Ruminating is good word huh Dave. I did allow for a few.
On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 11:49 PM, David Kollas <kol...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > > > > Art: > > Your rumination seems to have led to neither discovery, enlightenment, nor > identification of a problem. > Perhaps you accidentally hit the "send" button before re-reading the > message. Another agricultural industry that > continues to harvest from old trees and apparently old technology is the > one shown below in a brief presentation on cork harvesting from > oak orchards: Note: the links are to still photos illustrating the text > below. It is not my own work. > > David Kollas > Kollas Orchard, Connecticut > > > Cork: Harvest for the Patient Farmer > > http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0-RFQhAaQIk/Un5ogZtWVTI/AAAAAAAArmc/93TchkuZIkA/s1600/cork+harvest+oak+15.jpg > > http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lKqHfOVw4gU/Un5zXJiQt0I/AAAAAAAArno/rdrYu_0Etc0/s320/wine+corks.jpg > Have you ever wondered where that cork in your bottle of wine comes from? > The answer is most likely to be Spain or Portugal, where over half of the > world’s cork is harvested - it is in fact the National Tree of the latter > country. > However, unlike other forms of forestry, the production of cork never > involves the death of a tree. > Instead, they are gently stripped, leaving a strange but fascinating > landscape of denuded trunks. > > http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YuayQUqKjjM/Un5hW4yte8I/AAAAAAAArk8/9nVaQuBPCdg/s640/cork+harvest+oak+5.jpg > *http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbenayas/2357225629/in/photostream/*<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbenayas/2357225629/in/photostream/><http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbenayas/2357225629/in/photostream/> > *http://www.flickr.com/photos/montuno/1591580602/in/photostream/*<http://www.flickr.com/photos/montuno/1591580602/in/photostream/><http://www.flickr.com/photos/montuno/1591580602/in/photostream/> > All of this takes some time. Cork trees can live to over two hundred > years but are not considered ready for their cork to be removed until they > are at least twenty five years old. Even then, the first two harvests do > not produce cork of the highest quality – it isn’t until the trees are in > their forties that they produce premium > cork.<http://www.flickr.com/photos/montuno/1591580602/in/photostream/> > *http://www.flickr.com/photos/catherine_glover/8383640384/*<http://www.flickr.com/photos/catherine_glover/8383640384/><http://www.flickr.com/photos/catherine_glover/8383640384/> > *http://www.flickr.com/photos/78586478@N06/8201364716/in/photostream/*<http://www.flickr.com/photos/78586478%40N06/8201364716/in/photostream/><http://www.flickr.com/photos/78586478%40N06/8201364716/in/photostream/> > *http://www.flickr.com/photos/suhajdab/3963824824/in/photostream/*<http://www.flickr.com/photos/suhajdab/3963824824/in/photostream/><http://www.flickr.com/photos/suhajdab/3963824824/in/photostream/> > > Once the trees have reached the maturity necessary to produce high quality > cork then they will be harvested only every nine years. A tree, in its > lifetime, can be harvested (the process is known as extraction) about > fifteen times. Little wonder then, that in Portugal and Spain the > propagation of the trees and the production of cork has become an > inter-generational industry, with farmers still producing a crop from > trees planted by their great-great > grandfathers.<http://www.flickr.com/photos/suhajdab/3963824824/in/photostream/> > > *http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6mP-Ha5Wi80/Un5gxNwLHaI/AAAAAAAArk0/JrM-URtWNqU/s1600/cork+harvest+oak+4.jpg*<http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6mP-Ha5Wi80/Un5gxNwLHaI/AAAAAAAArk0/JrM-URtWNqU/s1600/cork+harvest+oak+4.jpg><http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6mP-Ha5Wi80/Un5gxNwLHaI/AAAAAAAArk0/JrM-URtWNqU/s1600/cork+harvest+oak+4.jpg> > *http://www.flickr.com/photos/42754460@N00/6760945341/in/photostream/*<http://www.flickr.com/photos/42754460%40N00/6760945341/in/photostream/><http://www.flickr.com/photos/42754460%40N00/6760945341/in/photostream/> > *http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_westby/4183036756/in/photostream/ > <http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_westby/4183036756/in/photostream/>*<http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_westby/4183036756/in/photostream/> > > > On Dec 10, 2013, at 9:43 PM, Arthur Kelly <kellyorcha...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I have been ruminating over a recent exchange concerning tree size, > density and longevity. A few thoughts not in any order or organization but > as they occur to me. > All orchards have a support system. If it is not posts, wires and stakes > then it is large permanent limbs. If fruit is born on limbs that are no > larger than your finger (some maintain pencil size) then you want a canopy > of that size wood. The problem with permanent limbs is that they > eventually get too large and contribute to trees that are too large. Those > permanent limbs eventually become unproductive except for the very ends > which you keep cutting back too. When you remove those large limbs then > the resulting regrowth is overly vigorous. It seems to me that a system > that has no permanent limbs will be more consistently productive of high > quality fruit because you have new productive wood in the canopy all the > time. It also seems to me that such a system is likely to have a longer > useful productive life than a system with permanent limbs that has been > planted too closely and eventually will have to be fought with to maintain > and becomes overly vigorous and loses both productivity and fruit quality. > The life of an orchard is more often determined by the economics of the > value of the variety, productivity and efficiency of operation than by tree > age or size. If you plant an orchard with the idea that it is permanent > then at some point you will have an old orchard of varieties that are out > of favor, of poor quality and inefficient to operate. There are few > industries that are still selling the same product they were fifty years > ago and producing it with the same fifty year old technology. > > -- > Art Kelly > Kelly Orchards > Acton, ME > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > > > > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > > -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME
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