North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Kevin Moore <aleguy33@yahoo.com>]

Try mixing equal parts boric acid and sugar. The boric acid is not particularly toxic to mammals, but you might want to make sure any domestic animals can't get ahold of it. The ants. should take it and eat it if they are honeydew farmers. It should wipe them out pretty quickly.

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From: Webmail wynne <wynne@crcwnet.com>
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 4:34:59 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 76, Issue 108

regarding ants on trees
each year the aphids practically defoliate certain plum trees  the
fruits are undamaged (unlike the apples with aphids) but it can hardly
be good for the
trees  i am farming organically (certified)
any "old wives tales" regarding alternative effective controls?
wynne in nc wa state  87 degrees and sunny

On 5/23/09, nafex-request@lists.ibiblio.org
<nafex-request@lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Winterkill in Black Raspberries??? (Jim Fruth)
>    2. Re: Scionwood to Mongolia (Kieran &/or Donna)
>    3. Biennial Bramley (Alan Haigh)
>    4. never-ending Winter (Ernest Plutko)
>    5. bugs?  Do ants pollinate. (Ernest Plutko)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 08:01:19 -0500
> From: "Jim Fruth" <jimfruth@charter.net>
> Subject: [NAFEX] Winterkill in Black Raspberries???
> To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <3B959E4610A141CDB42A37BEC37C0F27@ibma20plaptop>
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> Michael Dossett wrote, ""Winterkill" is a problem with black raspberries
> wherever they are grown."
>
>    I don't think I can agree with the word "wherever".  Sure I have
> unsprouted canes here and there but the problem is never wide-spread.  None
> of the folks that I've sold plants to have ever mentioned winter-killed
> plants either.  Could it be the variety(s) that your people have that are
> the problem?  Everyone here has the Pequot Black Raspberry.
>    My plants seem to live eight to ten years and I replace 10 to 15% of
> them every year.  There is one exception though:  I have a patch with virus
> infected plants that have outlived all other plants.  These are my most
> productive except that the berries have too few druplets to be worth
> picking.  Not picking them takes the bird pressure off the other areas.
> I've not replaced them also to try and figure out how the virus spreads, a
> mystery that has baffled me for some years now.  The virus doesn't seem to
> be spread via vectors because adjacent healthy plants don't get infected.
> So what else?
>
> Jim Fruth
> Brambleberry Farm
> Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
> For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
> www.jellygal.com
> 1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
> 1-218-831-7018 (My Cell)
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 08:38:40 -0500
> From: "Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Scionwood to Mongolia
> To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <1DCCCCE85A574985805EBE33B72852B0@YOUR20FE224C19>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> What puzzled me is that Mongolia should be a source of hardy apples.  Is it
> legal to send apple scions to Mongolia, and even if it is legal, how many
> pests do we have that could travel in scionwood?  I'd think that seeds would
> be safest.  They'd have to make their own selections, but if the seeds were
> from cross pollination, they'd have genes from both parents to choose from.
>    Donna
> P.S.  Surely Russia is closer.  Officially Mongolia is part of China, and I
> expect that not much living plant matter gets in from the north ie Russia.
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> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 10:13:32 -0400
> From: Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>
> Subject: [NAFEX] Biennial Bramley
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
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>
> Of course, biennial bearing is related to a wide range of factors.  Just as
> a cool wet spring can prevent flowers from setting fruit, inadequate days of
> full sun and periods of cool can stop a tree from manufacturing adequate
> carbohydrate to invest in flower bud formation for the following year.
>
> The longer fruit hangs on the tree the more of an investment is required in
> carbohydrate whether we're talking tiny surplus apples (which need to be
> thinned by about 2 weeks after petal fall) or the harvest itself.  Even the
> level of brix that an apple develops is directly related to how much energy
> was required for its formation.  High brix apples tend to have more biennial
> issues just as late ripening ones do.  Fuji and Goldrush are both extremely
> high brix and very late.
>
> Imagine how much more energy an apple tree in the West can harvest with the
> nearly rainless, cloudless growing season, except on the coast, than those
> of us in more humid parts of the country.  Imagine how much more light can
> be harvested from a tree growing in the open.  On hot days the stomates
> close and carbo production is brought till a standstill after mid-morning
> until early evening- especially on apples.
>
> Thinning fruit is helpful but not a panacea, no matter how timely.  Pruning
> a tree in an open form so each branch gets the maximum amount of sun also
> helps.  Anything that augments a trees ability to harvest light near where
> the fruit is or will form next year including some summer pruning may help.
>
> On the Bramley in question the fact that it is on seedling rootstock may
> actually be quite helpful.  I manage a lot of huge apple trees of varieties
> that are notorious for biennial bearing and I believe that vigorous root
> stocks are less prone to this problem if managed properly.
>
> I usually gradually remove much of the highest wood to create a low
> spreading tree where no large branches block the light of any other.  I kind
> of create a single plane branch structure that has plenty of room.  As the
> old timers used to say- "needs to be open enough that you can throw a cat
> through it".
>
> I mop out the water sprouts in mid- summer on the more vigorous trees so the
> light and sap goes where it's needed.
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> ------------------------------
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> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 11:58:01 -0500
> From: "Ernest Plutko" <ernestplutko@wiktel.com>
> Subject: [NAFEX] never-ending Winter
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Message-ID: <380-22009562316581187@wiktel.com" href="mailto:380-22009562316581187@wiktel.com">380-22009562316581187@wiktel.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> The Northern Lights apple, Harelred apple and Golden Spice pear
> didn't make it through the winter.  I planted them last Spring.  Too
> cold even though they are labeled as zone 3.  Frost tonight, snow on
> ground last week, frosts almost every night.  Winter never ends.
> Leaves on trees are very shy about opening this Spring.    Zone
> labeling on fruit trees are too optimistic.  It was -45 F or colder
> last Winter.
>
> Minnesota zone 3 or maybe zone 2.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 12:05:12 -0500
> From: "Ernest Plutko" <ernestplutko@wiktel.com>
> Subject: [NAFEX] bugs?  Do ants pollinate.
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Message-ID: <380-2200956231751231@wiktel.com" href="mailto:380-2200956231751231@wiktel.com">380-2200956231751231@wiktel.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> I was in yard this morning to inspect every fruit tree and saw no
> bugs except one ant. I saw a bumblebee a few days ago and was
> surprised to see it.  Honeybees are a memory.  Do ants pollinate?
> Ants on trees are usually tending their aphids.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
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