Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects
Take heart, Art - snowball bloom thin more easily due to natural competition between blooms - Golden Delicious is a problem as are varieties like Earligold and Liberty and to a lesser extent Gala and some of the oddballs - We had a snowball bloom and 80* temperatures during bloom (our full bloom was about 10-12 days ago) - our native pollinators are back to about 40% after their collapse of 2012, but are recovering - the best beekeeper in Indiana has two apiaries within 1/2 mile of me so honeybee activity was good along with daily quality working weather - Right in the middle, pretty much 'full bloom day', we had a wet night, wet all day, and another wet night with temps in the 60's and 70's - huge scab and fireblight period - still a little early to see any breakdown of control measures, I've got my fingers crossed - immediate post bloom was warm with rapid development/sizing of fruitlets and then it turned less pleasant with high winds and and the last three days have been highs in the 50's and 60's - I placed the pump and set up the irrigation in the strawberries yesterday just in case it would get frosty, but we had high overcast roll in yesterday evening and thus no long cold wet night was necessary - temperatures are suppose to rise now and I'm contemplating whether today (mid 60's) or tomorrow (80*) is the main day for thinning sprays - there's 30% chances of storms predicted for friday night/saturday morning - this morning I need to get the alternator back on the sprayer... anyway - the 'well behaved' annual cropping varieties have/are shedding the huge bloom and I am going to aggressively attack the biennial bearers and I am going to try to defruit half the trees of some of the problem varieties - I'd rather have short crops every year rather than boom and bust production - I wish you luck, would appreciate reciprocation - David On May 12, 2015, at 12:41 PM, Arthur Kelly wrote: I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- 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
Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects
Arthur, I have a small Orchard in NE Pa. and the trees are loaded with Blossoms. The flowers opened starting Monday PM and full open by mid-day Tuesday. Going to be a very heavy set given the dry weather forecast and nice 70 d days. On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Arthur Kelly kellyorcha...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop -- Michael D. Vaughn Owner / Manager Pie-In-the-Sky Orchards ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects
The update from Illinois is relatively good.. We also had snow bloom and sunny and warm few days during the early part of bloom which gave us good fruit set on the kings. But the weather turned cold and windy during the middle and end of the bloom which has kept the bees in their hives.. Never the less, we should have pretty good crop. My concern is for the persistent cold weather that we are still having, which is likely to reduce the thinners activity, especially NAA and MaxCel. Just curious.. I have not seen any recent postings from our Irish/Dutch friend Con Trass. I hope is just busy counting his profit from last year. Mosbah Kushad, University of Illinois From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Michael Vaughn Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 7:25 AM To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects Arthur, I have a small Orchard in NE Pa. and the trees are loaded with Blossoms. The flowers opened starting Monday PM and full open by mid-day Tuesday. Going to be a very heavy set given the dry weather forecast and nice 70 d days. On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Arthur Kelly kellyorcha...@gmail.commailto:kellyorcha...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.netmailto:apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop -- Michael D. Vaughn Owner / Manager Pie-In-the-Sky Orchards ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects
How can I resist an invitation like the one from Mosbah? We had an interesting spring in Ireland (as per the Chinese curse; may you live in interesting times). Much of March and April had settled warmer than normal weather, due to the unusual deviations in the jet stream (associated with a warming artic unfortunately), meaning that our weather patterns settle for much longer than we are used to. And so our trees were off to an early start. When the weather did eventually change, it settled into a pattern of winds coming from the north, which also lasted longer than usual, with the effect that each night grew colder as time went on, due to the cooling of the ground. Consequently, quite a lot of frost damage (80-90% flower blossom loss) was recorded in Northern Ireland, where all the cooking apples are grown, but luckily not so much in the south, where I am, and I suspect that I could still have pretty much a full crop, despite the loss of about 20% of flowers on apples. The plums which bloom earlier were more badly damaged, but nothing that I don't expect every few years with them, due to Ireland being such a marginal location for growing them. At this stage the weather is more normal (showers one day, rain the next, with the odd dry day) with lots of scab periods, and only just enough opportunity to spray, but that is the way we like it, as with almost no irrigated orchards in Ireland, having the soils at field capacity now, before what will hopefully be a nice summer (El Nino years are also warmer than average in Ireland), keeps the trees from stress for quite a long period. We have a new weevil pest (I think it is called rose weevil; it is bronze coloured), the adults of which eats the flowers of apple and cherry as well as damaging the small fruitlets, but luckily the pheromones have now been synthesised, and trapping will begin shortly. Other than that, on the marketing side, cider (hard), which was always mass-produced here in Ireland, is now undergoing a revival as about 10 smaller craft producers have started in the last few years, which makes it very exciting for growers, and also draws great attention to our small apple producing industry here. Brief report over, I will try to post before prompting the next time :) Con Traas Life Sciences Dept., University of Limerick. The Apple Farm, Tipperary. Ph: 061-202905 M: 086-6091998 T: @theapplefarmer From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Kushad, Mosbah M Sent: 14 May 2015 14:56 To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects The update from Illinois is relatively good.. We also had snow bloom and sunny and warm few days during the early part of bloom which gave us good fruit set on the kings. But the weather turned cold and windy during the middle and end of the bloom which has kept the bees in their hives.. Never the less, we should have pretty good crop. My concern is for the persistent cold weather that we are still having, which is likely to reduce the thinners activity, especially NAA and MaxCel. Just curious.. I have not seen any recent postings from our Irish/Dutch friend Con Trass. I hope is just busy counting his profit from last year. Mosbah Kushad, University of Illinois From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.netmailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Michael Vaughn Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 7:25 AM To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects Arthur, I have a small Orchard in NE Pa. and the trees are loaded with Blossoms. The flowers opened starting Monday PM and full open by mid-day Tuesday. Going to be a very heavy set given the dry weather forecast and nice 70 d days. On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Arthur Kelly kellyorcha...@gmail.commailto:kellyorcha...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.netmailto:apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop -- Michael D. Vaughn Owner / Manager Pie-In-the-Sky Orchards ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects
Hi Con Trass: Great to know that all is well .. Thanks for the report . Mosbah From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Con.Traas Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 10:01 AM To: 'Apple-crop discussion list' Subject: Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects How can I resist an invitation like the one from Mosbah? We had an interesting spring in Ireland (as per the Chinese curse; may you live in interesting times). Much of March and April had settled warmer than normal weather, due to the unusual deviations in the jet stream (associated with a warming artic unfortunately), meaning that our weather patterns settle for much longer than we are used to. And so our trees were off to an early start. When the weather did eventually change, it settled into a pattern of winds coming from the north, which also lasted longer than usual, with the effect that each night grew colder as time went on, due to the cooling of the ground. Consequently, quite a lot of frost damage (80-90% flower blossom loss) was recorded in Northern Ireland, where all the cooking apples are grown, but luckily not so much in the south, where I am, and I suspect that I could still have pretty much a full crop, despite the loss of about 20% of flowers on apples. The plums which bloom earlier were more badly damaged, but nothing that I don't expect every few years with them, due to Ireland being such a marginal location for growing them. At this stage the weather is more normal (showers one day, rain the next, with the odd dry day) with lots of scab periods, and only just enough opportunity to spray, but that is the way we like it, as with almost no irrigated orchards in Ireland, having the soils at field capacity now, before what will hopefully be a nice summer (El Nino years are also warmer than average in Ireland), keeps the trees from stress for quite a long period. We have a new weevil pest (I think it is called rose weevil; it is bronze coloured), the adults of which eats the flowers of apple and cherry as well as damaging the small fruitlets, but luckily the pheromones have now been synthesised, and trapping will begin shortly. Other than that, on the marketing side, cider (hard), which was always mass-produced here in Ireland, is now undergoing a revival as about 10 smaller craft producers have started in the last few years, which makes it very exciting for growers, and also draws great attention to our small apple producing industry here. Brief report over, I will try to post before prompting the next time :) Con Traas Life Sciences Dept., University of Limerick. The Apple Farm, Tipperary. Ph: 061-202905 M: 086-6091998 T: @theapplefarmer From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.netmailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Kushad, Mosbah M Sent: 14 May 2015 14:56 To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects The update from Illinois is relatively good.. We also had snow bloom and sunny and warm few days during the early part of bloom which gave us good fruit set on the kings. But the weather turned cold and windy during the middle and end of the bloom which has kept the bees in their hives.. Never the less, we should have pretty good crop. My concern is for the persistent cold weather that we are still having, which is likely to reduce the thinners activity, especially NAA and MaxCel. Just curious.. I have not seen any recent postings from our Irish/Dutch friend Con Trass. I hope is just busy counting his profit from last year. Mosbah Kushad, University of Illinois From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.netmailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Michael Vaughn Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 7:25 AM To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects Arthur, I have a small Orchard in NE Pa. and the trees are loaded with Blossoms. The flowers opened starting Monday PM and full open by mid-day Tuesday. Going to be a very heavy set given the dry weather forecast and nice 70 d days. On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Arthur Kelly kellyorcha...@gmail.commailto:kellyorcha...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.netmailto:apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop -- Michael D. Vaughn Owner / Manager Pie-In-the-Sky Orchards ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http
Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects
There were lots of native pollinators working the plum trees when they were in bloom. Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 12:03 AM, David Kollas kol...@sbcglobal.net wrote: Jon: I have been asking myself question like those you have mentioned. Snowball and nearly synchronous bloom is what I have on most varieties here also; and with uncommonly warm temperatures I expected to see a lot of eager honeybees in the trees these past several days. They were not there. Nor in the dandelions that are more abundant than normal around the orchard. Activity at the hives seemed decent, so I wondered whether a solid field of dandelions somewhere else might be attracting them. My beekeeper opened several hives and pointed out the light-colored pollen that had been packed into frame cells…as well as some orange-colored pollen in other cells. He said the lighter yellow indicates apple pollen, and the orange pollen is from dandelions. I didn’t think to ask if the yellow pollen might have been put there several days ago, before the hives were moved to my orchard, but he said he could see bees returning to the hives with yellow pollen on their legs. Today the maximum temperature was only 63F, briefly, and few bees were out of the hives. While setting up some trickle irrigation in my nursery I noticed honeybees buzzing among oak leaves on the ground, under which a surface water-line ran. Bees had found a small leak in the line and seemed to be very happy about it, as dozens of honeybees soon appeared there. So I put water into a pail, with a short length of wood, and floated a terrycloth towel on it. After about ten minutes there dozens of bees spending time on that wet towel. I conclude that apple nectar could not satisfy their thirst…if that is what they wanted water for. David Kollas Kollas Orchard Tolland, Connecticut On May 13, 2015, at 8:58 PM, Jon Clements jon.cleme...@umass.edu wrote: Mostly heavy, snowball bloom here in Massachusetts after modest crop last year. Not sure I have ever seen such a heavy bloom across the board. Temps. in mid to upper 80's preceding and during bloom really moved things along, bee activity was modest to good. There was so much bloom all at once bee activity might have been diluted? Very dry -- does that affect the attractiveness of bloom to bees? Less nectar production? Cold front moved through and now windy and much cooler, scattered frost possible in cold pockets. We're expecting good set and the need to thin aggressively. Heat raised the fire blight danger level, however, little wetting during bloom except for some showers here and there and dew. Will see how that plays out, lots of strep applied after last year. Only one apple scab infection period since April 21 (green tip), clean orchards could have delayed any fungicide application since then until the next rain, but that one will be a doozy probably. Somebody send us a little rain. Every year is so different... Jon On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Arthur Kelly kellyorcha...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop -- Jon Clements aka 'Mr Honeycrisp' UMass Cold Spring Orchard 393 Sabin St. Belchertown, MA 01007 413-478-7219 umassfruit.com ___ 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 ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects
Mostly heavy, snowball bloom here in Massachusetts after modest crop last year. Not sure I have ever seen such a heavy bloom across the board. Temps. in mid to upper 80's preceding and during bloom really moved things along, bee activity was modest to good. There was so much bloom all at once bee activity might have been diluted? Very dry -- does that affect the attractiveness of bloom to bees? Less nectar production? Cold front moved through and now windy and much cooler, scattered frost possible in cold pockets. We're expecting good set and the need to thin aggressively. Heat raised the fire blight danger level, however, little wetting during bloom except for some showers here and there and dew. Will see how that plays out, lots of strep applied after last year. Only one apple scab infection period since April 21 (green tip), clean orchards could have delayed any fungicide application since then until the next rain, but that one will be a doozy probably. Somebody send us a little rain. Every year is so different... Jon On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Arthur Kelly kellyorcha...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop -- Jon Clements aka 'Mr Honeycrisp' UMass Cold Spring Orchard 393 Sabin St. Belchertown, MA 01007 413-478-7219 umassfruit.com ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
Re: [apple-crop] crop prospects
Jon: I have been asking myself question like those you have mentioned. Snowball and nearly synchronous bloom is what I have on most varieties here also; and with uncommonly warm temperatures I expected to see a lot of eager honeybees in the trees these past several days. They were not there. Nor in the dandelions that are more abundant than normal around the orchard. Activity at the hives seemed decent, so I wondered whether a solid field of dandelions somewhere else might be attracting them. My beekeeper opened several hives and pointed out the light-colored pollen that had been packed into frame cells…as well as some orange-colored pollen in other cells. He said the lighter yellow indicates apple pollen, and the orange pollen is from dandelions. I didn’t think to ask if the yellow pollen might have been put there several days ago, before the hives were moved to my orchard, but he said he could see bees returning to the hives with yellow pollen on their legs. Today the maximum temperature was only 63F, briefly, and few bees were out of the hives. While setting up some trickle irrigation in my nursery I noticed honeybees buzzing among oak leaves on the ground, under which a surface water-line ran. Bees had found a small leak in the line and seemed to be very happy about it, as dozens of honeybees soon appeared there. So I put water into a pail, with a short length of wood, and floated a terrycloth towel on it. After about ten minutes there dozens of bees spending time on that wet towel. I conclude that apple nectar could not satisfy their thirst…if that is what they wanted water for. David Kollas Kollas Orchard Tolland, Connecticut On May 13, 2015, at 8:58 PM, Jon Clements jon.cleme...@umass.edu wrote: Mostly heavy, snowball bloom here in Massachusetts after modest crop last year. Not sure I have ever seen such a heavy bloom across the board. Temps. in mid to upper 80's preceding and during bloom really moved things along, bee activity was modest to good. There was so much bloom all at once bee activity might have been diluted? Very dry -- does that affect the attractiveness of bloom to bees? Less nectar production? Cold front moved through and now windy and much cooler, scattered frost possible in cold pockets. We're expecting good set and the need to thin aggressively. Heat raised the fire blight danger level, however, little wetting during bloom except for some showers here and there and dew. Will see how that plays out, lots of strep applied after last year. Only one apple scab infection period since April 21 (green tip), clean orchards could have delayed any fungicide application since then until the next rain, but that one will be a doozy probably. Somebody send us a little rain. Every year is so different... Jon On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Arthur Kelly kellyorcha...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop -- Jon Clements aka 'Mr Honeycrisp' UMass Cold Spring Orchard 393 Sabin St. Belchertown, MA 01007 413-478-7219 umassfruit.com ___ 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
[apple-crop] crop prospects
I don't know about the rest of you but if we get any kind of pollination weather the crop will be very heavy and difficult to thin. The potential bloom at this point is scary. We are at pink except for cracking some king flowers on Zestar, Paulared, Gingergold etc. -- Art Kelly Kelly Orchards Acton, ME ___ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
