Fruit Grower’s Journal

Three straight nights of worry.  A hard frost/freeze was predicted overnight for this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday…all of which means growers have had three sleepless nights, up turning on overhead irrigation to protect strawberries and wind machines to protect apples and hoping…

The calls have been coming in from all quarters this morning – 24 in low spots in Hollis, 27 for Londonderry, 26 in the Upper Valley, and oddly a balmy 34 in Conway.  There is some damage…but there is also a lot of bud survival.   The next ten days (or should I say nights) look much less ominous.  It appears we dodged a major crop loss this past weekend.

I ventured outside at 5:30 or so this morning to sense the cold…the thermometer was reading just 32 but already rising.  It was quiet as the sun worked its way up – well, quiet except for the drone of bumble bees seemingly unaffected by the cool morning and eager to work.

A honey bee works a bramble flower on a day much warmer than we have seen the past week. Photo: W. Lord

Bill Lord, April 30, 2012

To say this has been an unsettling spring weather-wise is a major understatement.  Tree fruit buds got growing early this spring in response to an incredibly warm March.  Several hard frosts that followed have many wondering just what kind of crop we will harvest come summer and fall.

Apples are our main tree fruit crop in New Hampshire and there has been freeze damage in some areas. Site has played a large role in bud survival to date.  Low pockets where cold air is trapped on frosty mornings are where damage is worst while those sites with great air drainage, those with good elevation relative to surrounding land, have fared quite well.

The female portion of this apple blossom to be has been killed by frost. It will not produce a fruit. W. Lord photo.

Complicating the apple picture is that many trees do not have as many flower buds as we would like.  Normally we thin apples just after bloom to improve fruit size and insure a return bloom the following spring.  Weather during bloom last spring was so wet that most growers were left wondering when if at all bees had a chance to pollinate flowers.  We did less thinning of the apple crop as a result and perhaps that has played a role in reducing the bloom this year.

Peaches have been largely spared any damage so far, perhaps because we are so careful when selecting sites for peach orchards.  Bees are not essential for a peach crop.  Peach flowers are perfect (contain both male and female parts) and all commercial varieties are self fruitful so wind action is usually enough to do the job.

Bill Lord, April 17, 2012

We usually wait until the last minute to prune peaches, often pruning when buds are pink and just about ready to pop into bloom.  Peaches are a marginal crop in New Hampshire, although on good sites in the southern part of the state, annual crops are almost the norm.  Delaying pruning gives us a chance to see just how many buds have made it through the cold winter.  While basic pruning principles are not compromised, we can adjust pruning to compensate for reduced or excessive bud survival.

Peaches are pruned to an open center – a stark contrast to the central leader or Christmas tree shape we strive for with most other tree fruits. Peach fruits are produced on wood that grew the previous summer and peach wood is brittle – that combination of brittle wood and fruit load at the ends of the branches makes structural strength key.

We start forming the open center structure the day we plant the tree.  Head peach trees back to 24 to 30 inches at planting. Limbs arising below the heading-back cut should be cut in half to promote the development of strong, wide-angled branches and thinned to leave only the best 3 or 4. Remove any branches growing 15 inches or less from the ground.

Newly set peach tree pruned to create an open center. Photo: W. Lord

Young peach tree in its second spring before pruning. Photo: W. Lord

Same peach tree, pruned. Photo: W. Lord

In the second year, select 3 to 4 well-developed, wide-angled lateral branches and cut off all other branches flush with the trunk. Head the 2 or 3 that you have selected back slightly where growth has exceeded 30 inches.

Bill Lord, April 28, MMXI

Last Saturday, April 23, offered a stark contrast to the same date last year.  Instead of apple trees sporting some pink on flower buds just busting to burst, a couple of inches of heavy, wet snow hung on buds just starting to push green.  Warmer weather is due this week, but it will be mixed with showers.  Growers are busy, applying oil for scale and mite control, chopping prunings, and pruning peaches.  The potential for a great crop is there – but memories of June 11 last year add angst to the equation.

Cleft grafts inserted, waiting for grafting compound. Photo: W. Lord

Bark or inlay graft in place and ready to cover.  Photo: W. Lord

My pruning demonstrations are done for the year.  I will be demonstrating top-working older trees (grafting over to new varieties) on May 10 at Windy Ridge Orchard in North Haverhill (Meeting Notice).

Bill Lord, April 26, MMXI

We had our first pruning meeting of the season today at Sunnycrest Farm in Londonderry.  What a beautiful day – bright sun, blue skies, temperatures above freezing, a great crowd of eager home fruit fanciers, and most importantly, wonderfully hospitable hosts.

Pruning apples is one of my favorite chores (although I often feel guilty getting paid for doing something I like so much).  Today I pruned 10 year old dwarf trees.  We do have a number of pruning demonstrations scheduled over the next few weeks.  The next one on the schedule is  Saturday, March 5 in Spofford (see flier at the following link – Cheshire County Pruning Demo).  And if you just want to learn how to grow fruits of any type, come to Conway this coming Thursday, March 3 from 6-8 PM (Carroll County Fruit Meeting).

I prune, rain, snow, or shine, warm or cold, no matter what…so, if you plan to attend one of our pruning meetings please dress for the weather.

Bill Lord, February 24, MMXI

The thermometer at my house read -19 F at 6:00 in the morning.  Cold, not super cold, but cold enough to validate my decision not to grow peaches at home.  Was the commercial peach crop in the state hurt?   That remains to be seen, but at this time my guess is there will be peaches.  Why?

Peaches are always planted on the best site an orchard has to offer, one that is elevated relative to surrounding land offering a few degrees protection on those super cold nights and mornings.  And most peaches in New Hampshire are grown in the southern part of the state where temperatures were not quite so extreme.   There temperature readings  seemed to float between single digits below to perhaps -10 or so.  We have had great conditions so far this winter – good steady cold with little temperature fluctuation. Our better varieties should be able to take -10 to -12 and still offer us a spring crop.  Of course, there is a lot of winter left…and not every tree is planted on one of those “good” sites.

The deep snow has slowed most movement in orchards to a crawl.   Pruning when snow is deep is hard work – even deer pruning has been slowed down as they too have difficulty traveling through chest deep snows.  Voles, on the other hand, are likely enjoying the deep snow.  It offers great protection from predation by coyotes and owls and the like and easy access to tender tree bark.  For my few trees, I have knocked snow levels down to a few inches below the tops of the the guards to restrict vole access.

Spring pruning meetings for home gardeners will start soon (that word spring sounds good).  The first will be on March 5 in Cheshire County.  Watch this space for details on this and other pruning demonstrations as the season progresses.

Bill Lord, January 28, MMXI

It was just 1 F this morning, the first of what will likely be many cold days over the next 3 months or so.  How does that compare to years past?

Well, on December 10 in 1902 it hit -13 F while just a year earlier on that date it hit a balmy 63 F.  Our weather is if nothing else, never boring.

Neither extreme is normal, and both extremes carry some risk.  The -13 reading in 1902 likely would have taken out most peach buds.  A -21 F event on December 21 in 1980 was a bit more damaging, wiping out almost the entire peach crop in NH and killing tens of acres of wine grapes back to ground level outright.

I spent some time this past weekend checking vole guards around trees and adding new ones where needed.  This chore should have been done weeks earlier, but with the ground still bare, I was OK.  With snow cover likely  very soon, I am happy I finally got around to this chore.

For vole guards I use hardware cloth, usually 1/4 or 1/2 inch mesh.  I cut 18 inch tall pieces roughly 20 inches long which bends to form a protective cylinder about 6-7 inches across.  Cut hardware cloth is hard on the hands so gloves are important.  Fastening the ends of the cylinder together is easy now that I use hog rings.

A short crop (oh, that May 11 morning) and warm summer did produce one thing in abundance in our orchards – strong fruit buds that promise a great crop in 2011.   Now if only we can have moderate temperatures this winter and spring…

Bill Lord, December 10, MMX

It was a week ago now.  Temperatures dropped to the mid-20’s or lower, and the effect in some orchards was not pretty.  Site played a major role in how well apple flowers and developing fruits survived. In the southern part of the state, most orchards fared OK.  There was some minor damage, primarily in low spots where cold air settles, but there is still a good crop.  In more northern locations, the situation is much less rosy with some orchard blocks nearly empty of fruit now.

An apple, already a few days past petal fall, showing the effects of a hard frost last week. Photo: W. Lord

What is next?  Severely damaged fruits will drop soon. Less severely damaged fruits may hang on and grow, but will likely bear russet scars come fall as a reminder of that cold, May morning.

For now it appears that the future will be frost free, but given the spring so far, who knows!

Bill Lord, May 17, MMX

Well, tonight will likely tell the tale.  Will this early spring come to a screeching halt due to a hard frost predicted by morn or will we escape?  I for one am hoping for some of that wind that has battered us the past several days or a bit of cloud cover to hold the warmth in.  Sleepless best describes the night ahead I fear…

Frost has already killed this strawberry flower. Constant irrigation during freeze events is the best protection. Photo: W. Lord

Several insect pests are bugging orchards right now.  Petal fall was several days ago in the southern part of the state and I have seen some plum curculio egg laying scars already.  This cold has likely slowed them down, but they will hit most unprotected tree fruits over the next week or more.

An Eastern Tent Caterpillar nest in a young fruit tree. Photo: W. Lord

One of the more aggressive leaf eaters is the eastern tent caterpillar.  Its telltale nest protects these critters and serves as a home base as they defoliate one or more branches of a tree.  I like to pull the nests and their contents off trees and destroy them before they get too hungry.

Bill Lord, May 10, MMX

Fruit growers have been racing down a fine line lately.  Fruit trees are early this year with blossom as much as 2 weeks ahead of normal in most orchards.  Apple flowers are not very hardy at bloom.  Temperatures below 29^oF spell trouble.

Frosts and near frosts the past several mornings have left many growers tired and worn.  They spend the nights checking temperatures and when temperatures approach the freezing point, they act.  If the farm has a wind machine, it it turned on and monitored continuously until the frosting action ends.  If sprinkler irrigation is being used, again, it is time to act.

Wind machines work by pulling warmer air from above down and using it to displace colder air settling in around trees.  A propeller whirls constantly and it rotates slowly around pushing cold air out in a large circle around the machine.  These machines take advantage of the fact that cold air is heavier than warm air. The coldest air will be nearest the ground in the lowest part of the orchard.

This pear survived frost during bloom, but a frost after fruit set severely damaged the developing fruit. Photo: W.G.Lord

Irrigation is more commonly used to protect strawberry blossoms, but works on apples too.  A continuous supply of water is applied once frosting conditions are near.  Ice will form, but as long as there is free water on the surface, temperatures will not drop below 32^oF. Water is applied continuously until all the ice has melted off the flowers.

Low temperatures promise to be more moderate over the next 7 to 10 days.  Let’s hope so.   Apple growers need the sleep and I want to eat perfect New Hampshire apples come fall!

Bill Lord, April 30, MMX