoms of the buckets (grainy) to add to goat and pig feed. My wife thinks itby Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Re: homemade EM ? - 7 years ago
2 more cents. I have been using AACT for many years now (there is a paper in the library here--Scab Dancing). The money was spent--I make 240 gals at a time. I still use it with every holistic spray, since it is only a couple of bucks an acre. I also spent a lot of money sending tea to Soil Foodweb folks for analysis, with all kinds of extra inputs to make it jump into high fungal range (and gettby Tim Bates - Just Talk
Re: Anthracnose - 7 years ago
Well, it seems (though all is not always as it seems) that the Fall Holistic (here in Nor Cal it is in December) and the FAK after 2 years has either 1) slowed down the spread remarkedly well 2) have gotten 3-5 year old infected (and some 10 year olds) trees to bounce back OR BOTH. 1) could be 2 years of very drought conditions. 2) the drought probably did not contribute to this. So, I'd saby Tim Bates - Fungal Pathogens
Re: Fungal connections in Kazakhstan - 7 years ago
Besides counting me in---once upon a time when UC Berkley was still doing their chartered work--research for every one's benefit not just corporate goofballs, they had been doing apple research in Kaz. They found a wasp (or midge?) that overwintered actively by eating coddling moth larvae (and other tidbits). They actually came to my farm and put up a bunch of corrogated cardboard around truby Tim Bates - Just Talk
Re: codling moth management - 7 years ago
Glad Colin brought it back up...and I see I did not respond to Terrence's post after my last one. I hope he found affordable molassus and/or SKH. It also seems the price of Cyd-X must have come down...that sounds really affordable. Terrence, is it working as expected? As for foggers or puffers I have all the "reports" working against me- 18' trees next to one year olds--hillsby Tim Bates - Bug by Bug
Re: June Drop - 7 years ago
It's definitely a dilemma. Here, I've tried this scenario...like thinning my most alternate bearing varieties (Splendour and Swaar) very early and it did not have an effect that I could see. Against all odds I thin until August the later varieties in order to get size. This works well with Golden Delicious and Wickson and Arkansas Black and Black Twig (the last two pretty alternate bearby Tim Bates - Just Talk
Re: scab observations 2015 - 7 years ago
Craaazyist year ever! That is true almost every year. My scab magnets are the cleanist ever--Braeburn and Fuji have been so bad the last 4 years I juiced them all---not worth sorting, BUT 2015 they are so clean it is scary. There is the usual amount everywhere else but nothing crop threating. Michael as usual beat me to the punch on a scab report. I have to say here in California, at least in myby Tim Bates - Just Talk
Re: whey probiotics for fire blight - 7 years ago
Well, after 29 years of having so little fireblight that I pretty much ignored it...2015 presents a different picture: dozens and dozens of small twig blights in my pears. Out here it is mostly pears that "get it". However, I received two emails saying that fireblight has showed up for the first time ever in apples from two smaller growers---one who has been using copper so he won'by Tim Bates - Bacterial Opportunists
Re: cost per acre - 7 years ago
Once again I don't know how I missed the beginning of this a month ago. I just sent Michael a cost per acre spreadsheet a couple of hours ago based on Feb newsletter...the full tilt boogie...broken out. If he approves or changes it I don't know. Will post it for you all after M. gets a gander. It does come to over 500 bucks an acre at least. They were my numbers and I have done some edby Tim Bates - Good Fruit Marketing
Re: Pear sensitivity to neem oil? - 7 years ago
I would volunteer for that one--except it's too late! Of course I did not reread this thread before the first two neem spring sprays..or I probably would have tried it from Michaels earlier suggestion. Comice and Flemish Beauty are blackening and I have not done 3rd spray yet...but did a competitive boost (no Neem or fish) Of EM, Mollasses, Kelp, and compost tea yesterday and decided to notby Tim Bates - Spray Nuance
Re: activating effective microbes in big batches - 7 years ago
Well, Michael, that's a lot of stuff to chew on. My mind bogles. Ummm...We are about to FINALLY get a real rain in 4 days. Degree days are at 550+(could be 75%release) with no spore release yet and mostly in full bloom---a good time to test out Competitive Colonization Boost (CC. See Michael's Holistic Spray Plan. I'm already brewing tea and using it with EM this year with Neem, Fiby Tim Bates - Arboreal Microbes
Re: activating effective microbes in big batches - 7 years ago
OK, now I've added EM to my Spring sprays and I only have one drum heater belt and I need help switching the belt around. I've been doing compost tea for years and using Aquaeon 300 watt Aquarium heaters (3 of them) to get my 240 gals of tea to 70+ degrees F. They are around 25.00 ea. from Amazon. Well, right now we are in the heat of the season with Neem and EM needed at the same time.by Tim Bates - Arboreal Microbes
Re: New and "Improved" Varieties - 7 years ago
Thank you, gentlemen. Todd, we've been already definitely screwed for a hell of a long time on so many levels it can hardly be deliniated inless than 6 volumes of 1,000 plus pages each. And thanks for such quick and elucidating responses. Shall I send my sound man over to look at your amp? GMO's will NOT feed the world or probably cure cancer (but maybe)...but your amp definitely NOT.by Tim Bates - Apples
Re: New and "Improved" Varieties - 7 years ago
Bravo, everyone. Out here Winter Banana is thought of as a salad apple....uh, as it doesn't brown for quite awhile when chopped up. Many of my apples are slow to brown, bringing one concerned (think hippy chick) customer to worry that I might not be organic and decided not to buy my fruit. Oh well. I will be on the radio out here to discuss the Artic Apples (thanks, Todd for update on "by Tim Bates - Apples
Re: Source for older apple varieties on standard rootstocks - 7 years ago
Thanks you guys for keeping with standard rootstocks. In my old orchard now mostly in their 80's (and few 104 years old left), I convinced my nursery men to go to standard...eventually they balked as they got less take and less vigor...and eventually that translated to my replants. Since I'm also in it for the long term slower growth was OK. My nursery guys and I (begrudgingly) went bacby Tim Bates - Just Talk
Re: Gumption - 7 years ago
Wow, great ideas Todd, Contributor Extrordinaire (I guess I spelled it right). And great answers from James at Spliced Wire Farms (great name, I need to go to Bio section). James, right on everywhere. NO, NO...we do not need genetic modification and now we have the "Artic" Apples coming that do not brown but do rot. With the 1,000's of varieties to grow how could we need more??? Yeby Tim Bates - Just Talk
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