Rapidly sizing Methley plums
This week we’re getting after the early summer blitz of tasks brought forth by the beautiful weather we had last weekend. Grape shoot thinning, irrigation setup, weed management, hydromulch application, foliar fertilizer sprays and cover crop seeding are all on the menu.
Fruit/Bud/Tree Development
- Bloom is nearly finished across the farm with fruit set visible on most crops. The small fruitlets are rapidly sizing!
- Grape shoots are extending extremely fast this year and our grape vines will be blooming before we know it. This stage is the perfect time to shoot thin on table grapes, as the new shoots are short and tender enough to be removed by hand- no pruners required.
- Growth on new vegetative shoots this year is looking nice across most crops. This is a good sign but also a warning that diligent summer pruning will be needed come June in order to prevent shading of the fruit.
Pest & Disease
- This past winter seems to have been particularly harsh on some fruit trees, with a few trees tanking shortly after bloom. This is typical of trees that have sustained stress to the roots and is likely attributed to a domino effect of water stress followed by harsh winters and attack by opportunisitic diseases and insects.
- We’re keeping a close eye out for currant worm and gooseberry maggot this week. In the next week or week and a half, once all of the Ribes have set fruit, we will hit them with a mix of foliar fertilizers and organic spinosad in before covering with netting to protect the fruit.
- Now is a good time of year for scouting and removing branches that are impacted by fungal disease. We are making note of a few branches in the orchard that appear sickly relative to the rest of the tree. Since we’ve now had a decent amount of growth on healthy parts of the tree, these sickly branches are easier to identify and remove.
Grape shoots with visible clusters. Time to thin!
An Asian pear shoot showing signs of disease-likely fungal
Tent caterpillars are spreading in our west Mt Vernon orchard, so far mostly on apple trees. We are trying to control them by pruning and/or burning with a hand torch. Is there a better treatment available?
They look terrible on the trees, but how much harm do they do? We are a demonstration orchard open to the public and want to model best practices. We want to be as organic as possible and spray as little as necessary.
We are also an all volunteer group and can rarely give the hundreds of plants on our 6 acres of fruit all the care they need.
Any suggestions well bet very much appreciated.
Hi Larry,
Tent caterpillars seem especially bad this year, particularly in Skagit and Island counties.
Here’s some great information on tent caterpillar control: https://pnwhandbooks.org/insect/tree-fruit/apple/apple-tent-caterpillar
We have always pruned out infestations early. Infested but otherwise healthy trees will typically regrow foliage by early summer. Bt as an organic, targeted chemical control is an option, but allowing natural predators to do their work is another effective, low-input control.