North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Gianni" <GIANNI-2@prodigy.net>]

Hi Ward:

 

A couple of years ago I was having probs with my peaches with rot and premature leaf drop

and the pits splitting. Over a year ago I learned about endomycorrhizae inoculant and this spring

I probed holes of the peaches and added myco. As insurance, just after flower drop I started

using Sea-kelp spray and also Neem oil spray. My subsoil is sand and shale and everything that

tends to go through quite fast. The myco latches onto the main roots and forms an underground

carpet, drawing in unavailable "locked" nutrients as Donna stated. As Doreen said Sea-kelp helps

to build tissue, whether it's leaf or fruit tissue this stimulates the above ground tree and any run-

off now goes directly into your spongy absorbing underground carpet of roots.

I neemed 3 or 4 times this season as the oil is a surfactant and sticks for a while and you don't

really need a tremendous amount for it to do it's job, just gotta get it underside of the leaves and

the curly barked trunk.

The majority of the fruit was Baseball sized with a few bordering softballs....

I can tell you this, If you use a good myco and you can reach your feeder and taproots that whether

you use a topdressing of compost or phosphates or whatever. When your roots are working a lot

less harder to drag in micronutrients, this seems to allow the plant/trees health to better ward of

stress and pests through it's own self defense mechanisms because when everything underground

is optimum and flourishing, the tree/plant above ground can get on with the business of producing

as it is freed-up from defense and can withstand almost any onslaught of it's own.

Neem oil spray may be a good deterrent to all your ills, thinning your crowns out a bit too should

help to let some light and air in. Besides peach love thinning anyway!

Any fertilizer, amendments, kelps, cides etc is readily absorbed rapidly through your roots being

multiplied 10 to 100 times with any good myco.....

Myco is a little pricey, but Lon, Doreen and I swear by it, try a little on a few trees and do a test

just be sure to get it to reach the dripline and tap/feeder roots, you'll double your crop.

See for yourself....

http://search.megaspider.com/XP.html?Mycorrhizae

 

Best wishes,

John

S. NH Z-5/6

----- Original Message -----

From: Ward Barnes

To: nafex@egroups.com

Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 12:45 PM

Subject: Re: [nafex] Peach flavor

Donna:

Many thanks for the info.  I do have one large compost pile that has been
"cooking" for two years.  It is spent hay and horse manure and should be
just right to spread in the spring.  As for my PH I have not tested it.  The
orchard was fully established when I purchased the land and had not been
worked in many years.  Last year I used an orchard spray 4 times through the
season and had about 80 percent useable fruit.  To my knowledge no type of
fertilizer has been placed on the orchard in excess of ten years.  This year
I did not spray and lost the crop (most apples included).  My normal rain
pattern has been a wet spring followed by a dry summer.  My concord grapes
seem to love it as they produce in abundance and are very sweet.  This year
was wetter than normal throughout the spring and summer.  The grapes
produced well but had poor flavor, including a bitter skin.  Again many
thanks for your information.

Ward Barnes

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