Issue 19 - August 14, 2001
Hudson Valley Tour Highlights
Last week, Cornell Cooperative Extension‚s (CCE) Northeastern NY
Commercial Fruit Program sponsored a tour of the Cornell University (CU)
Hudson Valley Lab (HVL) and commercial orchards in the New Paltz area.
CCE's Kevin Iungerman led the tour, which was attended by growers and
industry, research, and extension personnel from New York, Vermont, Massachusetts
and Quebec. CU researchers James Schupp, Dick Straub, and Andrew Landers
hosted us at the HVL, and visits to Dressel's and Christ Brothers Orchards
rounded out the tour. Here, briefly, are highlights of the tour...
- A new grafting technique for apples tailored after one commonly used
in pecans had a high success rate for ŒLiberty‚ trees top-worked
to Honeycrisp‚ by Schupp at the HVL. Attendees were reminded that
a royalty must be paid to the University of Minnesota (Honeycrisp‚
breeder) for each tree grafted.
- Although Apogee shows promise as a growth and fireblight management
tool, the PGR is not without issues -- including a "do not use"
on Empire statement by Schupp because of fruit cracking problems. Schupp
also said "absolutely do use" a water conditioner (regardless
of water softness) and spreader-sticker with Apogee for maximum efficacy,
particularly at lower rates. (Schupp also noted Roundup is the other
chemical that should always have a water conditioner added to the tank.)
- The HVL is home to a new planting (2001) of 50 Honeycrisp strains,
of which one or two may have superior color and uniformity that would
be desirable for the warmer growing areas of the Northeast, including
the lower Hudson Valley.
- Reducing drift and improving deposition was the subject of a couple
simple air-blast sprayer modifications being looked at by Landers. First,
he mentioned using Surround crop protectant as a simple and inexpensive
way to actually 'see' what your spray is hitting. Then he produced some
simple metal deflectors to reduce off-target drift when spraying border
rows. Finally, he is looking at the promise of air-induction (AI) nozzles
that operate at <100 PSI (compared to 300 PSI for conventional nozzles)
to reduce drift.
- At Dressel's Orchard -- a 300 acre diversified (apples, peaches, pears,
cherries, cider, PYO strawberries and pumpkins), 100% fresh market (90%
wholesale, 10% retail) operation -- the highlight was a block of vigorous
Pioneer Mac/M.26 trees including an experiment using Apogee with AI
nozzles. Growth control in these trees appeared to be equally effective
compared to those sprayed with Apogee using conventional nozzles.
- Hi-density, trickle irrigation, and Honeycrisp experimentation were
the focus of a visit to Crist Brothers Milton orchard. The Crist operation
is large -- 600 acres of wholesale-only apples, with an average annual
production of more than 250,000 boxes. Newer plantings are on M.26 rootstock,
planted at 8 X 16, and trickle irrigated. (Good thing, as it has been
a dry summer in the Hudson Valley.) Here, a productive Honeycrisp planting
is being used by Schupp to look at two unresolved Honeycrisp issues,
those of bitter-pit like fruit spotting, and fruit thinning. This years
harvest is not in yet, so the calcium spray experiment to alleviate
the bitter-pit problem is still in-progress, however, the thinning experiment
results werequite visible -- this year, Accel way over-thinned Honeycrisp,
while a Sevin + NAA combination looked much better.
Thanks to Kevin, the Cornell researchers, and the growers we visited
for hosting us and giving a truly informative tour!
Note: visit Clements' Corner on the
UMass Fruit Advisor for
pictures and an expanded version of this article
'Harvest the Potential' Report for August 14 - Duane Greene
During the past week scattered showers and thunderstorms have been in
the area, although most have been in east and southern sections. More
rain is needed in most areas. Water stress is reducing fruit growth in
unirrigated blocks and in orchards growing in light soil. Based upon ripening
of early maturing varieties, we believe that the time of ripening remains
close to the historical norms. This week is the appropriate time to apply
ReTain on McIntosh and Gala. Select a time for application that favors
good spray penetration and coverage to all portions of the tree. Some
may consider a delay in application specifically to wait for rain in the
hopes that it may alleviate stress due to a lack of water. We do not believe
that the water stress at this time is severe enough to substantially reduce
the drop control effects of ReTain. We recommend the use of either Silwet
L-77 or Sylguard 309 with the ReTain. However, those of you who are making
regular foliar calcium chloride applications should use some caution.
If calcium chloride has built up on the leaves or a calcium application
is made soon after ReTain, the surfactants in ReTain may increase calcium
chloride uptake and result in some leaf burning. Fruit size in monitored
blocks of McIntosh, Delicious, and Gala is 2.60 in., 2.51 in., and 2.39
in., respectively. This appears to be a reduction in fruit growth rate
from previous weeks.
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