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View attachment 423133 I got some honeycrisp on nic 29 this year.
I'll see what happens. .. I'm really nervous about fire blight this year. I think some of the trees I got last year had it it and spread it to some of my older trees. I bought some streptimicin spray. I guess I'll spray a few time while their blooming. My zestarView attachment 423132 are blooming


That looks quite a bit less time consuming than the hodge-podge of 12 semi-dwarf that I have.
 
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You might have to zoom in to see it. But these are pruning cuts I made in February. They are already sprouting vegetative growth for a new branch. I have found it is best to leave at least 2 inches of a stub. If you leave less it may not sprout and you might have a empty spot in the tree for awhile, until the leader puts out a new shoot.
 
Zestar fruitlet cluster, you can see the king blossom in the middle. It's the biggest and furthest matured. All others should be removed, so the king grows big. If you allow to many as they grow they will knock each other off the tree. There is not enough room for them all. Some will self thin so I will wait a couple weeks to thin theses
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Here is is a pic of a tree I planted last year that I believe is infected with fire blight. I had several that I got from the nursery that had it. Some died, some I cut back and are doing well. This one has been oozing out of a canker where a branch was broke off when I received it. I have been spraying the area with bath and kitchen cleaner with bleach in it.

I had a mature tree that was oozing out of a pruning cut, i sprayed it with bleach and it is no longer oozing. Of course only get the bleach on the affected area and where ever the ooze is. I also wipe it off after 10 minutes. They say 1 drop of ooze has enough bacteria to infect the entire orchard. Unlikely but it can spread.
 
blaster, I don't mean to discourage you but from my experience, the diseases from some of your trees will eventually win over.
For this reason, I'm changing out my entire orchard rootstock starting this summer.
These G41 rootstock are supposed to be immune to a lot of the problems that I'm having; except for the damn voles.
If you are interest in this rootstock, PM me and I will get you my source in Oregon.
 
blaster, I don't mean to discourage you but from my experience, the diseases from some of your trees will eventually win over.
For this reason, I'm changing out my entire orchard rootstock starting this summer.
These G41 rootstock are supposed to be immune to a lot of the problems that I'm having; except for the damn voles.
If you are interest in this rootstock, PM me and I will get you my source in Oregon.
If the rootstock is resistant, I believe the scion is still able to get it, unless it too is resistant. My mature honeycrisp have not shown any signs of fire blight. I guess they are less susceptible as they get older and if they do get it , it would most likely be in a branch that could be removed. The trees I got from the nursery last year had a lot of branches. And of course a lot of those were damaged when dug out or packaging and shipping leaving a open wound near the trunk. I do think some were already severely infected as they never developed leaves and you could see a purpleish canker on the trunk. I also thought is was a little odd when the nursery called to see how my trees were doing. I didn't really complain , but now I wish I would have. At least they could replace the ones that didn't live. I had a 100% survival from the nursery i usually use.
 
Honeycrisps are supposed to be resistant to FB.
B9, M9, M26, and all M* rootstocks are susceptible to FB.
That's why it would help if both are resistant to diseases.
 
Pear trees, various Asian and some Bartlett and bosc, and 20 rootstocks. I haven't had much time to care for these but their in the ground, mulched and watered if needed. Also sprayed,, the bugs seem to really like their leaves. They seem more delicate than apple trees
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also this is in a different area than my main orchard, as it it sort of a trial , ,
 
Those zestar did a nice job of thinning themselve. I didn't do any thinning and there seems to be just the right amount of apples and evenly dispersed throughout the tree. The honeycrisp are a different story. They will set multiple apples per cluster. Been spraying, rally, captan, imidan, malithion, agrimicin, on them with a spreader sticker additive. I really recommend the sticker spreader additive. It coats the leaves and apples better. Without it most of the spray runs off or beads up, and you don't get good coverage. Another thing that can happen with out the additive is the spray can bead up on the apples , this can be a problem later in the season when the apples are coloring up. Any thing that blocks the sun from the apples skin can cause it to not turn red. I have had green spots on the apples where the spray accumlated . Or the spray can run down and accumulate on the bottom of the apple and blemish the surface. This is especially true with sevin xlr. If you use it only use a fine mist. I swear they mix it with latex paint. It can leave a residue that you cannot wash off.
 
Pics taken today.. been doing a lot of hand thinning, mostly on the honeycrisp. Thing to 1 fruitlet per cluster and getting rid of anything with the slightest blemish. Also thinning if too many fruit per branch. They set a good crop this year. Too good actually. Thinning is going to make the difference in getting large, quality apples. I have zero use for small blemished apples. The pics are zestar.
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Honeycrisp. .planted last year, I'm trying to allow 15-20 apples on these. They each set about 50- 100, I walk through everyday and thin more as I see needed. Hopefully I thin them enough to get good size and a good return bloom next year. I have also been giving them a good soaking once per week. We haven't been getting much rain. I have to trim the weeds around them and make them look pretty, we have a senator visiting are farm in a few days. I have been doing more trimming and less spraying. I would rather tolerate some weeds than have herbicide damage to the roots. Most herbicides are OK with your typical yearly rainfall , but when you add drip irrigation I believe there is a possibility it can make it to to roots, at least to some degree. I suppose it's debatable, but look how fast granular fertilizer makes it to the roots. I have also considered using a stronger than recommended liquid fertilizer to burn the weeds in the row, but that is risky as well.
 
I found my trees were infested with mites yesterday. They damage the leaves which ultimately weakens the whole tree. None of the usual insecticides will control these. They actually can cause a flare up in populations, because they kill the natural predators.
There are some miticides available but they are expensive and only give limited control of certain species of mites. Most are restricted use. Which is OK because I am certified for them, but it means it's hard to get., can't be bought online, would have to be ordered and might take weeks to get. And is very toxic ..I hate spraying the restricted stuff.
For now I'm going to try some other techniques. I sprayed some with pyrethrin which is organic. It seemed to kill some of them. I also tried a mixture of canola oil and water. About a 1.5% regular canola cooking oil and water mix. In a spray bottle. Shake well while spraying. I only tried this on 1 tree for now to see if it works and doesn't damage the tree or apples. The oil smothers the mites/ prevents them from moving and will have some residual activity to prevent further infestations. as for The pyrethrin spray I have suspicions it just drowned some of the mites. Straight water may have been just as affective. Here's some pics.
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A follow up on the oil spray.. it did not hurt the trees, but it did leave little sun scorch marks on the surface of the apple's that had direct sunlight. It did kill the mites though. We got a good rain and wind storm a couple days after I sprayed the oil. It completely cleared up the mite problem. So in the future I'm not going to worry about them. As long as we get rain once in awhile they shouldn't be a problem.
 
2 year old honeycrisp. Probably should have thinned them more than I did. I think the size will be fine since they have another month to grow. But I think they won't produce much next year. 1 thing I have also noticed on young dwarf trees grown in the tall spindle method is, you can also undercrop them to the point the apples get too big. I have noticed people like large apples but these trees can produce some jumbo's . I have had some that are just ridiculous. So there is a fine line when it comes to thinning.
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Looking good. We used to thin 9"-12" apart. I remember getting yelled at by my grandpa for under thinning.

The people that bought our farm don't thin at all. They sell marbles!!!

Chris
 
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