We have had a season with more
than adequate rain and not a whole lot of warm weather.
Nevertheless we have a good fruit crop.
I think that the most interesting development
for this year is the fact that we have grown our Apples
without using any chemical agents against insect pests. We have
lost some fruit to insect damage and
have some damaged fruit on the trees but we do not feel that
we have experienced significant
damage. We have relied on monitoring potential insect pest problems.
Where we felt that there might
be excessive damage we have used other means of control. In
one area we used insect traps to
attract and catch the pest before it damaged the fruit. In some
other areas we sprayed the trees with
an edible white clay material. It is the same material that
is used in some lipsticks, cosmetics, etc. It is
also used to make china dishes. The material when sprayed on
the trees discourages the insects from
laying their eggs on the apple. The results at present are encouraging.
We recommend following picking dates:
Gravestein |
September 8th |
McIntosh
Coltrand
King |
September 12th |
Delicius
Northen Spy |
September 26th |
|