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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 76, Issue 108

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  • From: Hélène Dessureault <interverbis@videotron.ca>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 76, Issue 108
  • Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 12:00:53 -0400

All you have to do is stop the ants from climbing in the tree. This is not an "old wives tale". Ant are aphids farmers and protect them against natural predators. Without ants, aphids don't do too well usually, not enough to do noticeable damages to a tree.
You can surround the trunk of the tree with a wide band of masking tape or other material, and on this tape put a ring of Tanglefoot (not directly on the bark of the tree is the idea). The ring of Tanglefoot should be continuous and wide enough (at least an inch) so that the ant cannot build a bridge accross. They do this by sacrifycing their own, when the obstacle is not too large... Make sure they cannot get under as well....
You will find that the population of aphids won't last long without the ants to support.

Good luck, Please let us know the results,

Hélène, zone 3-4, north of Ottawa
----- Original Message ----- From: "Webmail wynne" <wynne@crcwnet.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 5:34 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
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Today's Topics:

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>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original

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
Message-ID:
<1f544d60905230713j2d0ff907sde7e730e8f47cfe8@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

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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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>
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>
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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End of nafex Digest, Vol 76, Issue 108
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