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  • From: "Michael Phillips" <michael@herbsandapples.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] August Conference in New Hampshire
  • Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 14:02:40 -0400

 
Hi All ,
 
The NAFEX Conference is just around the corner, coming up August 21-23 centered out of Concord, New Hampshire. Busy fruit growers don't have all that much time for publicity, but since we have some pretty cool speakers scheduled and lots of great orchard events, I was hoping to share the schedule for Friday morning talks  (four sessions of concurrent talks) . Remember, you can find registration info at http://www.nafex.org/2003REGISTRATIONFORM.htm    It's going to be great getting together with so many of the gang!
 
 
NEWER APPLE AND PEAR ROOTSTOCKS
New apple and pear rootstocks are being introduced almost as rapidly as new fruiting varieties.  Some are designed to meet specific disease problems, some for improved production, some for greater hardiness.  Dr. Cummins will discuss new introductions and their potentials for NAFEXers.
 
STONE FRUIT ROOTSTOCKS
No longer are our choices simple—mazzard vs. mahaleb, myro vs. marianna—new dwarfing rootstocks are being introduced . . . and some might actually work!  Dr. Cummins will point out some of the possible pitfalls.
 
Jim Cummins was a fifth generation apple grower in Southern Illinois until a devastating hailstorm destroyed his orchard and drove him back to graduate school.  Jim served as a Cornell professor for 30 years, working primarily with breeding and evaluating rootstocks and also with fruit tree viruses.  Cornell introduced Novole, Geneva 65, G.30, G.16, and most recently G.11 from his breeding program. Introduction of G.3041 and G.5935 are expected soon.  In retirement, Jim works with his youngest son, Steve, in their small fruit tree nursery in New York.
 
history of apples in New England
Who was Malinda?  Did Ben Davis really live in Maine? How did Old Orchard Beach get that name?  Why was the Massachusetts Horticultural Society so important? John Bunker will answer these and many more questions!
 
STORING AND PROCESSING THE FRUIT HARVEST
A Maine homesteader will share the secrets of thirty years of fruit harvesting.  Tips on what to do with your fruit: the perfect root cellar, preserving cider in soda bottles, fruit leather, grape juice without a processor, canning blueberries, freezing strawberries and more.
 
John Bunker moved to Maine in 1968 and has lived in Palermo on Super Chilly Farm for the past 31 years.  He works for FEDCO, the co-op seed and nursery company in Clinton where he coordinates nursery sales.  His passion is tracking down heirloom fruit varieties and studying agricultural history. From September to November he is usually off fruit exploring throughout New England, searching old farms and abandoned orchards.  He established the Maine Heirloom Apple Orchard at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association fair grounds in Unity.
 
NH ORIGIN OF THE HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY
Frederick Vernon Coville's arrived in Greenfield, NH with his family as summer residents in 1905. His interest was attracted to the subject of blueberry culture. The first hybrid blueberries were introduced in 1920—Pioneer, Katherine and Cabot—all with Brooks as an ancestor, a plant he selected from a Greenfield pasture near his house in the summer of 1908. Was it difficult? It only required discovering that blueberries required an acid soil, and then selecting the right parents to cross to produce a billion dollar industry at a time when everyone else was content to pick the wild ones.
Roger Swain is recognized by millions as the longtime host of PBS-TV¹s The Victory Garden. His new weekly show, People, Places & Plants (with co-host Paul Tukey) celebrates New England gardens and gardeners. Since 1978 readers have been enjoying Roger¹s essays and articles in Horticulture magazine, as well as his five books: Earthly Pleasures, Field Days, The Practical Gardener, Saving Graces, and Groundwork. When he is not editing Horticulture magazine, filming the TV series, or meeting with gardeners across the country, Roger can be found at work in the orchard and gardens of his farm in southern New Hampshire.
 
Apples: A Plea for Intolerance
Let’s air some of the current struggles with language definitions like heirloom, antique and cider. This humorous—yet sometimes cynical and sometimes arrogant—discourse about fruit growers and those that forever aspire to be fruit growers will have us all thinking. Tom promises to stomp the tops of some clean-bottomed sneakers before he’s through!
Tom Burford is an orchard and nursery consultant from Virginia, specializing in restoration, re-creation and design at historic sites and private estates. He is the author of Apples: A Catalog of International Varieties, a great reference work on commercial and heirloom apple varieties. His most recent handbook is the Fruit Grafters Handbook, a comprehensive work on grafting fruit trees, published with Ed Fackler as co-author. Tom conducts major apple tastings and seminars each year at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts and at Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia.
 
uncommon fruits
Meet some fruits, such as shipova, medlar, Nanking cherry, and lingonberry, that are not well-known, but have delectable flavors and are easy to grow and cold-hardy in the northeast. In contrast to many common fruits, the fruits covered by Lee Reich are generally free of pest problems, so can be grown without spraying. Many require no more than a little, or no, pruning. And if that’s not enough: some of the fruits covered—hardy kiwifruit, juneberry, and cornelian cherry, for example—are borne on ornamental plants, perfect for “edible landscaping.”
 
espalier Pruning
An espalier makes a decorative and edible covering for a fence or a wall. Apples and pears are the plants that first come to mind, and numerous European pruning systems have been devised for clothing the decoratively arranged branches of these plants tightly with fruit. In this country, apple and pear often do not respond as expected, and Lee Reich suggests red currant as an alternative. Besides being extremely easy and reliable to espalier, the jewel-like fruits themselves are very ornamental and dangle decoratively for weeks—unless you eat them.
 
Lee Reich is a garden writer, consultant, and avid gardener who has worked in soil and plant research for the USDA and Cornell University. His books include UNCOMMON FRUITS WORTHY OF ATTENTION, A NORTHEAST GARDENER’S YEAR, GROWING FRUIT IN YOUR BACKYARD, THE PRUNING BOOK, and WEEDLESS GARDENING. Articles by him appear regularly in such publications as Fine Gardening, Horticulture, and the New York Times, and his gardening column for Associated Press appears weekly in newspapers across the country.
 
holistic disease management of fruit trees
Fungal diseases can wreak havoc in the orchard. Michael will take a holistic look at how to keep apple scab from developing with sanitation and minimal sulfur sprays. Much the same type of thinking applies to cedar apple rust and black rot. Properly made compost teas reveal an entirely new way of thinking. And yet the story does not end there: mycorrhizal root interaction is a fungal event we definitely want to encourage on fruiting ground.
 
medicinal uses of fruits and fruiting plants
Nutrient rich food is medicine in the most positive sense. Modern research reveals just why an organic apple a day holds so much healing potent. Michael will discuss the antioxidant qualities of berries, the making of real cider vinegar and its use as an acetous menstruum for mineral-rich herbs, the tonifying powers of hawthorn, and the healing enchantment of elder.
 
Michael Phillips stewards Lost Nation Orchard, part of a diversified mountain farm in northern New Hampshire. The Phillips family grows a wide array of medicinal herbs as well. Chelsea Green published Michael’s book, THE APPLE GROWER: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist. Michael teamed up more recently with wife Nancy to write The Village Herbalist. Visit us on the web at www.HerbsAndApples.com.
 
Exploring Armenia for Fruit and Nut Germplasm
Joseph Postman spent three weeks last September on a germplasm-collecting trip to Armenia as part of his work for the USDA/ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon. His research specialties include virus testing and virus elimination.
 
myrobalan plum update
Jerry Lehman is a long-time NAFEX member from Indiana.
 
Our First Line of Defense Against Invading Plant Pathogens
This presentation will include an overview of the USDA Plant Quarantine program with special emphasis on fruit imports and quarantine testing programs.
Ray Mock received a B.S. in Horticulture from the University of Maryland with post-graduate work in Plant Pathology, and has worked with USDA on all aspects of import and quarantine of prohibited plant species since 1976.  He has specialized in the Stone Fruit quarantine program from 1992 – present, most recently as the scientist in charge of imports and quarantine for Stone Fruits, Small Fruits, and forage and turf grasses.
 
Breeding grapes for cold climates
Jerry Rodman has been growing grapes in Maine for 17 years. He has trialed hundreds of selections, some are well known grapes, others are unnamed varieties from professional and amateur breeders. Jerry himself is an amateur breeder.
 
Strawberry Plasticulture for the Northern Grower
Bill will discuss fall plug culture for strawberry in northern New England and the use of early summer planted dormant crowns in strawberry plasticulture. Strawberry production in high tunnels will also be discussed.
Bill Lord, an Extension Professor and Fruit Specialist at the University of New Hampshire, has been helping growers in this state with his horticultural insights and tall tales for 31 years.
 
growing nuts in the North
Walnuts, hazels/ filberts, butternuts, buartnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, and just plain nuts!
Bill MacKentley is a tree guy through and through. His family’s St. Lawrence Nurseries in Potsdam, New York specializes in organically grown fruit and nut trees for northern growing zones. Bill apprenticed with Fred Ashworth, a plant breeder many older NAFEX members recall with great respect.
 
 
Michael Phillips
Lost Nation Orchard
RFD 1  Box 275
Groveton, NH 03582
www.HerbsAndApples.com
 



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