Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm

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 […]

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 […]