Sunday, May 19, 2013
Successes and Failures this Spring in the Back40
Several apple trees in the Back40 are putting on fruit.
The pear trees are also coming along nicely.
The frost claimed two young persimmon trees. Hopefully they'll recover.
The grapevines show some damage but over all came through the frost OK.
The wild plums have a scattering of fruit on this year.
I did battle with the tent caterpillars this spring. A dose of Sevin won the day.
My Back40 grafts continue to flourish. A Liberty apple noted for it's disease resistence.
A Hudson's Golden Gem. A fine fresh eating fall apple.
A Summer Rambo. As the name suggests a summer apple for eating or cooking.
So over all it's been a fairly nice spring in the Back40.
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Hi, just passing through to look at the pretty apple pictures (we're growing some of the same varieties).
I thought I'd share a little wisdom with you about tent caterpillars. You don't need pesticides to kill them; all you need is a stick. The caterpillars are very susceptible to cold, in fact, one of the reasons they form tents is to keep warm during the night. During the day they disperse along the branches of trees (apples, crabs, walnuts) to eat leaves and be warmed by the sun (they use that heat to keep warm at night). While they're doing this (in the morning), destroy the tent. Just jab it with a stick. They won't have time to make a new tent when they gather in the evening, and will die of exposure in the night. We've got a 300+ tree antique apple orchard, and that's what we've done. And once they're gone, they don't seen to come back. As an added bonus, you'll protect the beneficials (lacewings, ladybugs, soldier beetles, bees, etc).
Cheers!
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