Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm

In this newsletter: Pruning Tips for Cherry Trees Bud Stages and Bud Survival Guest Articles from Cornell Cooperative Extension Pruning Tips for Cherry Trees Cherry trees are usually trained as a multiple leader tree like peach and plum with about 4 leaders per tree. Fully dwarfed sweet cherry trees can be trained as a central […]

Upcoming Meetings and Webinars Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium – Webinars start this Wednesday This winter, we will be hosting the webinar series in New England and eastern New York. Topics include marketing, weed management, apple scab, bitter rot, and new research on cold hardiness in apple rootstocks and peach varieties. Some of the sessions will […]

In this newsletter: Peach Flower Bud Survival Upcoming Meetings and Webinars Survey for Apple and Pear Producers Peach Flower Bud Survival So Far This winter, we have been tracking bud loss in our collection of 20 varieties. Survival in late January ranged from a low of 0% in Blushingstar to a high of 68% in […]

In this newsletter: Pruning Out Fireblight in Dormant Trees New Apple Variety Evaluations Soil Temperatures at Highmoor Farm Upcoming Meetings and Webinars Fireblight in Dormant Trees Adapted from Apple and Pear Disease – Fire Blight, Dormant Removal of Cankers, Kari Peter Last year, fire blight was found in several orchards around the southern half of […]

In this newsletter: Notes on peach hardiness Cold Weather Concerns Cider Apple Pruning Series Upcoming meetings and webinars Winter Meeting of the Maine State Pomological Society Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium Cornell Fruit Winter Webinar Series March Tree Fruit Preseason Meeting Peach Bud Hardiness This Winter We measured flower bud hardiness in mid-December in 20 varieties […]

In this newsletter: Meadow voles Announcements for Upcoming Meetings Protecting Trees from Meadow Voles From the pest management guide: Voles : New England Tree Fruit Management Guide : UMass Amherst Meadow vole injury is large areas of missing bark on the trunk or low branches, with small parallel tooth marks. It becomes evident as the […]

In this newsletter: Maturity Report New England Vegetable and Fruit Conference announcement Fall Herbicide Reminders, excerpted from the CCE-ENYCHP newsletter Maturity Report McIntosh has reached a stage where drop has occurred in orchards not treated with ReTain or Harvista. Trees that have not been harvested yet have 40% drop. Cortland ripening has reached a stage […]

Maturity Report and Storage Reminders Peaches and Plums Peach harvest was completed this week. Long John plums will be ready to pick soon. If you need to store them longer than a few days, they can be picked now. Apples McIntosh has reached a stage where it is ok for short-term storage. If you still […]

Maturity Report and Storage Reminders Peaches Peaches ready this week: 2nd picking for Messina and 1st for Autumnstar. Both are good varieties. We are also picking Castleton plums. I am finding much less brown rot now that the weather has turned dry. The quality of peaches after a week in cold storage is also better […]

Maturity Report Peaches Peaches we are picking now: Blushingstar, PF23 and Messina Apples McIntosh has developed some sweetness and should be good for immediate sales, if you have not already started selling them. At this stage, they should also be good for long-term storage, although susceptible to storage scald. Storage scald is prevented by fogging […]