Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm

In this newsletter: Thinning Window Closing Stone Fruit Fungicides Summer Tour Announcement Thinning Window Closing Thinners applied early last week should be showing signs of efficacy by now. For applications that went on midweek, they make take a few more days. We applied thinner last Wednesday and have only seen a few fruits that are […]

In this newsletter: Thinning Outlook Fruit Set in Different Varieties Poor Return Bloom Other Observations of No Concern Thinning Outlook Good temperatures for chemical thinning will occur this week and into next week. The warm temperatures will mean that fruit can rapidly grow to a size where they become resistant to chemical thinners. Most varieties […]

Apple Thinning Update McIntosh, Triumph, and Gala apples were showing signs of fruit set Wed. The king fruit were swelling and had sepals closing over the calyx. However, there were also unpollinated blossoms dropping. This early assessment indicates that fruit set may not be heavy this year, but enough to justify applying chemical thinners. Chemical […]

In this newsletter: Thinning Strategies Peach Leaf Curl Announcements Thinning Strategies for 2025 The prolonged cool weather during full bloom has me concerned about pollination in Honeycrisp and other varieties that bloomed after McIntosh at Highmoor Farm. Temperatures in the forecast for the Augusta area look favorable for some pollination Monday assuming that it is […]

Full Bloom Conditions Return bloom appears adequate in most apple blocks at Highmoor Farm. Some trees of Honeycrisp have sparse bloom intermixed with trees that have good return bloom. Honeycrisp and most other varieties are in full bloom today. Cherries and early blooming apples are at petal fall. Pollination conditions have been good in early […]

In this newsletter: Bud Stages Announcement Flower Bud Development at Highmoor Farm McIntosh apples have passed tight cluster and have reached the early stage of pink. Honeycrisp and Gala trees are in the late stage of tight cluster, but king blooms are showing pink. Asian pears are showing some white. European pears were under an […]

In this newsletter: Bud stages at Highmoor Farm Brown Rot Blossom Blight of Stone Fruit Prohexadione and aggravation of bitter pit in Honeycrisp Thinning Peaches with Acceede SG® Flower Bud Development Flower bud development has been, thankfully, slow this spring.  Honeycrisp apples are still at half-inch green.  McIntosh and Gala are just starting tight cluster. […]

Bud development has progressed from silver tip to green tip and is probably beyond green tip in southern Maine. This is the traditional time to begin fungicide sprays to prevent apple scab in McIntosh and other highly susceptible varieties. It’s also the time for the copper spray which functions as a micronutrient fertilizer, fungicide and […]

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 […]