• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

330 Cold Soil Road Trenton Farmer’s Market Princeton, NJ 08540 • (609) 924-2310 Spruce Street www.TerhuneOrchards.com (609) 695-7855 email [email protected] FALL 2015 Apple Day Launches Terhune’s 39th Mount Family Season of Fall Festival Update eptember’s arrival brings so ing Apple Day a local tradition since we much excitement here in cen- began. Come celebrate our abundant apple by Pam Mount tral New Jersey. School begins. harvest and all the other joys of the fall sea- e are so lucky here at Terhune The leaves begin to show a glimmer of fall son on a farm. As your arrive, inhale the Orchards and in New Jersey color and here at Terhune Orchards, we get aroma of fragrant apple pies wafting in in general; that as the seasons to share our favorite season of the year with from our bakery. change, we all can enjoy something very visitors to the farm. A full day of fun on the special at this time of year. Fall is certainly It seems like such a long farm awaits the entire a surprise after a hot summer. Cool and time ago when our apple family. Enjoy the fresh air crisp weather with trees of all colors make trees began to show off pink and views of our preserved for great family fun picking apples and and white blossoms in the farmlands during a horse drinking fresh cider. spring. Now those tiny flow- drawn wagon or tractor ers have turned into big, wagon ride. Explore our crisp, juicy apples that are fabulous mazes created perfect for picking, eating with corn stalks and hay fresh and baking. bales. Don’t get lost! We loved apples Fall Fam - so much when we ily Week ends started the farm, we begin on the decided to hold a third weekend day to celebrate all in Septem ber things apple. After and continue 40 seasons, our through the enthusiasm—and first weekend apple orchards continued to grow. So large in November. that Apple Day now happens over the For seven weeks there are opportunities for course of two days on one glorious weekend, pumpkin painting, listening to some good September 12 and 13 and the Fall Family old-fashioned country music and visiting Weekends continue through November 1st. t h e fields to pick your own pumpkins and The Mount Clan. The Mount family welcomes new guests apples. For the Mount family, fall is harvest to the farm and those that have been mak- (continued on page 3) time and festival time—all hands on deck! Mom and Dad (Pam and Gary) have been celebrating apple harvest for 40 years. We never get tired of the fun! Reuwai, our old- est daughter now works full-time at the farm. Her husband, Mike teaches history at Pick Your Own Apples at Lawrenceville Prep School and is the wine- maker for our apple wine in his spare time. Terhune Orchards Their daughters, Maya 11, Tess and Sasha, 8 are great farm store helpers. Our daugh- hen the weather turns crisp, grassy paths through the trees. Pick your ter, Tannwen has been on the farm for apple picking at Terhune season opening day is September 5th. twelve years and is seeing the fruits of her Orchards is a must on any All of our apple trees are dwarf vari- labor with the five-year anniversary of local family’s fun list. Come out to see how eties. These small trees make it easy for Terhune Orchards Vineyards and Winery. apples are grown and be amazed at how children or adults to pick. Our friendly Her husband, Jim, is a history teacher at many colorful varieties we grow and the orchard staff can direct you to rows loaded Montgomery High School and manages the subtle differences in how they taste. with perfectly ripe, juicy apples and show pick-your-own apples in the fall. Their son Our Van Kirk Road orchard is open for you the best way to pick them. Instead of Becket, 7 and new twins Hadley and picking every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., pulling an apple straight down from the Clayton, 9 months bring delight to us all. weather permitting from September branch, we suggest you cup an apple in your Our son Mark is now a sergeant in the through October. On the weekends, take a hand, roll it upwards and twist it free. As US Army stationed in Louisiana with his wagon ride to the picking areas or stroll the they say, it’s all in the wrist! family Vicki and children, Madison, 7 and Pick your own apples are sold per Wyatt, 3. Mark will be off to Afghanistan pound. To find out which varieties are avail- this month for his 4th tour there as a liaison able on the day of your visit, call the farm between the US Army and the Afghanistan store 609-924-2310. Throughout the season military. you may find: The Mount family, all 90 strong of us, Early Fuji–eat this sweet, crisp apple gathered to spend a long weekend together right out of hand here in August. This family reunion was Empire–juicy, perfect for applesauce, very special since our girls, Reuwai and pies, desserts Tannwen are the 11th generation of Mounts Fuji–very sweet, crisp, fresh eating, to farm in Central NJ. With our 200 acres long storage life permanently preserved through the NJ (continued on page 4) (continued on page 4) From the Roots Up by Gary Mount ostly when we talk about fruit, we myself included, buy their trees from com- are talking varieties. Rainier, mercial nurseries. Crimson Crisp, Pink Lady, Another way that growers use grafting Honeycrisp are fine, respectable names for is to change over a planting from one vari- some really good varieties. Some tradition- ety to another, a process called top-working. al, even historic names are out there too— Keeping in mind that the rootstock is Stayman Winesap, McIntosh, Jersey important and that an established root- Queen. They are some pretty good varieties stock is more so, the top of the tree is cut off as well. in May and pencil sized pieces of wood are But when you look at a tree, it is not just inserted in slits made in the bark of the the variety —that is, the top part of the tree rootstock. The power of the established root that is worth looking at. Look Down! Down leads to a rapid re-establishment of the to the engine room of the tree, the roots. tree—getting rid of an undesirable variety Their names are not so good, not so inter- and replacing it with a better one. It is not esting—things like M9, B9, MM111, just a simple process though, as we have Geneva 11, but so much of the goodness of learned. Felipe Molina is the best grafter the tree comes from the roots ( the Michigan here—we topworked some trees 22 years and Canadian growers call them “ruts”) No ago when he first started working here and But the story is not over. A recent devel- varieties are on their own roots. The then did some more this past May. opment is the grafting of tomatoes and mel- Honeycrisp, for instance, does not grow on It takes a lot of work to figure all this ons. The rootstocks are more vigorous and Honeycrisp roots. All fruit trees are grafted out and to learn which are the best root- more productive. They resist disease—all or budded onto vegetatively produced root- stocks and how to produce them. I am a this from a little rootstock with a stem stocks that will result in uniform trees. member of an international fruit growers about the size of the pencil I am using for Some roots provide excellent anchor- organization that has funded research in my rough draft. Our vegetable specialist on age—French crabapple is particularly out- fruit rootstocks for over 50 years. I have the farm, Scott Van Kuikan has had some standing at this although it produces too been chair of the research committee for 25 “interesting” experiences trying to graft large a tree for the modern orchardist. All years and every year we award grower con- tomatoes. They are not easy to do. roots of course have to be good at picking up tributed funds to university researchers. I The next time you come to the orchard nutrients and water but some also provide am also president of a new foundation the and look at the trees, look down. The joint size control, disease control and even insect organization has formed to enhance future between the top and the root is usually vis- control. (One aphid we are having trouble funding. Yes, rootstocks are that important. ible. Just stand there and think about all with in the orchards right now is the wooly One particular rootstock trait that I like the engine room of the tree does from the apple aphid which spends part time in the is resistance to the bacterial disease, roots up. tree top and part time on the roots. It helps Fireblight. This disease is just awful. If to have a rootstock that is resistant!) enough of it gets into the living bark of a The size control aspect is particularly tree, the tree is dead—I lost quite a few last valuable. One thing that an orchardist year. The root of the tree is particularly fast Enter the 9th wants is a uniform orchard, one that will fill to go, except if it is resistant.

Load more

  4

Copy Link