Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm

Reducing Biennial Bearing in Honeycrisp Apples It is time for NAA (naphthaleneacetic acid) summer sprays to enhance repeat bloom in Honeycrisp and other varieties. NAA will no longer thin apples and can be applied at this time to stimulate flower bud formation for next year’s crop. Three applications at roughly two-week intervals will cause a […]

Thinning Outlook Signs of thinning from our carbaryl plus NAA (PoMaxa, Refine) application applied 7 days ago were evident today, but not enough considering the heavy crop this year. Less than 30% of the fruitlets came off today. It looks like we could be applying more thinning later this week. I plan to give it […]

Thinning Outlook At the Highmoor Farm, fruitlet diameter has reached 12 to 14 mm for the king fruits and 8 to 12 mm for the side fruits, so there is still time to apply thinners again if the first application was not enough. We applied thinners 6 days ago, but it was not yet evident […]

Thinning Outlook Most of our orchard blocks have excessive fruit set. Gala, McIntosh and Cortland have 4 to 5 fruitlets per cluster with almost no flowers dropping. Honeycrisp is showing signs of fruit set in most of the king blooms, but for side blooms, it’s too early to tell. In Macoun, it’s too early to […]

Thinning Update Apple and pear trees are close to petal fall today at Highmoor Farm. Most chemical thinners become effective at this time. Here is a link to the Guide’s section on thinning: Specific Apple Variety Thinning Recommendations : New England Tree Fruit Management Guide : UMass Amherst BA-type thinners (Maxcel, Rite-Way, Exilis) are not effective […]

In this newsletter: Thinning Time Announcements Thinning Time Apples & Pears Apple and pear trees were in full bloom this week at Highmoor Farm. We observed plenty of bee activity in apples, pears and stone fruits and may have to thin aggressively in the next few weeks. The combination of heavy return bloom, good pollination […]

In this newsletter: Bloom Stages Stone Fruit Diseases USDA Request for Crop Damage Announcements Bloom Stage at Highmoor Farm Apples Zestar! trees are at the pink stage, and most of the other apple varieties are at early pink. Peaches Peaches are at the balloon stage. The more tender varieties such as Desiree have a fair […]

Early Outlook on Frost and Bud Survival Minimum temperatures this morning were close to the point where freeze damage can occur especially in low spots and frost pockets. I did an initial assessment of injury by inspecting flower buds from a few locations at Highmoor Farm and found some damage but only in the lower […]

In this newsletter: Bud Stage Development and Hardiness Announcements Bud Stage at Highmoor Farm It’s that time of year again when we worry about freezing temperatures that kill flower buds. Warming temperatures push buds to stages where they lose hardiness, so any cool down below freezing makes us nervous. If you are considering an application […]

In this newsletter: Bud Stage Development and Bud Survival Spring Herbicide Reminders, Guest Article Announcements Bud Stage Development and Bud Survival Some flower buds have just started to reach silver tip, while most are not yet there. Honeycrisp buds are swelling, but development has been slow thanks to the cold weather. Return bloom looks good […]