Methley plums sized and showing the very first signs of ripening.
This week we’re beginning to harvest a few new crops on the farm – ribes and cherries! We’re balancing harvests with weed management (strawberry weeding post-harvest, and lots of weedwhacking and mowing that needs attending to) and with pest and disease management. We’ll be putting on our first kaolin clay spray on pome fruit this week for apple maggot, codling moth, and sunburn protection.
Fruit/Bud/Tree Development
- Our table grapes, especially those in the lower section, continue to get hammered hard by breakage of canes. Many canes breaking off near the base – don’t see any immediate signs of borers or girdling. Probably a nutrient/climatic issue but it’s definitively proving to be a problem at this point resulting in a loss of fruit.
- Methley plums are showing the first slight sign of coloring at the blossom end of the green fruits!
- Goumi berries are ripe currently, although we only just established our new planting so there’s not enough to harvest and sell this year.
Pest & Disease
- Peach leaf curl is having another resurgence late this year. Generally after our initial infection period we see the trees bounce back with clean new growth by now, but some of the new growth this year is getting infected yet again due to this wet weather we’re having later in the season coupled with the initial pervasive pressure this spring.
- Pear leafcurling midges are doing a number on new growth in some of our European pear varieties. Some varieties are much more susceptible than others – Abbe Fetel appears very susceptible while the Armida right next to it is doing much better. This pest curls the leaf on new growth and can stunt terminals. This isn’t too big of an issue on these established pears, but it could prove very hard to manage on younger or nursery pears.
Pear leafcurling midge damage on new shoot in Abbe Fetel pear.
What’s Ripe?
This week we’re harvesting: currants, sweet cherries, and pie cherries
