North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lisa D. Ishimuro" <lishimuro@yahoo.com>]

I checked my only Asian pear today, 'Hosui', planted in 1999. It has fruit, needs to be thinned, but the tree is very small suffering from deer damage. I then started looking at my other trees and noticed many of the apple varieties, while lush and healthy looking, do not have much fruit.  We did not have a late frost here as others have had. I think it may have gotten to 30* and I did not notice any damage. My pears, plums and cherries have definitely set a good amount of fruit, but I do not know why the apples haven't.   I am green with envy with the person who has such  a crop with the Cox Orange Pippin. I have tried to grow that for years and the whips always died.  I have only done one spray this season, about a week ago. Did dormant oil in March. Trees pruned by a professional in March.

Frost predicted in Poconos tonight...that is scary.  Wondering what is happening in the northern tiers??    BTW....up to 4 groundhogs. Mom and 3 young. I know of at least one more around, cabbage is the ticket.  And as another side note, as much as I dread the deer damage, I noticed a doe across the street in the fields, she was limping and then I noticed she only had 3 legs. She put her head down and then I saw a  fawn begin to nurse....that was over the weekend. I watch for her everyday and today I saw her with twins! Unbelievable.

Lisa Zone 6

Lisa Ishimuro 
Environmental Protection Specialist II 
Bucks County Conservation District 
1456 Ferry Road 
Doylestown, Pa. 18901 
215-345-7577 Ext. 102