Successful Biological Orcharding
Applying nature's tenets to grow outrageously good fruit
Fascinating biological connections make for a healthy orchard ecosystem. All insect pests and fruit tree disease – whether fungal or bacterial – have launching points and particular timing. Healthy trees address these challenges first and foremost from within. Growers utilizing an ongoing investment in soil nutrition and biodiversity set the stage for gentler organic sprays to grow a successful fruit crop. The challenges you face at your locale will become far more manageable as you build a holistic system that keeps trees and berry plantings healthy from the get-go.
COMMUNITY ORCHARD FOCUS: We’ll wrap up this day with important marketing perspective for selling the good fruit.
1 diversified farm photo
The Right Size Orchard
• Economics of more and more acreage • Peak labor times call for ingenuity • Farm as organism • Resilience factors • Community markets • Having fun!
2 Hoch Family Orchard
learning curve complexity
3 Healthy Plant Metabolism
• Sunshine launches plant The Making of metabolism. • Nitrogen combines with a Healthy Plant plant sugars to create proteins. • Fat energy drives the cuticle defense • Resistance metabolites provide “immune function” against disease and higher order insects
4 photosynthesis
Photosynthesis Efficiency
• Mn, Cl, and B are activators of enzymes. • Cu, Fe, Zn, and Mo are components of enzymes. • Micronutrients play a key role in protein synthesis as well.
5 The form of Protein Synthesis nitrogen uptake by tree roots plays a significant role in the tree’s innate ability to resist disease.
The Right Nitrogen Susceptibility to disease goes rocketing up whenever an orchard tree takes in nutrition in a form that undermines immune function. Several fungal diseases, such as rust and powdery mildew, are enhanced by high levels of nitrogen, particularly in the form of nitrate. Many bacterial diseases are promoted by high nitrogen levels as well. “Nitrogen Form and Plant Disease” by D.M. Huber and R.D. Watson in Annual Review of Phytopathology, 1974, 12:139-165. And that’s why we want a fully-functioning soil food web delivering the ammonium form of nitrogen in the root zone!
6 The Ammonium Advantage
Greater fungal biomass results in a slightly more acidic rhizosphere. That means far less nitrifying bacteria are in place to make nitrate N from ammonium N.
Protoplasm Incentive
An excess of soluble amino acids in plant sap (resulting from incomplete protein synthesis) are a prime draw for foliar pests and pathogenic fungi.
7 Fat Energy Fatty acids profoundly stimulate the arboreal and soil biology. Essential oils act as a foil to insect interest. The cuticle defense will be as much as 4X stronger when robust metabolism is engaged
proteolysis
Lipid reserves in plants counter proteolysis during times of limited photosynthesis.
8 Phytoalexin Response The terpenoid and flavanoid groupings are core resistance mechanisms to standing up to fruit tree disease. The impetus behind phyto- chemistry is threefold: • presence of disease • foliar elicitors • reserve energy
Understory Ramifications Nutrient uptake in more complex forms allows plants the reserve energy necessary to produce greater amounts of secondary plant metabolites. This keys to fungal ascendancy in the soil beneath our tree and berry plantings.
9 We can get a sense of the workings of diverse soil biology and trace Brix Readings mineral availability through light refraction of the resulting soluble solids in plant sap.
BRIX 6 Poor BRIX 10 Average BRIX 14 Good www.pikeagri.com BRIX 18 Excellent
The Gist of Brix
Higher refractometer readings corresponds with complex carbohydrates, complete proteins, and non-reducing sugars, which correlate directly with nutrition and flavor ... and pest and disease resistance.
10 Fungal Duff Management
Forest Edge Ecology
The first tenet of healthy orcharding is to emulate the way Nature builds soils via fungal connections on the edge of the forest.
11 The Soil Food Web
Microbe “feeding frenzy” keeps the immobilization / mineralization balance humming right along.
Robust tree health begins with the “right” soil biology
Fruiting plants belong in the biological transition zone where the fungal biomass is ten times that of the bacterial biomass.
12 arbuscules in cell
ecto-endo diagram
13 Mycorrhizal fungi increase the “soil soil volume reach volume reach” of the tree’s feeder roots by 100 times. But that’s not all folks!
mycorrhizal networking
14 Nutrient Balance
Researchers grew the legume Medicago truncatula with three species of mycorrhizal fungi that contribute different levels of phosphorous to the plant. Over the span of a day, the most generous species received the highest levels of carbon in return, suggesting the plants somehow monitor their nutrient intake and “decide” what’s most needed.
Plants dedicate as rhizosphere much as two- trade thirds of leaf sugar production to “fair trade” with the biology in the rhizosphere.
15 fungus-root
Mycelium Messaging
Underground signaling extends beyond nutrient exchange. Phytochemical pulsing through the hyphal network alerts neighboring plants to the presence of foliar feeding insects and specific disease vectors.
16 Influence on Soil Carbon
Soil aggregates are literally what hold our world together. Carbon-rich “glomalin” consist of mycorrhizal- derived proteins that bind soil particles into microbe havens. Here begin the humic mysteries . . .
Propagule Nuance
• Mycelial anastomosis • Root fragments • Spores and more spores
17 Mycorrhizal Root Dips
•Disturbed soil ecosystems and the pace of natural succession •Diverse species mix •www.mycorrhizae.com •www.bio-organics.com •Soluble formulations for after-the-fact
Drought Relief
Mycorrhizae distribute water throughout a plant community: • Glomus deserticola • Glomus fasciculatum • Glomus mosseae
18 Spore Assemblage
Non-disturbed ecosystems typically contain 20 to 50 different species of mycorrhizal fungi
Mushroom Manifestation
One visible “badge of honor” on the fungal front are mushrooms springing forth on the orchard floor.
19 Lessons Applied
The ultimate goal in any “orchard system” is to integrate abundant mineralization with fungal duff practices to produce outrageously flavorful fruit.
Fungal Banking
Traditional means for building an underground economy around fungal connection simply emulate how our planet creates long-term fertility.
20 Wood-Based Fertility
Hugelkultur involves an assortment of biological riffs, all based upon burying woodsy debris.
Earthwork prior to planting typically utilizes wood resources to either build Hugel prep water-retaining swales or terraces across contour to provide tractor access to trees
21 Creating Biological Terraces
Soil/ compost/ hay placed over woodsy debris was used to form polyculture swales alongside tree rows
22 Rechargeable Carbon Battery
The porous crystalline spaces found within biochar are a long-term fertility boon for mycorrhizae.
biochar particle
23 Humification The newest growth of a deciduous tree contains soluble lignins that have not yet polymerized into outright wood. Fungi convert this into humus. Agricultural soils that have been built from the top down through fungal action has staying power and maximized nutrient recycling.
Fungal Foods Organic matter rich in soluble lignins provides particular saprotrophic fungi a chance to rock the humus kasbah.
Small deciduous trees (on the order of one to two inches in trunk diameter) from field edges, overgrown pasture, and power lines are the ideal wood chip source for perennial plantings: – Far greater proportion of cambium, buds, and twigs in small wood offer healthy nutrition that gets “banked” as long term humus. – White rot fungi along with mycorrhizal fungi makes these nutrients available to a wide range of plants. – Totally different from bark mulch and sawdust !!!
Twigs and coarse “lignin chips” make for long- ramial twig view lasting fungal happiness… keep in mind this isn’t about human notions of neatness!
25 Biological Equipment
Orchard prunings become ramial chipped wood, made in place, fresh, without leaf, lightly spread, making for a most sensible humic connection.
ramial prunings
26 Sourcing the Right Stuff
• Coppiced shrubs, not even chipped! • Pasture edges, tree tops from logging, alder resource base • Commercial landscapers
ramial sourcing
27 Black Rot
•Orchard sanitation, from pruning piles to mummies • What about those big ol’ heading cuts made several years ago? •Frog-eye leaf spot phase
28 Ramial Pockets
• This investment in woodsy ecology is a priority! • Easy digging in future years to establish taprooted herbs like comfrey
Fungal Duff Zone
Emphasize fungal dominance in the understory as best you can, regardless of fruit variety or the rootstock chosen.
29 Fungal Duff Management
• Spread mulch haphazardly: Different sides of the tree in different years. A thicker dump of ramial wood chips alters soil dynamics longer for feeder roots. • Fatty acid content of holistic spray options are fuel for desirable organisms in the soil and on tree surface. • Mulch hay for potassium: intact bale for bumble queens; spread over clean sheetrock scraps (gypsum source) • Herb business benefits: raspberry canes, nettle stalks, goldenrod and the like • Nutrient cycling by taprooted understory just as vital as outside mulching inputs. • Leaf decomposition in tree row is “biological profit”
Cruise Control
• Plant allies like comfrey maintain an openness under the tree all season. • Taprooted plants offer more space below for feeder root outreach. • This is not “bare ground” but rather a biological bonanza!
30 The growth cycle of the apple tree suggests that tasks …
… be timed to influence disease resistance and winter hardiness alike.
31 Fruit Guilds
Sheet mulching, combined with terracing and extensive use of chop-and-drop nitrogen fixers and other mulch plants has created a remarkable soil around each fruit tree.
Herbal Borders A number of plants can be integrated into the fungal duff zone to achieve a “certain look” and yet be relatively low maintenance while maintaining health connection.
32 • Vegetable Where Orchard cultivation and and Garden Meet cover crop timing often share a correspondence with tree feeder root cycles. • Holistic sprays and steering in a fungal direction apply equally to garden doings.
Commercial Scale The economics of high density systems keys to the relatively low cost of chemistry compared to labor. Biological compromise allows organic growers to join the fray.
33 Keyline plowing
Your Look
Keep fungal principles to the fore and interplant to your heart’s content . . . as these are the fruit trees that will experience holistic advantage!
34 Soil Fertility Considerations
Orchard Compost • Spreading biology and replenishing vital nutrients • Fruit trees thrive with a fungal-dominated compost • 40:1 CN ratio • Unturned, well-aged
35 compost bins
Fungal strands in a properly- made “orchard compost” will be visible to the naked eye.
36 Long Term Fungality
• Forest edge prospecting • Catalyst sprays for fungal development • Enhanced value of soil condiments
• Species diversity continues to Biological Maturity increase for up to six months once compost is “mature” after which food resources begin to run out. • Two-year compost downgrades biologically to the extent of being little more than topsoil.
37 Returning the Harvest
It takes 2 tons of compost to the acre to supplement orchard-generated organic matter. That amounts to a single cubic foot of “black gold” per tree on a 16x24 spacing.
More Secrets of the Soil
A few quick and dirty tips to understanding fertility balance.
38 “Plants in touch with balanced, exchangeable nutrients provide their own protection against bacterial, fungal, and insect attack.”
Charles Walters, Acres USA speaking on the work of Dr. Albrecht and others before “toxic rescue chemistry” became the norm
Plants in touch with balanced, exchangeable nutrients provide their own protection against bacterial, fungal, and insect attack.
39 Different labs Soil Testing emphasize different strengths acids to extract nutrients … which often leads to differing recommendations. Philosophical divide between “yield sufficiency” and “fertility ratios”
• Get that pH in the 6.3–6.7 range. Basic Soil • Organic matter fuels the biology. Values Get OM to 3% at a bare minimum. • Do this in the context of cation balance based on the CEC number for your soil.
40 Cation Balance Calcium baseline starts at 2000 lbs/acre … and pushing 4000 lbs/acre is a worthy investment. Sandy and clay soils require wriggle room here: Mg pulls soil particles closer whereas Ca spreads soil particles apart
Ratios Determined by the CEC
• Those blessed with loam will find that 70:10:3+ helps solve the “bitter pit problem” and improves fruit integrity. • Sandy soils (with a low CEC) need extra Mg thereby shifting this to 68:16:3 • Heavy clay soils (with a high CEC) benefit from extra Ca along the lines of 76:10:4
41 The Art of Liming² Incorporation Phase Maintenance Phase • Lime moves down • Lower rates as now into the soil a mere working with active inch a year. biological systems • Incorporation cued to (200-400 lbs/acre) cover crop prep is an • Serve up surface lime important opportunity. with molasses and • Split applications humates to facilitate preferred when recs food web uptake. given in terms of • Only if confirmed by tons/acre. subsequent testing.
Alkaline Ground
42 Spring Gypsum Calcium makes for more rigid cell walls, leading to strength against intrusion of fungal hyphae. Sulfur is essential for protein synthesis, which, when leached enables water- soluble sugars to buildup and fuel fungal pathogens.
Phosphate’s Role
Phosphorous is more often than not the “missing link” with respect to calcium uptake and fruit nutrient density. Total phosphate (P2O5) and potash (KO2) readings of at least 200 lbs/acre as determined by Modified Morgan extraction
43 Protein Synthesis
Plant metabolism guided by deep nutrition results in a very different food environment for disease pathogens.
Theory of Trophobiosis
> Deficiency of balanced nutrition > inhibition of protein synthesis > accumulation of soluble substances >improved nutrition for pests >rapid multiplication and virulence of bacterial and fungal pathogens
44 Feed a Fever?
• French research points to a Ca:K ratio nearer to 20:1 to achieve optimal protein synthesis. • Asparagine levels go up in plant sap otherwise. . .
Nutrient Contributions to Stellar Immunity
Boron helps synthesize amino acids like tryptophane needed to resist fungal entry. Copper increases plant tissue levels of ascorbic acid and beta-carotene. Tree bark is more “flexible” as well. Molybdenum required by nitrate-reductase enzyme, without which we see increase in fruit rots. Cobalt benefits soil microorganisms, is a precursor to enzymes, and is required by N-fixing bacteria.
45 • Kelp meal added Trace Minerals to the compost pile and fed to farm animals. • Azomite clay dusted on planting ground. • Dehydrated sea minerals come perfectly balanced to support life.
Critical Points of Influence
• The bloom period through fruit set are especially important time for trace mineral availability. • Foliar options include MicroPak and SeaCrop
46 Fruit • Elongation of pollen tubes • Regulation of fruiting thru cell division Matters • Essential role in protein synthesis
Sulfur Revisited
• When a plant is short of sulfur, it leads to accumulation of sugar, starches and nitrates. • Soil test levels are a minimum of 25 ppm or 50 pounds of elemental S. • Sulfate forms utilized in cation balancing. • Helps increase heat tolerance of crops.
47 Timing Soil Applications to the Feeder Root Flush
Mineral boosts at greenup and in early fall give the biology time to assimilate nutrition before the flush of spring and fall feeder roots.
Remineralize the Earth • Long-term renewal of soil occurs through the crushing of rocks by glaciers and volcanic eruptions. • Rock Dust Local specializes in local sourcing and delivery of the BEST (Broad Elemental Spectrum Tectonic) rock dusts for remineralization.
48 Expanding Tree Radius
Tree mineral zone expands over time, as does the fungal duff.
π r² x tree count 40,000 sq. ft.
Radius of 4 ft, 121 trees per acre → 15% rec rate
Biological Parameters
The overstocked pantry approach of “soil chemistry” would be better considered from the perspective of nutrient density and crop resistance to insect pests and disease.
49 Nutrient density in the fruit equates to Life density in the soil
Healthy Nutrient Uptake
• A fully-functional biology is key to good soil digestion. • Without an abundance of allies, feeder roots absorb simple ions. • Fungal ascendancy abets absorbing nutrients in the form of amino acids and soluble carbohydrates. • This “partially built” advantage requires less energy. • Voila! This is the means a tree reaches the final stages of plant health.
50 Medicinal Synthesis
• Skin pigments are the major source of antioxidants in fruit. • Phenolics inhibit growth of both liver and colon cancers • Overuse of fungicides reduces the healing virtue of the apple by as much as three times
Rudolf Steiner recognized that our "current dilemma" amounted to a Meaningful Nutrition / Proper Brain peculiarly challenging Function dynamic. Essentially, humans urgently needing to make good decisions no longer had the wholesome nutrition necessary to support proper brain function and spiritual perception.
51 An Apple a Day
Ecosystem Connections
52 Biodiversity in biodiversity plug understory plantings and nearby hedgerows supports an ongoing fertility loop as well as insect allies.
Stacking Functions
• Bee attractants • Insectary plants • Dynamic accumulators • Living mulch • Nitrogen fixers • Pest repellent herbs • Vole repellent bulbs • Crop plants (berries, herbs, vegetables)
53 Dynamic Accumulators
Deep taprooted plants bring minerals up from the subsoil which in turn (upon that plant’s decomposition) are made available to the soil food web and thus the tree.
Comfrey • Living mulch • Room in the humus • Bumblebee happiness • Foliar calcium • Beneficial insect haven • Winter chickens
54 Taproot Fertility Loop This cycling of subsoil minerals up into leafy matter that fungi and bacteria in turn break down on the soil surface is the primary fertility loop for orchard trees.
Root Respiration
An all-grass understory results in carbon dioxide (CO2) overload for tree feeder roots. Far more “room in the humus” exists with tap rooted plants.
55 Mowing is a technique among many used by orchardists to ripen mineral humus to the benefit of an extreme diversity of fungi. —Hugh Williams
Biological Mowing
• Pulsing nutrient availability with a sharp blade • Fungal sweet spot of plants just going into seed stage • Opening up the humus layer for tree feeder roots
56 Terminal buds send the signal to prepare for winter by some point in August (ending the second phase of shoot growth), thereby initiating the fall root flush. Can you guess where “tree carbon” is going? Keeping the mycorrhizal network fully engaged through the early fall months for this important period of mineral uptake by the trees means that a majority of understory plants area-wide should ideally be in the vegetative stage as the harvest begins. Grasses focused on renewed growth are not setting seed. Correspondingly, understory mycorrhizae are not chiming in for minerals to the same degree as the fruit trees. Aisleways that have been grazed, mowed, or planted to cover crops in midsummer help keep “understory carbon” out of the trading loop at this juncture. Orchard management decisions are in truth about pulsing fungal incentives to achieve optimal production. Mycorrhizal Planet excerpt
Incorporate plants Nitrogen into the orchard polyculture that Fixers provide nitrogen for young fruit trees. When goumi and other nitrogen fixers are cut down, their roots respond by releasing a plume of N into the surrounding soil.
57 Permaculture “chop and drop”
Nitrogen fixing plants like Siberian pea shrub, red alder, and buffaloberry can be coppice managed for many years, dropped to the ground just like succession works on the forest edge.
58 Bridge Trees
The so-called “soft hardwoods” like willow and alder bring ectomycorrhizal advantage to an otherwise endomycorrhizal orchard ecosystem.
tree root reach
The long reach of tree root systems enhances mycorrhizal network connections. Alder and apple alike extend further than you might expect.
59 Red Clover
• Both red clover and crimson clover initiate the turn towards fungal dominance • Nitrogen fixation • Cover crop of choice prior to planting new trees
Lupinus
• These legumes fix nitrogen from the air into ammonia via a rhizobium-root nodule symbiosis • Important larval food plant for many butterflies • Edible seeds (Australia)
60 Beneficial Accumulators
An open swath of buckwheat at the end of a row, sweet cicely by the grape arbor, umbelliferous herbs throughout ... All these integrations are of great import.
61 Incorporating Diversity • Plant in clumps • Select flowers to provide bloom through the season. • More flower area equals more beneficial insects • Include native grasses for structural support
You won’t go wrong steering your orchard ecosystem beneficial habitat towards the “forest edge”
62 Front Line Allies
This syrphid fly larva consumes on the order of forty aphids a day!
Holistic apple growing is about subtle solutions retained through a reverence for life
63 Alligator Patrol
Ladybug larvae seemingly come from the Everglades!
Numerous parasitic wasps have definite caterpillar intentions. Their presence depends on the Beneficial biodiversity you awareness foster throughout the landscape.
64 But first let’s do the numbers …
What do Insect Allies Need? Alternate host/prey Shelter Moderated microclimates In-season refuges Overwintering sites Adult Food Nectar Pollen Sap, honey
65 Macrocentrus ancylivorus
This braconid wasp is a dedicated parasite of oriental fruit moth larvae and peach twig borer larvae. Parasitism can reach levels of 80 to 90 percent by August and September to help provide long-term control of this pest.
California studies indicate that growing a small plot of sunflowers can provide these braconid wasps with an overwintering host (in the sunflower moth) which allow its populations to build more rapidly in the orchard the following season. Similarly, strawberry leafroller serves as a food host for Macrocentrus. The ragweed borer, which bores in the stems of ragweed species, is yet another alternate host. There’s a The Case for stunning conclusion here: A great diversity of plants left “beyond Winter Debris their time” helps to address pest challenges like OFM and PTB!
66 Spring Tiphia Wasp
• Tiphia vernalis is a small, parasitic wasp of Japanese beetle grubs • Current distribution is throughout the Northeastern United States and south to North Carolina. • Adult wasps feed almost exclusively on the honeydew of aphids associated with the leaves of maple, cherry, and elm trees. Peonies contribute as well. • The nectar of tulip poplars has been found to be an important food source for the adult wasps.
wolf spider habitat
67 bird friends
68 The Fruit Beat Peach, cherry, and apricot have extrafloral nectar glands on the base of leaf buds. Lady beetles feed on this nectar and thus get a jump on early aphids on nearby apples.
Diversity Compounded
Both blueberry maggot fly and apple maggot fly populations go down when these fruits share proximity. Any guesses as to why?
69 Biodiversity to the nth degree
Creative recycling can be used to increase pollinator and beneficial insect populations.
Farming with Native Beneficial Insects is a must-have resource for holistic fruit growers.
70 Wildflower Mix for the Midwest
• Golden Alexander • Lanceleaf Coreopsis • Dotted Mint • Butterfly Milkweed • Partridge Pea • Virginia Mountain Mint • Maximilian Sunflower • Showy Goldenrod • Calico Aster
Grasses for the Midwest
• Big Bluestem • Prairie Junegrass • Little Bluestem • Prairie Dropseed Clumping grasses (25% of mix) add structure to wildflower diversity.
71 Major Bee Groups in Eastern North America • honey bees • bumble bees • carpenter bees • mason bees • leafcutter bees • sweat bees • digger bees
Osmia in tube
72 Here are some ways you can support native bees:
• Keep dead or dying trees and branches whenever safe. Wood boring beetles often have created narrow tunnels into which solitary bees will make their home. Rotting logs also provide nest sites for some bees. • Protect sloped or well-drained ground sites where bees can find direct access to soil. These areas are prime nesting spots for ground bees. • On farms or open lands, keep some areas untilled. Turning over the soil will destroy ground nests that are present and will prevent the emergence of bees nesting deeper in the soil.
• Bumblebees live in the grassy interface between open fields and hedgerows or woods. Mow in late fall or winter after the colonies have died and when the queens are dormant. Attracting Native Pollinators • Approximately, 30% of the 4,000 native bee species are solitary wood-nesters building their homes in the soft pithy centers of branches. Box elder, sumac, dogwood, elderberry, and various cane berries provide good hollow tunnels for nest building.
73 fairy places
Disease Progression
74 Disease is not some sort of “manifest destiny” for crops denied the protection of spray medicines.
Germ Theory Revisited
One of the earliest western references to this appears in On Agriculture by Marcus Terentius Varro (published in 36 BC), wherein there is a warning about locating a homestead in the proximity of swamps: "...and because there are bred certain minute creatures that cannot be seen by the eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and there cause serious diseases."
75 Facing Our Fungal Fears
Bordeaux Beginnings
The very first sprays of copper sulfate were to deter roadside grazers . . . And thus was born the Bordeaux spray that exhibited effectiveness against fungal disease.
76 The search for what else “worked” to deter disease was on. And thus began Allopathic path a hundred fifty years with the mineral fungicides and subsequent chemistry.
Clean Slate Mentality
Modern people hold an unquestioning belief that sterility is akin to disease control. FINE AND DANDY. That said we still have to face both the ubiquity and brilliance of the fungal and bacterial worlds.
77 Fungal Disease Progression
Apple Scab Venturia inaequalis
Key Aspects of Every Disease • Spore potential overwinters somewhere, and certain pathogens have more than one launching pad. • The timing of infection susceptibility determines when to act … in accord with the approach chosen to thwart disease.
78 Tree Inoculum
Brown Rot Monilinia fructicola
Shot hole fungus on cherry
79 Preventing fungal infection in the primary infection period is paramount, as conidia development will continue the spread of “secondary scab” all summer long otherwise.
secondary scab cycle
We Begin with Pink Perfection
Be sure to get outside to savor this moment … As it all goes downhill from here!
80 early lesions of scab
Early lesions of apple scab become apparent only 9 to as many as 16 days after infection actually occurs.
Scab Infection Curve
1. Leaf susceptibility is highest when 3- 9 days old
2. Expanding surface area of exposed green tissue
3. Maturation of the fungal spores
81 The Mills Wetting Chart
Several things can work in the grower’s favor: • Quick drying conditions • Phyochemical response • Balanced nutrition • Innate resistance
Air Circulation
Competent pruning ties into disease control to reduce that wetting period.
82 Old School Organics
• Copper works akin to a blunt barrier by unfavorably altering surface hospitality for overwintering organisms. • Sulfur works as a protectant fungicide in altering solution pH thereby inhibiting the production of spore penetration enzymes. • Lime sulfur brings an eradicant edge by penetrating the leaf tissue and thus whacking that hyphal start-up out of the ballpark if applied within the first 24 to perhaps 36 hours following actual infection, ideally while leaves are still moist.
Mineral fungicides will have significant impact on soil and arboreal organisms, return bloom, beneficial insects, yield, fruit finish, and perhaps even your happiness.
83 • Distinguishing between micronized Sulfur Nuance sulfur and mineral sulfur. • Protectant application PRIOR to every anticipated wetting event is very old school indeed! • Daring to recognize when residual coverage may serve the cause.
Dancing with the Scab Fungus
This research lies at the heart of determining the threat inherent in a “marginal wetting period” and therefore the need to act.
84 Weather Stations
Degree Days (Base 32) for LA CROSSE MUNICIPAL AP Past Past Current 5-Day Forecast Forecast Details Date Feb 18 Feb 19 Feb 20 Feb 21 Feb 22 Feb 23 Feb 24 Feb 25 Daily Degree 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 Days Seasonal 8 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 Accumulation Accumulated Degree-Days
The data to be found “in the vicinity” can be translated for an assortment of orchard events through computer modelling. The website http://newa.cornell.edu/ provides growers with a reassuring check on ascospore maturity and release.
An Allopathic Touch Heavy hitting medicines may have a place in extreme wetting periods and where certain pathogens achieve a indisputable foothold in the orchard.
85 Cedar Apple Rust Holistic management of cedar apple rust entails conscious choice of varieties and competitive reinforcement.
86 Rust Resistant Varieties
William’s Pride Liberty Enterprise Sundance Akane Ashmead’s Kernal Mollie’s Delicious Roxbury Russet Tydeman’s Red Limbertwig(s)
Bicarbonate Observation
Sulfur has not shown good effectiveness in inhibiting rust infection. The alkaline effects of “baking soda” alter surface pH in the other direction. Acts to damage the cell wall membranes of fungal spores as well by causing an imbalance of potassium ions within the cell.
87 What if the terpenoid compounds found in red cedar needles induced systemic resistance within the apple tree against cedar apple rust?
What If
Pathogen Strategies
• Biotrophic organisms rely on penetrating enzymes and effector proteins to feed on soluble amino acids. • Hemibiotrophic organisms phase in all strategies. • Necrotrophic organisms kill host cells immediately to obtain nutrients.
88 The Holistic Approach to Fruit Tree Disease
89 Changing the Paradigm
We need to understand that all these “spray medicines” are making up for specific biological and nutritional deficiencies.
Thinking Anew about Disease
Enhancing the tree’s immune response Creating a competitive fungal and bacterial environment
90 Fungal Groupings
• Saprotrophic fungi • Mycorrhizal fungi • Arboreal fungi (yeasts, shelf mushrooms, epiphytic and endophytic fungi) • Parasitic fungi
Everything in Nature is interdependent — everything.
Rudolf Steiner quote I have to emphasize this again and again.
Rudolf Steiner
91 Working with Immune Function
• A tad of disease presence is good. • Herbal constituents, arboreal biology, and trace minerals used in holistic sprays will stimulate the phytoalexin response.
Systemic Acquired Resistance
The presence of a stressor elicits a phytochemical response not only in the plants being subject to adversity but also in yet- unaffected neighbors. This priming of the system produces an almost endless number of chemical variations within. Bacterial spot on peach
92 • Hydrolytic Salicylic Acid enzymes Pathway contact fungal or bacterial presence • Oxidative burst • Salicylic acid build-up • Phytoanticipins vary for each plant species
SAR Requisites
• Defensive compounds include more than 350 known substances. • Balanced mineral nutrition is necessary for plants to synthesize the full range of defensive compounds. • Soluble carbohydrates and glycopeptides (sugar proteins) suppress production of phytoanticipins.
93 The Limits of Pathogens/ pests can adjust in turn to plant SAR defensive mechanisms: – tolerating accumulated phytoanticipins – suppressing production – detoxifying by means of counter enzymes – avoid eliciting response Prolonged lack of sunshine radically alters phytochemical oomph.
94 Inducing Systemic Resistance
Using nature’s pharmacy to prep the plant for whatever may be coming next. All the subtleties of a living orchard system must be in place!
ISR Mechanisms
• An “ISR vaccine” initiates a gene cascade involving as many as 20 genes to produce a single phytoalexin compound. • Mechanical wounding initiates electrical signaling that leads to biosynthesis of jasmonate hormone, and thus another defensive response. • Activating multiple mechanisms with an assortment of foliar inducers is key. • Effectiveness of holistic application in the field stretches as long as 10 days (to as much as 14 days in greenhouse trials)
95 • Non-pathogenic bacteria Inducing (such as Bacillus spp.) Elicitors • Chemicals produced by infected plants (such as resveratrol in knotweed) • Terpenes, phenols, and alkaloids found in herbs • Compost teas and EM • Ionic minerals (Sea Crop) • Kelp extracts • Humic acid extracts
The Arboreal Food Web
• Introducing biological allies to boost surface populations. • Colonization on the order of 70% outcompetes disease-causing organisms. • Maintaining “natural advantage” requires that we play a stewardship role.
96 Ecological Stresses Working Against Canopy Colonization
• Extreme heat • Deep cold • Ultraviolet radiation • Ozone depletion • Acid rain • Dry spells • Use of fungicides • Nitrate fertilization • Limited food resources on the leaf surface
Soil Food Web Unleashed
“Do we have to know the names of each of these bacterial and fungal species in order to get them to work for us? No... Let the plants select the active organisms to do the work Nature designed them to do.” Elaine Ingham
97 Probiotics for Trees
One key to holistic disease management falls under the banner of Biological Reinforcement. We pick up that trail with the memory of another time…
the noble chestnut tree American chestnut once stood tall among the forest trees throughout Appalachia. This primary species grew from Maine to Georgia—one in four forest trees was an American chestnut in the early 1900's. More than 80% of these trees died within fifty years as a result of an imported fungal blight.
98 A Lesson in Waiting
And yet the rooted trunk of these noble trees did not die. Stump sprouts sprang up again and again. The imported disease organism was meeting the soil food web.
American Chestnut Blight
Compost or rich earth rubbed into blight lesions early on will outcompete Cryphonectria parasitica
99 Cellular view of leaf x-section
Microbes on leaf surface
100 Effective • Diverse mix of photosynthetic bacteria, Microbes lactic acid bacteria, and yeasts. • Brewing mother culture with molasses makes for outstanding economy. • Orchard and garden results are very promising with fungal and bacterial disease.
Diverse Roles for the Players
• Photosynthetic bacteria synthesize root and foliage secretions by using sunlight and the heat of the soil to form amino acids, nucleic acids, and sugars to help feed the masses. • Lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid from carbohydrates which suppresses disease-causing organisms. Promotes decomposition of organic matter. And most telling, improves utilization of calcium, phosphorous, and iron by the plant. • Yeasts synthesize bioactive enzymes to promote active cell division
101 • Brewing is all about getting a microbe culture to reproduce. Activating EM • The first phase launches the lactic acid bacteria with two to three days at 90 to 110°F. • Another five to seven days at 72 to 78°F will see the photosynthetic bacteria coming out of dormancy. • A solution pH below 3.8 and that sweet earthy smell means all are now hale and hearty.
And Then What Happens?
Up to ten million unicellular organisms live on every square centimeter of leaf surface.
102 Aerated Compost Tea
•Fungal nuance as defined by aerobically-brewed compost tea •Elaine Ingram’s Compost Tea Brewing Manual
The Missing Link
Maintaining a diversity of organisms on plant surfaces is a holistic goal. Aerated compost tea ups the ante so to speak, including species like this fungal feeding nematode. Using effective microbes and tea together is worthy of further investigation. Just remember to supply the “fats” necessary to sustain our troops in the field!
103 No problem can be solved from the same level
of consciousness Albert Einstein quote that created it.
Albert Einstein
Holistic Alternatives to Fungicides
104 backpack sprayer photo
A “fungal curve” coincides with understory actions …
fungal curve 1
105 … that can considerably add to our understanding of why we do what we do when we do it.
fungal curve 2
Using Holistic Sprays to Further Boost Good Fungal Dynamics
Trace Minerals Fatty Acids Microbe Diversity
Holistic “core recipe” consists of pure neem oil, fish hydrolysate, seaweed, and some version of microbial inoculant.
106 Distinguishing between whole plant medicine and Pure Neem Oil standardized extracts. Quality control means cold- pressed oil with azadirachtin content >1800 ppm. Neem terpenoids induce systemic acquired resistance (SAR). Polyunsaturated fatty acids contribute to tree health and arboreal microbe colonization. www.neemresource.com
Working with Unadulterated Neem Planning ahead is a must to spray neem oil: – Unadulterated neem is “thick as butter” <59°F. – Place container in warm, dark room to homogenize . – Mix emulsifying agent into oil (1 Tbs. per 6 oz.) – Pour warm water into mix in large bucket, stir vigorously, then add last to spray tank. Use immediately. Growing season rate of 0.5%, with applications made 7 to 14 days apart.
107 More Practical • Seed oil stored at 40°F Insights remains stable with regard to azadirachtin activity. • Pour into “batch size” containers when first warming a larger container. Keeping neem oil cool until needed as opposed to constantly thawing a carboy or barrel will preserve constituents better. • Clean pump, hoses, and fittings after every spray. CitraSolve works well to “degrease” spray equipment.
That ol’ EPA Registration Number
Many dollars go into getting bureaucratic approval, even for remedies longstanding. The very same quality neem sold by Ahimsa Organics now costs you about 40% more.
108 Karanja Synergy
• Pressed from seeds of pongam tree • Lighter weight, slightly less cost • Flavanoid immune action • Different insect impact • Substitute 1/3 neem portion
Liquid Fish
• Unpasteurized hydrolysate contains the biologically-rich omega fats of whole fish. • This is NOT fish emulsion! • Foliar rate of 1-2 gallons per acre; ground rate of 4 gallons per acre.
109 Product Nuance
True “liquid fish” is not heat treated but rather cold processed with phosphoric acid added to stabilize odor potential. The NPK analysis reflects this aspect of a true hydrolysate product.
• Both forms retain naturally chelated Seaweed Extract nutrients, amino acids, and hormones. Liquid Kelp • Polysaccahrides, however, are lost unless the kelp is cold-processed. Consider this to be “plant antifreeze” when frost threatens tender blossoms in spring.
110 Cytokinins Prolong Resistance
Researchers have noted that cytokinin hormones in kelp grant the fruit tree more time to increase its resistance response to disease-causing organisms. This is accomplished by stimulating the production of flavonoids and abetting the synthesis of protein.
Biological Reinforcement
Options are three: • Purchased inoculum • Compost-derived • Indigenous cultures
The life component of the holistic spray plan cannot be overlooked!
111 Core Holistic Spray Recipe
Fish hydrolysate, pure neem oil, effective microbes, and seaweed extract stimulate green immune function and reinforce canopy colonization.
The Orchard Calendar
Dormant Season Bud Awakening Tight cluster / Pink Bloom Petal Fall Cover Sprays Harvest Fall Sanitation Winter Preparation
112 Spray Framework
Holistic Timing • Spring sprays straddle primary infection events. • Comprehensive sprays are just that! • Summer sprays address rots and aesthetic fungi. • Fall spray(s) address bud crevice wannabes and orchard floor inoculum.
113 Primary Infection Window
We start with a ground/ trunk catalyst spray and extend this biological thrust to straddle the primary infection period of assorted fungal pathogens.
Pulsing Fatty acid nutrition acts as a catalyst throughout the humus and on the Agents soil surface – and indeed on the branch structure of the tree, aptly described by Rudolf Steiner as an extension of the soil itself. This “priming of the pump” includes double rates of microbes to enhance decomposition of leaves (on the orchard floor) as well as maintain a niche advantage in bud scales and bark crevices.
114 Spring Timing
Spring applications are timed to four specified apple bud stages: – Quarter-inch green – Open Cluster to Pink – Petal Fall – First Cover
Including trace minerals in the latter three apps boosts plant metabolism at key points in the tree’s growth cycle.
Sea Minerals Seawater contains 90 elements plus many compound minerals. It has been estimated that seawater contains over 50,000 different organic substances in the form of fulvic acid.
115 Wetting period (HOURS)
Incubation Average Average Moderate Light Infection Heavy Infection Period Temperature (F) Temperature (C) Infection Revising (days) 78 25.6 13 17 26 ... 77 25.0 11 14 21 ... the Mills 76 24.4 9.5 12 19 ... 63-75 17.2-23.9 9 12 18 9 62 16.7 9 12 19 10 Wetting 61 16.1 9 13 20 10 60 15.6 9.5 13 20 11 59 15.0 10 13 21 12 Chart 58 14.4 10 14 21 12 57 13.9 10 14 22 13 56 13.3 11 15 22 13 Let’s consider this 55 12.8 11 16 24 14 54 12.2 11.5 16 24 14 venerable chart once 53 11.7 12 17 25 15 52 11.1 12 18 26 15 again but now from 51 10.6 13 18 27 16 the perspective of 50 10.0 14 19 29 16 49 9.4 14.5 20 30 17 the healthy fruit tree. 48 8.9 15 20 30 17 47 8.3 17 23 35 17 46 7.8 19 25 38 17 The upshot here is 45 7.2 20 27 41 17 very bold indeed! 44 6.6 22 30 45 17 43 6.1 25 34 51 17 42 5.5 30 40 60 17
Community Orchard Rates
This assumes a hundred gallon spray tank capacity to cover one acre of trees. A half gallon of pure neem oil mixed with a quarter cup of soap emulsifier mixed into 100 gallons of water achieves a 0.5% neem concentration. Seaweed extract is a given: 8 ounces (dry weight) goes in the tank. Two gallons of liquid fish and one gallon of activated effective microbes completes the brew.
116 Home Orchard Rates
Assume a four gallon backpack sprayer is used to cover so many trees to the point of runoff. Mix 2.5 ounces of pure neem oil with a generous teaspoonful of soap emulsifier to achieve a 0.5% neem concentration. Use 10 ounces of liquid fish and ¾ cup of mother culture of effective microbes; add as much as ½ cup of blackstrap molasses to launch those hungry critters. Include 5 tablespoons liquid kelp or a half an ounce (dry weight) of the seaweed extract.
Holistic Exploration Other potential ingredients in a nutritionally- based spray program are foods for surface microbes and foliar uptake.
117 Osage Orange
Tetrahydroxystilbene found in the fruits of the Osage Orange tree exhibits significant antifungal activity for both plant and human use.
Fruit Sizing Window
The month following fruit set is when flower bud initiation for next year takes place in apples and pears.
118 Thinning by Hand
• Space fruitlets 6 to 8 inches apart “on average” • Figure that 20% of your labor time will be spent thinning! • Pest populations can be set back for the following year
Blossom Thinning
• Smothering bloom with vegetable oil • Burning flower stigmas with high rate of potassium bicarbonate • Ditto for table salt • Swiss research into 5-7% concentration “vinasse”
119 Photosynthesis Inhibitors
• FOLS strategy for those heavy setting varieties • Effective timing cues to limiting nutrient flow for seed development • Cloud cover amplifies effects
• 7 to 10 day Comprehensive intervals tied to Applications weather events • Keeping up competitive colonization • Silica and calcium to boost cuticle strength • Pest applications in-between
120 Fruit Ripening Window
The crop being grown, disease relevance at a particular site, and market appeal decide whether a fruit grower continues with holistic sprays deep into summer.
Waxy exudates are the feeding The Cuticle grounds of Defense surface diseases. Nutritional support here keys on bioavailable silica and calcium to build up the cuticle.
121 A Few Tenets of Herbal Medicine
Immune support always begins with balanced nutrition. The body (the plant) has innate ability to fend off disease and heal when we understand that “food is medicine”. Plant medicines found locally are ideal. Whole plant synergy really, really matters!
Horsetail Tea
Rudolf Steiner suggested use of fermented horsetail tea to combat fungal attacks.
122 The Overlooked Role of Silica
Essential element for cuticle strength on both leaf and fruit. Fresh horsetail has high silica content by early summer. The timing here is right for both summer diseases and fruit rots. Equisetum arvense
Stinging Nettle
• Silica levels in nettle rise considerably when this herb reaches its seed stage. • Again, summer applications fall right in line when boosting the cuticle defense matters most.
123 Foliar Calcium
• Fruit quality is most often determined by adequate calcium. • Calcium is difficult to transpose from leaf to fruit. • Fermented comfrey tea offers bioavailable calcium and more.
Brewing Basics • Fresh herb is ideally infused with hot water to initiate constituent extraction. • Ferment for 7 to 14 days, keeping covered. This process makes minerals bioavailable. • Garlic scapes increase stomata absorption.
124 Use of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in medicine dates to 1963, when it was Garlic’s Role in discovered this compound could penetrate the skin Fruit Production membrane without damage and subsequently carry other compounds into a biological system. Unpasteurized garlic extracts contain compounds similar to DMSO. The best use of garlic in the holistic orchard is as a synergist carrier of spray nutrients into the leaf cuticle and cells beyond.
Fermented Plant Extracts
• Homegrown • Living brew • One dollar per gallon cost • Pure ‘guy’ essence • Calcium and silica results on website
125 Upping the Ante
Calcium Brew Silica Brew • comfrey leaf • horsetail • green nettle • seeded nettle • effective • effective microbes microbes • Azomite clay and/or • garlic scapes soft rock phosphate • whole milk • granite meal and/or • gypsum basalt dust • humic and fulvic • humic and fulvic acids acids
126 Summer Disease Cycles
The first round of surface- feeding fungi that cause sooty blotch and flyspeck are typically deterred by scab diligence. Sticking with “summer intentions” through July and August (and even into September for late varieties) is where the quest for cleaner fruit at harvest time is truly waged.
127 The Phytolith Factor
Summer Fruit Rots
A strong cuticle radically lessens the ability of brown rot fungi to do in the harvest. Time to close the door on these ruffians, eh?
128 The first indication of brown rot in the spring is Rot Unleashed the rapid death of blossoms which, as they turn brown, often become affixed to the twig in a gummy mass. The fungus next enters the shoot where it causes a canker on which spores are also produced. Early season copper knocks back this set-up; Zen-o-Spore is the biological alternative.
Brown Rot in Humid Virginia
Beginning in June, Barbara Pleasant sprays her stone fruit trees five times at two-week intervals with diluted milk. Both fruits and foliage are covered until the spray mixture drips to the ground. She stops spraying when the fruits began to ripen, not wanting milk residue on the fruits. The results? Less than 10 percent brown rot incidence on her plums whereas in previous seasons the crop was essentially a wipeout.
129 Herbal Rot Remedy
Research from China indicates an extract of the leaves and vines of Schisandra chinensis prevent brown rot on peaches
Bitter Pit 101 • Crop loading and “Calcium Imbalance” weather patterns are big factors • Excess of potassium or magnesium blocks uptake of calcium • Use gypsum to up soil calcium levels without affecting pH
130 Manganese Chelate
• Foliar applications of manganese (reduced form) balance potassium absorption. • Use with apps that include fermented plant extracts into summer. • This allows calcium to move into the fruit more readily. • Manganese also abets fruit bud formation
Woe onto Us!
•Fire Blight •Blossom Blast •Blister Spot •Bacterial Spot •Bacterial canker
131 Extreme Susceptibility Growers lost 250,000 tress in southeastern Michigan in 2000. Commercial varieties on susceptible dwarfing rootstock are a perfect combination for a fire blight epidemic.
Fire Blight Strategies
Resistant varieties and rootstock Extremely vigilant sanitation Understanding copper’s mode of action, applied when buds swell, often with oil. The use of antibiotics is rightfully being questioned in organic certification. Competitive blossom environment
132 The Ugly Stub
Removing fire blight strikes in the growing season entails leaving an “infection stub” to be removed in the dormant season.
Blossom blight is best removed by snapping off the spur at the base: Using no tools means no dipping in bleach.
Holistic Opportunity with Opportunistic Bacteria
Erwinia amylovora and company, frankly, don’t like microbe diversity and competition for nutrients.
133 Organism Nemesis
• Blight Ban • Blossom Protect • Homegrown CCB
Competitive Colonization Boost NO FISH, NO NEEM • ½ g karanja oil • 4 g activated microbes • 12 oz. seaweed extract • 1 pint molasses (opt)
Mix per hundred gallons acre/spray
134 Selective Application
Spot spraying lighter-weight “copper soap” on more fire blight tending cultivars
hops extract
135 Hail Revamp
Trunk and Limb Cankers
Yet another organism simply needing you to help displace it.
136 Biodynamic Tree Paste
• Slurry of half native clay and half fresh manure or rich compost. • Applied to bark as a “facial” and specific trouble spots in early spring
Hugh Lovel riffs
• (see Acres article)
137 Other Immune Spray Products
• Hydrogen peroxide • Whey / raw milk • Serenade • Regalia • Sil-Matrix • Double Nickle
Time to talk about the most important things you can do to set up the next growing season . . .
Come the Fall
138 Managing inoculum levels on the orchard floor through bioactivity in late fall makes a huge difference in spring disease pressures.
Stirring the Biological Stew
Choose three of the following beginning at 40% leaf fall: • Lime • Mowing • Compost • Fall holistic spray
139 Fall Holistic Spray
• Targeting both the branch structure (and thus bud crevices), any as-yet-to-fall leaves, and the leaves already on the ground. • Ground rates of fish and pure neem oil, along with effective microbes. • Old-fashioned “compost tea” as backup plan.
Bark Crevice • Certain disease pathogens Colonization overwinter in bud scales and bark crevices • Insect eggs and larvae alike are tucked away here as well • Bark takes in fatty nutrition
140 Decomposition Zones Ready for Winter We are emulating forest edge ecology and thus maximizing biological activity in all these ways.
Peach Leaf Curl
• Post-harvest establishment in buds • Fall copper application with spring dormant follow-up • The holistic one- two punch of fatty acids followed by microbes
141 Bacterial Spot
• Xanthomonas bacteria and wind-driven rains • Overwintering twig lesions • Going “spring ballistic” involves spraying copper prior to budbreak • Going “spring holistic” counts on competitive colonization
Spring Fling
Winter beat you to it? Mowing in early spring is about flipping leaves and first holistic sprays equally directed at ground level.
142 Brown rot on nectarines, cherry leaf spot, peach leaf curl, bacterial spot on apricot, perennial canker … It’s still all about Herbal Relevance to tree immune Stone Fruits response, nutrient balance, and supporting competitive microbes!
The Choice is Yours
Fruit tree culture has been stuck in allopathic mode for far too long, solely seeking out short-term fungicides and antibiotics to destroy disease-causing organisms from without. We never understood that the tree’s own immune ability could be coupled with the stimulation of friendly microbes to defeat disease from within.
143 What About Genetics?
• Cross breeding with the Vf gene • Cellular hypersensitivity • Scab virulence
REDFREE resist scab by means of Vf immunity … but really … who names these varieties anyway?
“Best of the Best” Approach to Breeding
Take a good Comice pear and cross it with a sweet Seckel, and one result was the Magness, a noted modern cultivar . Yet this two-great-cultivars-as-parents approach more often leads to a very narrow, problematic genetic base.
144 Broader Resistance
Worcester Pearmain, much like the Kazakhstan apples, offers multiple mechanisms of resistance to new apple varieties.
Insect Conundrums
145 The Litany of Pest Management
Here’s damage on the fruit, Here’s the pest that did it, Here’s a spray that kills that pest.
Identify the Suspects
• The fun begins with observing the world around us • The aha moment • Zone in to recognize timing, feeding habits, molting cycle
146 pest injury photo
Points of Vulnerability Every pest species has vulnerable points in its life cycle (along with feeding preferences) which we can utilize to our advantage.
147 Tight Cluster
• Primary scab season begins in a clean orchard • Bt spray if detect significant presence of “budworms”
Redbanded Leafroller damage Those leafrollers in spring that successfully launch a second generation are seen anew at harvest … only in far less appealing fashion!
148 Fruit Set Three insects are responsible for the vast majority of aborted / desecrated fruitlets in the immediate weeks following bloom. Petal fall marks critical timing for a proper nudge.
European Apple Sawfly
•Immigrant from Switzerland within past sixty years •Pollinator •Eggs are laid into blossom ovary •Each larva destroys as many as 3-4 fruitlets
149 Strategies for EAS
• Sticky traps at early pink • Parasitic wasps specific to this sawfly have been released • Quassia works well in Europe • Spinosad at petal fall (not on label)
Plum Curculio
• Long deemed the Achilles heel of organic orcharding • 3-4 eggs per day, plus feeding stings by both females and males •Unpredictable!
150 Curculio Strategies •Daily knockdown on lush varieties (prune at green tip) •Clay barrier application immediately following petal fall and maintained into early summer •“Push and Pull” strategizing can have impact into the next growing season
Thorough coverage with Surround takes 2 to 3 applications to achieve initially, depending on the rate capacity of your spray rig.
151 Horticultural advantages of Surround application apply in warmer zones where heat stress relief (coupled with net photosynthesis gain) makes a difference:
•Return bloom
•Fruit size
•Sunburn reduction
•Fruit cracking
152 Ultimate Trap Trees
Formosa and Santa Rosa plums are noted as being eleven times more attractive than apple to plum curculio
Chicken Gypsy Wagon
153 Spinosad • Fermentation of soil bacteria creates toxin • Rotate use to hinder development of species resistance • 2nd generation moth complex, maggot flies, spotted wing drosophila • Sawfly/ curculio overlap • Three year viability
Fermented Orgasm (insects)
• Entrust is derived from Saccharopolyspora spinosa under aerobic fermentation conditions. • Venerate contains killed cells and fermentation solids of Burkholderia spp. Exoskeleton degradation results from exposure while molting interference is brought on by ingestion. Stinkbug and curculio pressure reduced by half in research trials.
154 Codling Moth
Internal feeders have a narrow “window of vulnerability” before safely residing in fruitlet
Oriental Fruit Moth • Shoot flagging by first generation • Fruitlets exude gum • Brown rot vector
155 Multiple Options for Moths
• Bacillus thuringiensis • Entrust (spinosad) • Grandevo • Granulosis virus • Summer oils • Mating disruption • Timed release of Trichogramma • Historical methods
But first let’s do the numbers!
156 Cardboard Banding
One good home orchard technique to supplement “beneficial math” takes into account a particular point of vulnerability of codling moth.
Granulosis Virus
• CydX and Virosoft formulations for codling moth • Virus replicates in environment for subsequent generations • Oriental Fruit Moth overlap protection on the order of 60%
157 The Reach of Neem on Insects
• Dormant oil-like attributes • Larval disruption affects generational moth comeback • Impact on those insects pupating in the soil • Botanical trunk sprays in egg-laying months for borers (all types)
The Lady Gaga Effect
The azadirachtins in neem closely mimic the hormone ecdysone, which is necessary for reproduction in insects. When present, this grouping of constituents takes the place of the real hormone and thus disrupts not only the feeding process, but the metamorphic transition as well by disrupting molting. It interferes with the formation of chitin (insect skin) and stops pupation in larvae, thus short-circuiting the insect life cycle.
158 Stink Bug Menace
• Trap crop observations • PyGanic blast with hypodermic delivery • Venerate
Japanese • Neem as Beetle feeding deterrent • Trap crop thinking once again • The winsome fly and other formidable foes
159 Round- Headed Apple Tree Borer
•Protect young trees with botanical trunk sprays of neem oil at a 1% concentration in June, July, and possibly August as well •Spade bit diligence whenever frass is seen
Peachtree Borer
• Moth switcheroo • Options include mating disruption • Nematode mudpack • Neem trunk sprays begin earlier for LPTB
160 Apple Maggot Fly
The infamous “railroad worm” seems essentially invisible until the fly larvae make apples anything but palatable come harvest.
Trap Placement for AMF
• Lures draw in the short-sighted fly • Flits from fruit to fruit to trap itself • Shoulder high, apples nearby • Migration comes from outside the orchard when drops are picked up weekly
161 Everything has a purpose • Wholesale apples come with fruit essence (well, maybe) • And really? What else are you going to do with a Red Delicious?
Community Market Place
162 North American Apple Culture
• Seeded beginnings • Barrel standards • Cider economy • Everyone was involved!
Community Orchards Everywhere
Melrose
164 EverCrisp combines the best features of its parents Honeycrisp and Fuji. • Matures in October and stores well, maintaining both sweetness & firmness. • Breeding emphasis is on avoiding the unpredictable Midwest Apple winter/spring weather Improvement patterns of the region. • Membership required. Association
Minnesota Breeding Program
• Progeny of Malinda (VT) • From sexy Frostbite to explosive Honeycrisp to patented Sweet Tango • Regent ‘63
165 Regional Keepers
The Hauer Pippin’s resistance to disease and insects make it easier to produce organically than most commercial varieties. This apple satisfies a local need for a late- ripening apple that can be direct-marketed.
Nodhead Jewett’s Fine Red
And so the story goes . . .
166 Community Orchards
• Fresh advantage We do this to • Flavor diversity make a living! • Nutrient–dense Start pricing • Tastings sell at $3 a pound unknown varieties $7.50 qtr. peck • Know your Farmer, Bulk pricing Come to the Farm at $80 bushel
• Pristine, William’s Pride • Zestar, Chestnut, Regent Terroir Potential • Akane, Arlet, Crimson Crisp • Spartan, Winesap, Elstar • Adam’s Pearmain, Shizuka, Topaz, Spigold, Suncrisp • Arkansas Black, Golden Russet, Fuji, Stayman • Black Twig, Dula's Beauty, King David, Terry Winter • Indiana Bittersweets (tbd)
167 Just Ask Ike
Fruit Shares • Vegetable CSAs are a hungry EXISTING MARKET for fruit. • Weekly delivery of mixed varieties/fruits selected by grower • Preorder basis by CSA members • Cider variations
168 Completing the Circle
Find the bakers and candlestick makers who get it that TRUE LOCAL ECONOMY can only be built on reciprocity. Don’t hesitate to spread this message!
169 • Cider Jelly Value Add • Cider Syrup • Prairie Apple Butter • Real Cider • Cidre (as the rest of the world knows it) • Apple Brandy
Market opportunity for cider apples currently translates into $2500 for 275 gallon tote of bittersweet juice shipped nationwide
170 He that drinks his cyder alone, let him catch his horse alone.
-Benjamin Franklin
Tree Wisdom
171 The Name Game
Certified Organic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Ecological Local Organic Integrated Fruit Production (Europe) Damn all you sissies who don’t like my chemicals! Biodynamic Organic Health Management (OHM)
Allopathic vs. Holistic
The ideal management choice will always put the emphasis on the health of all concerned!
172 Biological Transition
The Truth
• This process does not happen overnight. • Expect 3-9 years for transition to a fully- functioning biology both below and above. • Insufficient energy for biological digestion of mineral amendments might result in diminished energy for crop growth in early transition years.
173 Orchard Polycultures
An orchard ecosystem consisting of “just trees” and a narrow aisle of orchard grass is a sad affair indeed!
Suppose I were to plant a whole number of herbaceous plants in the soil . . . so that their roots intertwined and merged with one another . . . until it all became a regular mush of roots, merging into one another . . . would not allow itself to remain a mere tangle, it would grow organized into a single entity . . . the saps and fluids would flow into one another . . . a common root being would arise for these plants. Rudolf Steiner The Agricultural Course 1924
174 Soil Balance
Practices that favor Practices that favor bacterial dominance: fungal dominance: • Herbicides • Ramial wood chips • Soluble nitrates • Aged compost • Captan and other • Fish hydrolysate and conventional fungicides humic acids (check out www. mycorrhizae.com) • Good drainage • Tillage warfare • Forest edge species composition
milky way quote
We all travel the Milky Way together, trees & men. Mark Twain
175