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Successful Biological Orcharding

Applying nature's tenetsto grow outrageously good fruit

Fascinating biological connections make for a healthy orchard ecosystem. All insect pests and fruit tree disease –whether fungal or bacterial – have launching points and particular timing. Healthy trees address these challenges first and foremost from within. Growers utilizing an ongoing investment in soil nutrition and biodiversity set the stage for gentler organic sprays to grow a successful fruit crop. The challenges you face at your locale will become far more manageable as you build a holistic system that keeps trees and berry plantings healthy from the get-go.

COMMUNITY ORCHARD FOCUS: We’ll wrap up this day with important marketing perspective for selling the good fruit.

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diversified farm photo

The Right Size Orchard• Economics of more

and more acreage• Peak labor times call

for ingenuity• Farm as organism• Resilience factors• Community markets• Having fun!

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Hoch Family Orchard

learning curve complexity

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Healthy Plant

Metabolism

The Making of a Healthy Plant

• Sunshine launches plant metabolism.

• Nitrogen combines with plant sugars to create proteins.

• Fat energy drives the cuticle defense

• Resistance metabolites provide “immune function” against disease and higher order insects

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photosynthesis

Photosynthesis Efficiency• Mn, Cl, and B are

activators of enzymes.

• Cu, Fe, Zn, and Mo are components of enzymes.

• Micronutrients play a key role in protein synthesis as well.

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Protein SynthesisThe form of nitrogen uptake by tree roots plays a significant role in the tree’s innate ability to resist disease.

The Right NitrogenSusceptibility to disease goes rocketing up

whenever an orchard tree takes in nutrition in a form that undermines immune function.

Several fungal diseases, such as rust and powdery mildew, are enhanced by high levels of nitrogen, particularly in the form of nitrate. Many bacterial diseases are promoted by high nitrogen levels as well. “Nitrogen Form and Plant Disease” by D.M. Huber and R.D. Watson in Annual Review of Phytopathology, 1974, 12:139-165.

And that’s why we want a fully-functioning soil food web delivering the ammonium form of nitrogen in the root zone!

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The Ammonium Advantage

Greater fungal biomass results in a slightly more acidic rhizosphere. That means far less nitrifying bacteria are in place to make nitrate N from ammonium N.

ProtoplasmIncentive

An excess of soluble amino acids in plant sap (resulting from incomplete protein synthesis) are a prime draw for foliar pests and pathogenic fungi.

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Fat EnergyFatty acids profoundly stimulate the arboreal and soil biology.

Essential oils act as a foil to insect interest.

The cuticle defense will be as much as 4X stronger when robust metabolism is engaged

proteolysis

Lipid reserves in plants counter proteolysisduring times of limited photosynthesis.

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Phytoalexin Response

The terpenoid and flavanoid groupings are core resistance mechanisms to standing up to fruit tree disease.

The impetus behind phyto-chemistry is threefold:• presence of disease• foliar elicitors• reserve energy

Understory Ramifications

Nutrient uptake in more complex forms allows plants the reserve energy necessary to produce greater amounts of secondary plant metabolites. This keys to fungal ascendancy in the soil beneath our tree and berry plantings.

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Brix ReadingsWe can get a sense of the workings of diverse soil biology and trace mineral availability through light refraction of the resulting soluble solids in plant sap.

BRIX 6 PoorBRIX 10 AverageBRIX 14 GoodBRIX 18 Excellent

www.pikeagri.com

The Gist of Brix

Higher refractometer readings corresponds with complex carbohydrates, complete proteins, and non-reducing sugars, which correlate directly with nutrition and flavor ... and pest and disease resistance.

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Fungal Duff Management

Forest Edge Ecology

The first tenet of healthy orcharding is to emulate the way Nature builds soils via fungal connections on the edge of the forest.

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The Soil

Food Web

Microbe “feeding frenzy” keeps the immobilization / mineralization balance humming right along.

Robust tree health begins with the “right” soil biology

Fruiting plants belong in the biological transition zone where the fungal biomass is ten times that of the bacterial biomass.

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arbuscules in cell

ecto-endo diagram

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Mycorrhizal fungi increase the “soil volume reach” of the tree’s feeder roots by 100 times.

But that’s not all folks!

soil volume reach

mycorrhizal networking

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Nutrient BalanceResearchers grew the legume Medicago truncatula with three species of mycorrhizal fungi that contribute different levels of phosphorous to the plant. Over the span of a day, the most generous species received the highest levels of carbon in return, suggesting the plants somehow monitor their nutrient intake and “decide” what’s most needed.

rhizosphere trade

Plants dedicate as much as two-thirds of leaf sugar production to “fair trade” with the biology in the rhizosphere.

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fungus-root

Mycelium Messaging

Underground signaling extends beyond nutrient exchange. Phytochemical pulsing through the hyphal network alerts neighboring plants to the presence of foliar feeding insects and specific disease vectors.

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Influence on Soil CarbonSoil aggregates are literally what hold our world together. Carbon-rich “glomalin” consist of mycorrhizal-derived proteins that bind soil particles into microbe havens.Here begin the humic mysteries . . .

Propagule Nuance

• Mycelial anastomosis

• Root fragments• Spores and

more spores

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Mycorrhizal Root Dips

•Disturbed soil ecosystems and the pace of natural succession

•Diverse species mix

•www.mycorrhizae.com

•www.bio-organics.com

•Soluble formulations for after-the-fact

Drought ReliefMycorrhizae distribute water throughout a plant community:• Glomus deserticola• Glomus fasciculatum• Glomus mosseae

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Spore Assemblage

Non-disturbed ecosystems typically contain 20 to 50 different species of mycorrhizal fungi

Mushroom Manifestation

One visible “badge of honor” on the fungal front are mushrooms springing forth on the orchard floor.

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Lessons Applied

The ultimate goal in any “orchard system” is to integrate abundant mineralization with fungal duff practices to produce outrageously flavorful fruit.

Fungal Banking

Traditional means for building an underground economy around fungal connection simply emulate how our planet creates long-term fertility.

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Wood-Based Fertility

Hugelkulturinvolves an assortment of biological riffs, all based upon burying woodsy debris.

Hugel prep

Earthwork prior to planting typically utilizes wood resources to either build water-retaining swales or terraces across contour to provide tractor access to trees

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Creating Biological Terraces

Soil/ compost/ hay placed over woodsy debris was used to form polyculture swales alongside tree rows

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Rechargeable Carbon Battery

The porous crystalline spaces found within biocharare a long-term fertility boon for mycorrhizae.

biochar particle

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HumificationThe newest growth of a

deciduous tree contains soluble lignins that have not yet polymerized into outright wood. Fungi convert this into humus.

Agricultural soils that have been built from the top down through fungal action has staying power and maximized nutrient recycling.

Fungal Foods

Organic matter rich in soluble lignins provides particular saprotrophic fungi a chance to rock the humus kasbah.

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Ramial Chipped WoodSmall deciduous trees (on the order of one to two

inches in trunk diameter) from field edges, overgrown pasture, and power lines are the ideal wood chip source for perennial plantings:– Far greater proportion of cambium, buds, and twigs

in small wood offer healthy nutrition that gets “banked” as long term humus.

– White rot fungi along with mycorrhizal fungi makes these nutrients available to a wide range of plants.

– Totally different from bark mulch and sawdust !!!

ramial twig view

Twigs and coarse “lignin chips” make for long-lasting fungal happiness… keep in mind this isn’t about human notions of neatness!

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Biological EquipmentOrchard prunings become ramial chipped wood, made in place, fresh, without leaf, lightly spread, making for a most sensible humic connection.

ramial prunings

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Sourcing the Right Stuff

• Coppiced shrubs, not even chipped!

• Pasture edges, tree tops from logging, alder resource base

• Commercial landscapers

ramial sourcing

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Black Rot

•Orchard sanitation, from pruning piles to mummies

• What about those big ol’ heading cuts made several years ago?

•Frog-eye leaf spot phase

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Ramial Pockets

• This investment in woodsy ecology is a priority!

• Easy digging in future years to establish taprootedherbs like comfrey

Fungal Duff Zone

Emphasize fungal dominance in the understory as best you can, regardless of fruit variety or the rootstock chosen.

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Fungal Duff Management• Spread mulch haphazardly: Different sides of the tree in

different years. A thicker dump of ramial wood chips alters soil dynamics longer for feeder roots.

• Fatty acid content of holistic spray options are fuel for desirable organisms in the soil and on tree surface.

• Mulch hay for potassium: intact bale for bumble queens; spread over clean sheetrock scraps (gypsum source)

• Herb business benefits: raspberry canes, nettle stalks, goldenrod and the like

• Nutrient cycling by taprooted understory just as vital as outside mulching inputs.

• Leaf decomposition in tree row is “biological profit”

Cruise Control• Plant allies like

comfrey maintain an openness under the tree all season.

• Taprooted plants offer more space below for feeder root outreach.

• This is not “bare ground” but rather a biological bonanza!

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The growth cycle of the apple tree suggests that tasks …

… be timed to influence disease resistance and winter hardiness alike.

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Fruit GuildsSheet mulching, combined with terracing and extensive use of chop-and-drop nitrogen fixers and other mulch plants has created a remarkable soil around each fruit tree.

Herbal Borders

A number of plants can be integrated into the fungal duff zone to achieve a “certain look” and yet be relatively low maintenance while maintaining health connection.

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Where Orchard and Garden Meet

• Vegetable cultivation and cover crop timing often share a correspondence with tree feeder root cycles.

• Holistic sprays and steering in a fungal direction apply equally to garden doings.

Commercial Scale

The economics of high density systems keys to the relatively low cost of chemistry compared to labor.Biological compromise allows organic growers to join the fray.

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Keyline plowing

Your Look

Keep fungal principles to the fore and interplant to your heart’s content . . . as these are the fruit trees that will experience holistic advantage!

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Soil Fertility Considerations

Orchard Compost

• Spreading biology and replenishing vital nutrients

• Fruit trees thrive with a fungal-dominated compost

• 40:1 CN ratio• Unturned, well-aged

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compost bins

Fungal strandsin a properly-made “orchard compost” will be visible to the naked eye.

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Long Term Fungality

• Forest edge prospecting

• Catalyst sprays for fungal development

• Enhanced value of soil condiments

Biological Maturity• Species diversity continues to increase for up to six months once compost is “mature” after which food resources begin to run out.

• Two-year compost downgrades biologically to the extent of being little more than topsoil.

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Returning the Harvest

It takes 2 tons of compost to the acre to supplement orchard-generated organic matter. That amounts to a single cubic foot of “black gold” per tree on a 16x24 spacing.

More Secrets of the Soil

A few quick and dirty tips to understanding fertility balance.

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“Plants in touch with balanced, exchangeable nutrients provide their own protection against bacterial, fungal, and insect attack.”

speaking on the work of Dr. Albrecht and others before “toxic rescue chemistry” became the norm

Charles Walters, Acres USA

Plants in touch with balanced, exchangeable nutrients provide their own protection against bacterial, fungal, and insect attack.

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Soil TestingDifferent labs emphasize different strengths acids to extract nutrients … which often leads to differing recommendations.

Philosophical divide between “yield sufficiency” and “fertility ratios”

Basic Soil Values

• Get that pH in the 6.3–6.7 range.

• Organic matter fuels the biology. Get OM to 3% at a bare minimum.

• Do this in the context of cation balance based on the CEC number for your soil.

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Cation BalanceCalcium baseline starts

at 2000 lbs/acre … and pushing 4000 lbs/acre is a worthy investment.

Sandy and clay soils require wriggle room here: Mg pulls soil particles closer whereas Ca spreads soil particles apart

Ratios Determined by the CEC

• Those blessed with loam will find that 70:10:3+ helps solve the “bitter pit problem” and improves fruit integrity.

• Sandy soils (with a low CEC) need extra Mg thereby shifting this to 68:16:3

• Heavy clay soils (with a high CEC) benefit from extra Ca along the lines of 76:10:4

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The Art of Liming²Incorporation Phase• Lime moves down

into the soil a mere inch a year.

• Incorporation cued to cover crop prep is an important opportunity.

• Split applications preferred when recs given in terms of tons/acre.

Maintenance Phase• Lower rates as now

working with active biological systems (200-400 lbs/acre)

• Serve up surface lime with molasses and humates to facilitate food web uptake.

• Only if confirmed by subsequent testing.

Alkaline Ground

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Spring Gypsum Calcium makes for more rigid cell walls, leading to strength against intrusion of fungal hyphae.

Sulfur is essential for protein synthesis, which, when leached enables water-soluble sugars to buildup and fuel fungal pathogens.

Phosphate’s RolePhosphorous is more often than not the “missing link” with respect to calcium uptake and fruit nutrient density.Total phosphate (P2O5) and potash (KO2) readings of at least 200 lbs/acre as determined by Modified Morgan extraction

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Protein Synthesis

Plant metabolism guided by deep nutrition results in a very different food environment for disease pathogens.

Theory of Trophobiosis

> Deficiency of balanced nutrition

> inhibition of protein synthesis

> accumulation of soluble substances

>improved nutrition for pests

>rapid multiplication and virulence of bacterial and fungal pathogens

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Feed a Fever?• French research

points to a Ca:Kratio nearer to 20:1 to achieve optimal protein synthesis.

• Asparagine levels go up in plant sap otherwise. . .

Nutrient Contributionsto Stellar Immunity

Boron helps synthesize amino acids like tryptophane needed to resist fungal entry.

Copper increases plant tissue levels of ascorbic acid and beta-carotene. Tree bark is more “flexible” as well.

Molybdenum required by nitrate-reductase enzyme, without which we see increase in fruit rots.

Cobalt benefits soil microorganisms, is a precursor to enzymes, and is required by N-fixing bacteria.

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Trace Minerals• Kelp meal added to the compost pile and fed to farm animals.

• Azomite clay dusted on planting ground.

• Dehydrated sea minerals come perfectly balanced to support life.

Critical Points of Influence

• The bloom period through fruit set are especially important time for trace mineral availability.

• Foliar options include MicroPakand SeaCrop

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• Elongation of pollen tubes• Regulation of fruiting thru cell division• Essential role in protein synthesis

Fruit Matters

Sulfur Revisited

• When a plant is short of sulfur, it leads to accumulation of sugar, starches and nitrates.

• Soil test levels are a minimum of 25 ppm or 50 pounds of elemental S.

• Sulfate forms utilized in cation balancing.

• Helps increase heat tolerance of crops.

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Timing Soil Applications tothe Feeder Root Flush

Mineral boosts at greenup and in early fall give the biology time to assimilate nutrition before the flush of spring and fall feeder roots.

Remineralizethe Earth

• Long-term renewal of soil occurs through the crushing of rocks by glaciers and volcanic eruptions.

• Rock Dust Local specializes in local sourcing and delivery of the BEST (Broad Elemental Spectrum Tectonic) rock dusts for remineralization.

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Expanding Tree Radius

Tree mineral zone expands over time, as does the fungal duff.

π r² x tree count40,000 sq. ft.

Radius of 4 ft, 121 trees per acre → 15% rec rate

Biological Parameters

The overstocked pantry approach of “soil chemistry” would be better considered from the perspective of nutrient density and crop resistance to insect pests and disease.

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Nutrient density in the fruit

equates to

Life density in the soil

Healthy Nutrient Uptake• A fully-functional biology is key

to good soil digestion.• Without an abundance of allies,

feeder roots absorb simple ions.• Fungal ascendancy abets

absorbing nutrients in the form of amino acids and soluble carbohydrates.

• This “partially built” advantage requires less energy.

• Voila! This is the means a tree reaches the final stages of plant health.

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Medicinal Synthesis• Skin pigments are the

major source of antioxidants in fruit.

• Phenolics inhibit growth of both liver and colon cancers

• Overuse of fungicides reduces the healing virtue of the apple by as much as three times

Meaningful Nutrition / Proper Brain Function

Rudolf Steiner recognized that our "current dilemma" amounted to a peculiarly challenging dynamic. Essentially, humans urgently needing to make good decisions no longer had the wholesome nutrition necessary to support proper brain function and spiritual perception.

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An Apple a Day

Ecosystem Connections

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biodiversity plugBiodiversity in understory plantings and nearby hedgerows supports an ongoing fertility loop as well as insect allies.

Stacking Functions• Bee attractants• Insectary plants• Dynamic accumulators• Living mulch• Nitrogen fixers• Pest repellent herbs• Vole repellent bulbs• Crop plants (berries,

herbs, vegetables)

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Dynamic Accumulators

Deep taprooted plants bring minerals up from the subsoil which in turn (upon that plant’s decomposition) are made available to the soil food web and thus the tree.

Comfrey• Living mulch• Room in the

humus• Bumblebee

happiness• Foliar calcium• Beneficial

insect haven• Winter

chickens

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Taproot Fertility Loop

This cycling of subsoil minerals up into leafy matter that fungi and bacteria in turn break down on the soil surface is the primary fertility loop for orchard trees.

Root RespirationAn all-grass understory results in carbon dioxide (CO2) overload for tree feeder roots. Far more “room in the humus” exists with tap rooted plants.

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Mowing is a technique among many used by orchardists to ripen mineral humus to the benefit of an extreme diversity of fungi.

—Hugh Williams

Biological Mowing

• Pulsing nutrient availability with a sharp blade

• Fungal sweet spot of plants just going into seed stage

• Opening up the humus layer for tree feeder roots

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Mycorrhizal Planet excerpt

Terminal buds send the signal to prepare for winter by some point in August (ending the second phase of shoot growth), thereby initiating the fall root flush. Can you guess where “tree carbon” is going? Keeping the mycorrhizal network fully engaged through the early fall months for this important period of mineral uptake by the trees means that a majority of understory plants area-wide should ideally be in the vegetative stage as the harvest begins. Grasses focused on renewed growth are not setting seed. Correspondingly, understory mycorrhizae are not chiming in for minerals to the same degree as the fruit trees. Aisleways that have been grazed, mowed, or planted to cover crops in midsummer help keep “understory carbon” out of the trading loop at this juncture. Orchard management decisions are in truth about pulsing fungal incentives to achieve optimal production.

Nitrogen Fixers

Incorporate plants into the orchard polyculture that provide nitrogen for young fruit trees. When goumiand other nitrogen fixers are cut down, their roots respond by releasing a plume of N into the surrounding soil.

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Permaculture “chop and drop”Nitrogen fixing plants like Siberian pea shrub, red alder, and buffaloberry can be coppice managed for many years, dropped to the ground just like succession works on the forest edge.

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Bridge Trees

The so-called “soft hardwoods” like willow and alder bring ectomycorrhizal advantage to an otherwise endomycorrhizalorchard ecosystem.

tree root reach

The long reach of tree root systems enhances mycorrhizal network connections. Alder and apple alike extend further than you might expect.

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Red Clover

• Both red clover and crimson clover initiate the turn towards fungal dominance

• Nitrogen fixation • Cover crop of

choice prior to planting new trees

Lupinus

• These legumes fix nitrogen from the air into ammonia via a rhizobium-root nodule symbiosis

• Important larval food plant for many butterflies

• Edible seeds (Australia)

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Beneficial Accumulators

An open swath of buckwheat at the end of a row, sweet cicely by the grape arbor, umbelliferous herbs throughout ... All these integrations are of great import.

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Incorporating Diversity

• Plant in clumps • Select flowers to

provide bloom through the season.

• More flower area equals more beneficial insects

• Include native grasses for structural support

You won’t go wrong steering your orchard ecosystem towards the “forest edge”

beneficial habitat

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This syrphidfly larva consumes on the order of forty aphids a day!

Front Line Allies

Holistic apple growing is about subtle solutions retained through a

reverence for life

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Alligator Patrol

Ladybug larvae seemingly come from the Everglades!

Beneficial awareness

Numerous parasitic wasps have definite caterpillar intentions.

Their presence depends on the biodiversity you foster throughout the landscape.

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But first let’s do the numbers …

What do Insect Allies

Need?Alternate host/preyShelter

Moderated microclimates In-season refugesOverwintering sites

Adult FoodNectarPollenSap, honey

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Macrocentrus ancylivorusThis braconid wasp is a dedicated parasite of oriental fruit moth larvae and peach twig borer larvae. Parasitism can reach levels of 80 to 90 percent by August and September to help provide long-term control of this pest.

The Case for Winter Debris

California studies indicate that growing a small plot of sunflowers can provide these braconid wasps with an overwintering host (in the sunflower moth) which allow its populations to build more rapidly in the orchard the following season. Similarly, strawberry leafroller serves as a food host for Macrocentrus. The ragweed borer, which bores in the stems of ragweed species, is yet another alternate host. There’s a stunning conclusion here: A great diversity of plants left “beyond their time” helps to address pest challenges like OFM and PTB!

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Spring TiphiaWasp

• Tiphia vernalis is a small, parasitic wasp of Japanese beetle grubs

• Current distribution is throughout the Northeastern United States and south to North Carolina.

• Adult wasps feed almost exclusively on the honeydew of aphids associated with the leaves of maple, cherry, and elm trees. Peonies contribute as well.

• The nectar of tulip poplars has been found to be an important food source for the adult wasps.

wolf spider habitat

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bird friends

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The Fruit Beat Peach, cherry, and apricot have extrafloral nectar glands on the base of leaf buds. Lady beetles feed on this nectar and thus get a jump on early aphids on nearby apples.

Diversity Compounded

Both blueberry maggot fly and apple maggot fly populations go down when these fruits share proximity. Any guesses as to

why?

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Biodiversity to the nth degree

Creative recycling can be used to increase pollinator and beneficial insect populations.

Farming with Native Beneficial Insects is a must-have resource for holistic fruit growers.

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Wildflower Mix for the Midwest• Golden Alexander• Lanceleaf Coreopsis• Dotted Mint• Butterfly Milkweed• Partridge Pea• Virginia Mountain Mint• Maximilian Sunflower• Showy Goldenrod• Calico Aster

Grasses for the

Midwest

• Big Bluestem• Prairie Junegrass• Little Bluestem• Prairie DropseedClumping grasses (25% of mix) add structure to wildflower diversity.

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Major Bee Groups in Eastern North America

• honey bees• bumble bees• carpenter bees• mason bees• leafcutter bees• sweat bees• digger bees

Osmia in tube

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Here are some ways you can support native bees:

• Keep dead or dying trees and branches whenever safe. Wood boring beetles often have created narrow tunnels into which solitary bees will make their home. Rotting logs also provide nest sites for some bees.

• Protect sloped or well-drained ground sites where bees can find direct access to soil. These areas are prime nesting spots for ground bees.

• On farms or open lands, keep some areas untilled. Turning over the soil will destroy ground nests that are present and will prevent the emergence of bees nesting deeper in the soil.

Attracting Native Pollinators

• Bumblebees live in the grassy interface between open fields and hedgerows or woods. Mow in late fall or winter after the colonies have died and when the queens are dormant.

• Approximately, 30% of the 4,000 native bee species are solitary wood-nesters building their homes in the soft pithy centers of branches. Box elder, sumac, dogwood, elderberry, and various cane berries provide good hollow tunnels for nest building.

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fairy places

Disease Progression

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Disease is not some sort of “manifest destiny” for crops denied the protection of spray medicines.

Germ Theory RevisitedOne of the earliest western references to this appears in On Agriculture by Marcus TerentiusVarro (published in 36 BC), wherein there is a warning about locating a homestead in the proximity of swamps:

"...and because there are bred certain minute creatures that cannot be seen by the eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and there cause serious diseases."

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Facing Our Fungal Fears

Bordeaux Beginnings

The very first sprays of copper sulfate were to deter roadside grazers . . . And thus was born the Bordeaux spray that exhibited effectiveness against fungal disease.

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Allopathic path

The search for what else “worked” to deter disease was on. And thus began a hundred fifty years with the mineral fungicides and subsequent chemistry.

Clean Slate Mentality

Modern people hold an unquestioning belief that sterility is akin to disease control.

FINE AND DANDY.

That said we still have to face both the ubiquity and brilliance of the fungal and bacterial worlds.

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Fungal Disease

Progression

Apple ScabVenturia inaequalis

Key Aspects of Every Disease

• Spore potential overwinters somewhere, and certain pathogens have more than one launching pad.

• The timing of infection susceptibility determines when to act … in accord with the approach chosen to thwart disease.

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Tree Inoculum

Brown RotMonilinia fructicola

Shot hole fungus on cherry

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Preventing fungal infection in the primary infection period is paramount, as conidia development will continue the spread of “secondary scab” all summer long otherwise.

secondary scab cycle

We Begin with Pink Perfection

Be sure to get outside to savor this moment …As it all goes downhill from here!

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Early lesions of apple scab become apparent only 9to as many as 16 days after infection actually occurs.

early lesions of scab

1. Leaf susceptibility is highest when 3-9 days old

2. Expanding surface area of exposed green tissue

3. Maturation of the fungal spores

Scab Infection

Curve

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The Mills Wetting Chart

Several things can work in the grower’s favor:

• Quick drying conditions

• Phyochemicalresponse

• Balanced nutrition

• Innate resistance

Air Circulation

Competent pruning ties into disease control to reduce that wetting period.

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Old School Organics• Copper works akin to a blunt barrier by

unfavorably altering surface hospitality for overwintering organisms.

• Sulfur works as a protectant fungicide in altering solution pH thereby inhibiting the production of spore penetration enzymes.

• Lime sulfur brings an eradicant edge by penetrating the leaf tissue and thus whacking that hyphal start-up out of the ballpark if applied within the first 24 to perhaps 36 hours following actual infection, ideally while leaves are still moist.

Mineral fungicides will have significant impact on soil and arboreal organisms, return bloom, beneficial insects, yield, fruit finish, and perhaps even your happiness.

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Sulfur Nuance• Distinguishing

between micronized sulfur and mineral sulfur.

• Protectant application PRIOR to every anticipated wetting event is very old school indeed!

• Daring to recognize when residual coverage may serve the cause.

Dancing with the Scab Fungus

This research lies at the heart of determining the threat inherent in a “marginal wetting period” and therefore the need to act.

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Weather StationsDegree Days (Base 32) for LA CROSSE MUNICIPAL AP

Past Past Current 5-Day Forecast Forecast DetailsDate Feb 18 Feb 19 Feb 20 Feb 21 Feb 22 Feb 23 Feb 24 Feb 25

Daily Degree Days 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0

Seasonal Accumulation 8 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

Accumulated Degree-Days

The data to be found “in the vicinity” can be translated for an assortment of orchard events through computer modelling. The website http://newa.cornell.edu/ provides growers with a reassuring check on ascospore maturity and release.

An Allopathic TouchHeavy hitting medicines may have a place in extreme wetting periods and where certain pathogens achieve a indisputable foothold in the orchard.

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Cedar Apple RustHolistic management of cedar apple rust entails conscious choice of varieties and competitive reinforcement.

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Rust Resistant Varieties

William’s Pride LibertyEnterpriseSundanceAkaneAshmead’s KernalMollie’s DeliciousRoxbury RussetTydeman’s RedLimbertwig(s)

Bicarbonate ObservationSulfur has not shown good effectiveness in inhibiting rust infection.The alkaline effects of “baking soda” alter surface pH in the other direction.Acts to damage the cell wall membranes of fungal spores as well by causing an imbalance of potassium ions within the cell.

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What If

What if the terpenoid compounds found in red cedar needles induced systemic resistance within the apple tree against cedar apple rust?

Pathogen Strategies• Biotrophic organisms

rely on penetrating enzymes and effector proteins to feed on soluble amino acids.

• Hemibiotrophicorganisms phase in all strategies.

• Necrotrophicorganisms kill host cells immediately to obtain nutrients.

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The Holistic Approach

to Fruit Tree

Disease

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Changing the Paradigm

We need to understand that all these “spray medicines” are making up for specific biological and nutritional deficiencies.

Thinking Anew about DiseaseEnhancing the

tree’s immune response

Creating a competitive fungal and bacterial environment

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Fungal Groupings

• Saprotrophic fungi

• Mycorrhizal fungi

• Arboreal fungi (yeasts, shelf mushrooms, epiphytic and endophytic fungi)

• Parasitic fungi

Rudolf Steiner quote

Everything in Nature is interdependent

— everything.

I have to emphasize this again and again.

Rudolf Steiner

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Working with Immune Function

• A tad of disease presence is good.

• Herbal constituents, arboreal biology, and trace minerals used in holistic sprays will stimulate the phytoalexin response.

Systemic Acquired ResistanceThe presence of a stressor elicits a phytochemical response not only in the plants being subject to adversity but also in yet-unaffected neighbors. This priming of the system produces an almost endless number of chemical variations within.

Bacterial spot on peach

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Salicylic Acid Pathway

• Hydrolytic enzymes contact fungal or bacterial presence

• Oxidative burst• Salicylic acid

build-up• Phytoanticipins

vary for each plant species

SAR Requisites

• Defensive compounds include more than 350 known substances.

• Balanced mineral nutrition is necessary for plants to synthesize the full range of defensive compounds.

• Soluble carbohydrates and glycopeptides(sugar proteins) suppress production of phytoanticipins.

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The Limits of SARPathogens/ pests can

adjust in turn to plant defensive mechanisms:

– tolerating accumulated phytoanticipins

– suppressing production– detoxifying by means of

counter enzymes– avoid eliciting response

Prolonged lack of sunshine radically alters phytochemical oomph.

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Inducing Systemic Resistance

Using nature’s pharmacy to prep the plant for whatever may be coming next.

All the subtleties of a living orchard system must be in place!

ISR Mechanisms• An “ISR vaccine” initiates a gene cascade

involving as many as 20 genes to produce a single phytoalexin compound.

• Mechanical wounding initiates electrical signaling that leads to biosynthesis of jasmonatehormone, and thus another defensive response.

• Activating multiple mechanisms with an assortment of foliar inducers is key.

• Effectiveness of holistic application in the field stretches as long as 10 days (to as much as 14 days in greenhouse trials)

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Inducing Elicitors

• Non-pathogenic bacteria (such as Bacillus spp.)

• Chemicals produced by infected plants (such as resveratrol in knotweed)

• Terpenes, phenols, and alkaloids found in herbs

• Compost teas and EM• Ionic minerals (Sea Crop)• Kelp extracts• Humic acid extracts

The Arboreal Food Web

• Introducing biological allies to boost surface populations.

• Colonization on the order of 70% outcompetes disease-causing organisms.

• Maintaining “natural advantage” requires that we play a stewardship role.

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Ecological Stresses Working Against Canopy Colonization

• Extreme heat• Deep cold• Ultraviolet radiation• Ozone depletion• Acid rain• Dry spells• Use of fungicides• Nitrate fertilization• Limited food resources

on the leaf surface

Soil Food Web Unleashed“Do we have to know the names of each of these bacterial and fungal species in order to get them to work for us? No... Let the plants select the active organisms to do the work Nature designed them to do.”

Elaine Ingham

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Probiotics for Trees

One key to holistic disease management falls under the banner of Biological Reinforcement.

We pick up that trail with the memory of another time…

the noble chestnut tree American chestnut once stood tall among the forest trees throughout Appalachia.

This primary species grew from Maine to Georgia—one in four forest trees was an American chestnut in the early 1900's.

More than 80% of these trees died within fifty years as a result of an imported fungal blight.

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A Lesson in WaitingAnd yet the rooted trunk

of these noble trees did not die.

Stump sprouts sprang up again and again.

The imported disease organism was meeting the soil food web.

American Chestnut Blight

Compost or rich earth rubbed into blight lesions early on will outcompete Cryphonectria parasitica

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Cellular view of leaf x-section

Microbes on leaf surface

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Effective Microbes

• Diverse mix of photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, and yeasts.

• Brewing mother culture with molasses makes for outstanding economy.

• Orchard and garden results are very promising with fungal and bacterial disease.

Diverse Roles for the Players• Photosynthetic bacteria synthesize root and foliage

secretions by using sunlight and the heat of the soil to form amino acids, nucleic acids, and sugars to help feed the masses.

• Lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid from carbohydrates which suppresses disease-causing organisms. Promotes decomposition of organic matter. And most telling, improves utilization of calcium, phosphorous, and iron by the plant.

• Yeasts synthesize bioactive enzymes to promote active cell division

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Activating EM• Brewing is all about

getting a microbe culture to reproduce.

• The first phase launches the lactic acid bacteria with two to three days at 90 to 110°F.

• Another five to seven days at 72 to 78°F will see the photosynthetic bacteria coming out of dormancy.

• A solution pH below 3.8 and that sweet earthy smell means all are now hale and hearty.

And Then What

Happens?

Up to ten million unicellular organisms live on every square centimeter of leaf surface.

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Aerated Compost Tea•Fungal nuance as defined by aerobically-brewed compost tea

•Elaine Ingram’s Compost Tea Brewing Manual

The Missing LinkMaintaining a diversity of organisms on plant surfaces is a holistic goal. Aerated compost tea ups the ante so to speak, including species like this fungal feeding nematode. Using effective microbes and tea together is worthy of further investigation. Just remember to supply the “fats” necessary to sustain our troops in the field!

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Albert Einstein quote

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

Albert Einstein

Holistic Alternatives

to Fungicides

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backpack sprayer photo

fungal curve 1

A “fungal curve” coincides with understory actions …

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fungal curve 2

… that can considerably add to our understanding

of why we do what we do when we do it.

Using Holistic Sprays to Further Boost Good Fungal Dynamics

Trace MineralsFatty Acids

Microbe Diversity

Holistic “core recipe” consists of pure neem oil, fish hydrolysate, seaweed, and some version of microbial inoculant.

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Pure Neem OilDistinguishing between whole plant medicine and standardized extracts.

Quality control means cold-pressed oil with azadirachtin content >1800 ppm.

Neem terpenoids induce systemic acquired resistance (SAR).

Polyunsaturated fatty acids contribute to tree health and arboreal microbe colonization. www.neemresource.com

Working with Unadulterated Neem

Planning ahead is a must to spray neem oil:– Unadulterated neem is “thick

as butter” <59°F.– Place container in warm, dark

room to homogenize .– Mix emulsifying agent into oil

(1 Tbs. per 6 oz.)– Pour warm water into mix in

large bucket, stir vigorously, then add last to spray tank. Use immediately.

Growing season rate of 0.5%, with applications made 7 to 14 days apart.

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More Practical Insights

• Seed oil stored at 40°F remains stable with regard to azadirachtin activity.

• Pour into “batch size” containers when first warming a larger container. Keeping neem oil cool until needed as opposed to constantly thawing a carboy or barrel will preserve constituents better.

• Clean pump, hoses, and fittings after every spray. CitraSolve works well to “degrease” spray equipment.

That ol’ EPA Registration Number

Many dollars go into getting bureaucratic approval, even for remedies longstanding. The very same quality neem sold by Ahimsa Organics now costs you about 40% more.

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Karanja Synergy• Pressed from seeds of pongam tree• Lighter weight, slightly less cost• Flavanoid immune action• Different insect impact• Substitute 1/3 neem portion

Liquid Fish• Unpasteurized

hydrolysate contains the biologically-rich omega fats of whole fish.

• This is NOT fish emulsion!

• Foliar rate of 1-2 gallons per acre; ground rate of 4 gallons per acre.

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Product Nuance

True “liquid fish” is not heat treated but rather cold processed with phosphoric acid added to stabilize odor potential. The NPK analysis reflects this aspect of a true hydrolysate product.

Seaweed Extract

Liquid Kelp

• Both forms retain naturally chelated nutrients, amino acids, and hormones.

• Polysaccahrides, however, are lost unless the kelp is cold-processed. Consider this to be “plant antifreeze” when frost threatens tender blossoms in spring.

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Cytokinins Prolong Resistance

Researchers have noted that cytokinin hormones in kelp grant the fruit tree more time to increase its resistance response to disease-causing organisms.

This is accomplished by stimulating the production of flavonoids and abetting the synthesis of protein.

Biological Reinforcement

Options are three:• Purchased inoculum• Compost-derived• Indigenous cultures

The life component of the holistic spray plan cannot be overlooked!

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Core Holistic Spray Recipe

Fish hydrolysate, pure neem oil,effective microbes,and seaweed extract stimulate green

immune function and reinforce canopy colonization.

The Orchard Calendar

Dormant SeasonBud AwakeningTight cluster / PinkBloomPetal FallCover SpraysHarvestFall SanitationWinter Preparation

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Spray Framework

Holistic Timing • Spring sprays straddle primary infection events.

• Comprehensive sprays are just that!

• Summer sprays address rots and aesthetic fungi.

• Fall spray(s) address bud crevice wannabes and orchard floor inoculum.

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Primary Infection Window

We start with a ground/ trunk catalyst spray and extend this biological thrust to straddle the primary infection period of assorted fungal pathogens.

Pulsing Agents

Fatty acid nutrition acts as a catalyst throughout the humus and on the soil surface – and indeed on the branch structure of the tree, aptly described by Rudolf Steiner as an extension of the soil itself.

This “priming of the pump” includes double rates of microbes to enhance decomposition of leaves (on the orchard floor) as well as maintain a niche advantage in bud scales and bark crevices.

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Spring TimingSpring applications are timed to four specified apple bud stages:

– Quarter-inch green – Open Cluster to Pink– Petal Fall– First Cover

Including trace minerals in the latter three apps boosts plant metabolism at key points in the tree’s growth cycle.

Sea MineralsSeawater contains 90 elements plus many compound minerals. It has been estimated that seawater contains over 50,000 different organic substances in the form of fulvic acid.

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Revising the Mills Wetting Chart

Wetting period (HOURS)

Average Temperature (F)

Average Temperature (C) Light Infection Moderate

Infection Heavy InfectionIncubation

Period (days)

78 25.6 13 17 26 ...

77 25.0 11 14 21 ...

76 24.4 9.5 12 19 ...

63-75 17.2-23.9 9 12 18 9

62 16.7 9 12 19 10

61 16.1 9 13 20 10

60 15.6 9.5 13 20 11

59 15.0 10 13 21 12

58 14.4 10 14 21 12

57 13.9 10 14 22 13

56 13.3 11 15 22 13

55 12.8 11 16 24 14

54 12.2 11.5 16 24 14

53 11.7 12 17 25 15

52 11.1 12 18 26 15

51 10.6 13 18 27 16

50 10.0 14 19 29 16

49 9.4 14.5 20 30 17

48 8.9 15 20 30 17

47 8.3 17 23 35 17

46 7.8 19 25 38 17

45 7.2 20 27 41 17

44 6.6 22 30 45 17

43 6.1 25 34 51 17

42 5.5 30 40 60 17

Let’s consider this venerable chart once again but now from the perspective of the healthy fruit tree.

The upshot here is very bold indeed!

Community Orchard RatesThis assumes a hundred gallon spray tank capacity to cover one acre of trees. A half gallon of pure neem oil mixed with a quarter cup of soap emulsifier mixed into 100 gallons of water achieves a 0.5% neem concentration. Seaweed extract is a given: 8 ounces (dry weight) goes in the tank. Two gallons of liquid fish and one gallon of activated effective microbes completes the brew.

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Home Orchard RatesAssume a four gallon backpack sprayer is used to cover so many trees to the point of runoff. Mix 2.5 ounces of pure neem oil with a generous teaspoonful of soap emulsifier to achieve a 0.5% neem concentration. Use 10 ounces of liquid fish and ¾ cup of mother culture of effective microbes;add as much as ½ cup of blackstrap molasses to launch those hungry critters. Include 5 tablespoons liquid kelp or a half an ounce (dry weight) of the seaweed extract.

Holistic ExplorationOther potential ingredients in a nutritionally-based spray program are foods for surface microbes and foliar uptake.

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Osage Orange

Tetrahydroxystilbenefound in the fruits of the Osage Orange tree exhibits significant antifungal activity for both plant and human use.

Fruit Sizing Window

The month following fruit set is when flower bud initiation for next year takes place in apples and pears.

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Thinning by Hand• Space fruitlets

6 to 8 inches apart “on average”

• Figure that 20% of your labor time will be spent thinning!

• Pest populations can be set back for the following year

BlossomThinning

• Smothering bloom with vegetable oil

• Burning flower stigmas with high rate of potassium bicarbonate

• Ditto for table salt• Swiss research into 5-7%

concentration “vinasse”

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Photosynthesis Inhibitors

• FOLS strategy for those heavy setting varieties

• Effective timing cues to limiting nutrient flow for seed development

• Cloud cover amplifies effects

Comprehensive Applications

• 7 to 10 day intervals tied to weather events

• Keeping up competitive colonization

• Silica and calcium to boost cuticle strength

• Pest applications in-between

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Fruit Ripening Window

The crop being grown, disease relevance at a particular site, and market appeal decide whether a fruit grower continues with holistic sprays deep into summer.

The Cuticle Defense

Waxy exudates are the feeding grounds of surface diseases.

Nutritional support here keys on bioavailable silica and calcium to build up the cuticle.

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A Few Tenets of Herbal Medicine

Immune support always begins with balanced nutrition.

The body (the plant) has innate ability to fend off disease and heal when we understand that “food is medicine”.

Plant medicines found locally are ideal.Whole plant synergy really, really matters!

Horsetail Tea

Rudolf Steiner suggested use of fermented horsetail tea to combat fungal attacks.

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The Overlooked Role of Silica

Essential element for cuticle strength on both leaf and fruit.

Fresh horsetail has high silica content by early summer.

The timing here is right for both summer diseases and fruit rots.

Equisetum arvense

Stinging Nettle• Silica levels in nettle

rise considerably when this herb reaches its seed stage.

• Again, summer applications fall right in line when boosting the cuticle defense matters most.

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Foliar Calcium• Fruit quality is most often

determined by adequate calcium.

• Calcium is difficult to transpose from leaf to fruit.

• Fermented comfrey tea offers bioavailable calcium and more.

Brewing Basics

• Fresh herb is ideally infused with hot water to initiate constituent extraction.

• Ferment for 7 to 14 days, keeping covered. This process makes minerals bioavailable.

• Garlic scapesincrease stomata absorption.

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Garlic’s Role in Fruit Production

Use of dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO) in medicine dates to 1963, when it was discovered this compound could penetrate the skin membrane without damage and subsequently carry other compounds into a biological system. Unpasteurized garlic extracts contain compounds similar to DMSO.

The best use of garlic in the holistic orchard is as a synergist carrier of spray nutrients into the leaf cuticle and cells beyond.

Fermented Plant Extracts

• Homegrown• Living brew• One dollar per

gallon cost• Pure ‘guy’ essence• Calcium and silica

results on website

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Upping the Ante

Calcium Brew Silica Brew• comfrey leaf• green nettle• effective

microbes• garlic scapes• whole milk• gypsum• humic and fulvic

acids

• horsetail• seeded nettle• effective microbes• Azomite clay and/or

soft rock phosphate• granite meal and/or

basalt dust• humic and fulvic

acids

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Summer Disease CyclesThe first round of surface-feeding fungi that cause sooty blotch and flyspeck are typically deterred by scab diligence.Sticking with “summer intentions” through July and August (and even into September for late varieties) is where the quest for cleaner fruit at harvest time is truly waged.

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The Phytolith Factor

Summer Fruit Rots

A strong cuticle radically lessens the ability of brown rot fungi to do in the harvest.Time to close the door on these ruffians, eh?

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Rot UnleashedThe first indication of brown rot in the spring is the rapid death of blossoms which, as they turn brown, often become affixed to the twig in a gummy mass. The fungus next enters the shoot where it causes a canker on which spores are also produced. Early season copper knocks back this set-up; Zen-o-Spore is the biological alternative.

Brown Rot in Humid VirginiaBeginning in June, Barbara Pleasant sprays her stone fruit trees five times at two-week intervals with diluted milk. Both fruits and foliage are covered until the spray mixture drips to the ground. She stops spraying when the fruits began to ripen, not wanting milk residue on the fruits.The results? Less than 10 percent brown rot incidence on her plums whereas in previous seasons the crop was essentially a wipeout.

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Herbal Rot RemedyResearch from China indicates an extract of the leaves and vines of Schisandra chinensis prevent brown rot on peaches

Bitter Pit 101 • Crop loading and weather patterns are big factors

• Excess of potassium or magnesium blocks uptake of calcium

• Use gypsum to up soil calcium levels without affecting pH

“Calcium Imbalance”

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Manganese Chelate• Foliar applications of

manganese (reduced form) balance potassium absorption.

• Use with apps that include fermented plant extracts into summer.

• This allows calcium to move into the fruit more readily.

• Manganese also abets fruit bud formation

Woe onto Us!•Fire Blight

•Blossom Blast

•Blister Spot

•Bacterial Spot

•Bacterial canker

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Extreme SusceptibilityGrowers lost 250,000 tress in southeastern Michigan in 2000. Commercial varieties on susceptible dwarfing rootstock are a perfect combination for a fire blight epidemic.

Fire Blight Strategies

Resistant varieties and rootstockExtremely vigilant sanitationUnderstanding copper’s mode of action,

applied when buds swell, often with oil.The use of antibiotics is rightfully being

questioned in organic certification.Competitive blossom environment

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The Ugly StubRemoving fire blight strikes in the growing season entails leaving an “infection stub” to be removed in the dormant season.

Blossom blight is best removed by snapping off the spur at the base: Using no tools means no dipping in bleach.

Holistic Opportunity with Opportunistic Bacteria

Erwinia amylovora and company, frankly, don’t like microbe diversity and competition for nutrients.

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Organism Nemesis

• Blight Ban• Blossom

Protect• Homegrown

CCB

Competitive Colonization

BoostNO FISH, NO NEEM• ½ g karanja oil• 4 g activated microbes• 12 oz. seaweed extract• 1 pint molasses (opt)

Mix per hundred gallons acre/spray

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Selective Application

Spot spraying lighter-weight “copper soap” on more fire blight tending cultivars

hops extract

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Hail Revamp

Trunk and Limb Cankers

Yet another organism simply needing you to help displace it.

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Biodynamic Tree Paste

• Slurry of half native clay and half fresh manure or rich compost.

• Applied to bark as a “facial” and specific trouble spots in early spring

Hugh Lovel riffs

• (see Acres article)

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Other Immune Spray Products

• Hydrogen peroxide• Whey / raw milk• Serenade• Regalia• Sil-Matrix• Double Nickle

Come the Fall

Time to talk about the most important things you can do to set up the next growing season . . .

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Managing inoculum levels on the orchard floor through bioactivity in late fall makes a huge difference in spring disease pressures.

Stirring the Biological StewChoose three of

the following beginning at 40% leaf fall:

• Lime• Mowing• Compost• Fall

holistic spray

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Fall Holistic Spray

• Targeting both the branch structure (and thus bud crevices), any as-yet-to-fall leaves, and the leaves already on the ground.

• Ground rates of fish and pure neem oil, along with effective microbes.

• Old-fashioned “compost tea” as backup plan.

Bark Crevice Colonization• Certain disease

pathogens overwinter in bud scales and bark crevices

• Insect eggs and larvae alike are tucked away here as well

• Bark takes in fatty nutrition

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Decomposition Zones Ready for Winter

We are emulating forest edge ecology and thus maximizing biological activity in all these ways.

Peach Leaf Curl• Post-harvest

establishment in buds

• Fall copper application with spring dormant follow-up

• The holistic one-two punch of fatty acids followed by microbes

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Bacterial Spot

• Xanthomonas bacteria and wind-driven rains

• Overwintering twig lesions

• Going “spring ballistic” involves spraying copper prior to budbreak

• Going “spring holistic” counts on competitive colonization

Spring Fling

Winter beat you to it?Mowing in early spring is about flipping leaves and first holistic sprays equally directed at ground level.

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Herbal Relevance to Stone Fruits

Brown rot on nectarines, cherry leaf spot, peach leaf curl, bacterial spot on apricot, perennial canker …

It’s still all about tree immune response, nutrient balance, and supporting competitive microbes!

The Choice is YoursFruit tree culture has been stuck in

allopathic mode for far too long, solely seeking out short-term fungicides and antibiotics to destroy disease-causing organisms from without.

We never understood that the tree’s own immune ability could be coupled with the stimulation of friendly microbes to defeat disease from within.

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What About Genetics?

• Cross breeding with the Vf gene

• Cellular hypersensitivity

• Scab virulence

REDFREE resist scab by means of Vf immunity … but really … who names these varieties anyway?

“Best of the Best”

Approach to Breeding

Take a good Comice pear and cross it with a sweet Seckel, and one result was the Magness, a noted modern cultivar .

Yet this two-great-cultivars-as-parents approach more often leads to a very narrow, problematic genetic base.

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Broader Resistance

Worcester Pearmain, much like the Kazakhstan apples, offers multiple mechanisms of resistance to new apple varieties.

Insect Conundrums

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The Litany of Pest Management

Here’s damage on the fruit,Here’s the pest that did it,

Here’s a spray that kills that pest.

Identify the Suspects

• The fun begins with observing the world around us

• The aha moment• Zone in to

recognize timing, feeding habits, molting cycle

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pest injury photo

Points of VulnerabilityEvery pest species has vulnerable points in its life cycle (along with feeding preferences) which we can utilize to our advantage.

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Tight Cluster

• Primary scab season begins in a clean orchard

• Bt spray if detect significant presence of “budworms”

Redbanded Leafroller damageThose leafrollers in spring that successfully launch a second generation are seen anew at harvest … only in far less appealing fashion!

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Fruit Set Three insects are responsible for the vast majority of aborted / desecrated fruitlets in the immediate weeks following bloom.

Petal fall marks critical timing for a proper nudge.

•Immigrant from Switzerland within past sixty years

•Pollinator

•Eggs are laid into blossom ovary

•Each larva destroys as many as 3-4 fruitlets

European Apple Sawfly

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Strategies for EAS

• Sticky traps at early pink

• Parasitic wasps specific to this sawfly have been released

• Quassia works well in Europe

• Spinosad at petal fall (not on label)

• Long deemed the Achilles heel of organic orcharding

• 3-4 eggs per day, plus feeding stings by both females and males

•Unpredictable!

Plum Curculio

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Curculio Strategies •Daily knockdown on lush varieties (prune at green tip)

•Clay barrier application immediately following petal fall and maintained into early summer

•“Push and Pull” strategizing can have impact into the next growing season

Thorough coveragewith Surround takes 2 to 3 applications to achieve initially, depending on the rate capacity of your spray rig.

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of Surround application apply in warmer zones where heat stress relief (coupled with net photosynthesis gain) makes a difference:

•Return bloom

•Fruit size

•Sunburn reduction

•Fruit cracking

Horticultural advantages

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Ultimate Trap Trees

Formosa and Santa Rosa plums are noted as being eleven times more attractive than apple to plum curculio

Chicken Gypsy Wagon

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Spinosad• Fermentation of soil

bacteria creates toxin• Rotate use to hinder

development of species resistance

• 2nd generation moth complex, maggot flies, spotted wing drosophila

• Sawfly/ curculio overlap• Three year viability

Fermented Orgasm (insects)• Entrust is derived from

Saccharopolysporaspinosa under aerobic fermentation conditions.

• Venerate contains killed cells and fermentation solids of Burkholderia spp.Exoskeleton degradation results from exposure while molting interference is brought on by ingestion. Stinkbug and curculio pressure reduced by half in research trials.

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Internal feeders have a narrow “window of vulnerability” before safely residing in fruitlet

Codling Moth

Oriental Fruit Moth• Shoot

flagging by first generation

• Fruitlets exude gum

• Brown rot vector

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Multiple Options for Moths

• Bacillus thuringiensis• Entrust (spinosad)• Grandevo• Granulosis virus• Summer oils• Mating disruption • Timed release of Trichogramma• Historical methods

But first let’s do the numbers!

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Cardboard Banding

One good home orchard technique to supplement “beneficial math” takes into account a particular point of vulnerability of codling moth.

Granulosis Virus• CydX and Virosoft

formulations for codling moth

• Virus replicates in environment for subsequent generations

• Oriental Fruit Moth overlap protection on the order of 60%

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The Reach of Neem on Insects

• Dormant oil-like attributes

• Larval disruption affects generational moth comeback

• Impact on those insects pupating in the soil

• Botanical trunk sprays in egg-laying months for borers (all types)

The Lady Gaga EffectThe azadirachtins in neem closely mimic the hormone ecdysone, which is necessary for reproduction in insects. When present, this grouping of constituents takes the place of the real hormone and thus disrupts not only the feeding process, but the metamorphic transition as well by disrupting molting. It interferes with the formation of chitin (insect skin) and stops pupation in larvae, thus short-circuiting the insect life cycle.

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Stink Bug Menace

• Trap crop observations

• PyGanic blast with hypodermic delivery

• Venerate

Japanese Beetle • Neem as

feeding deterrent

• Trap crop thinking once again

• The winsome fly and other formidable foes

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•Protect young trees with botanical trunk sprays of neem oil at a 1% concentration in June, July, and possibly August as well

•Spade bit diligence whenever frass is seen

Round-Headed Apple

Tree Borer

Peachtree Borer

• Moth switcheroo• Options include

mating disruption• Nematode

mudpack• Neem trunk

sprays begin earlier for LPTB

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The infamous “railroad worm” seems essentially invisible until the fly larvae make apples anything but palatable come harvest.

Apple Maggot Fly

Trap Placement for AMF

• Lures draw in the short-sighted fly

• Flits from fruit to fruit to trap itself

• Shoulder high, apples nearby

• Migration comes from outside the orchard when drops are picked up weekly

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Everything has a purpose

• Wholesale apples come with fruit essence(well, maybe)

• And really? What else are you going to do with a Red Delicious?

Community Market Place

163

North AmericanApple Culture

• Seeded beginnings

• Barrel standards

• Cider economy

• Everyone was involved!

Community Orchards Everywhere

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Turley Winesap (Indiana)

Melrose

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Midwest Apple Improvement Association

EverCrispcombines the best features of its parents Honeycrisp and Fuji. • Matures in October

and stores well, maintaining both sweetness & firmness.

• Breeding emphasis is on avoiding the unpredictable winter/spring weather patterns of the region.

• Membership required.

Minnesota Breeding Program• Progeny of

Malinda (VT)• From sexy

Frostbite to explosive Honeycrisp to patented Sweet Tango

• Regent ‘63

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Regional KeepersThe Hauer Pippin’s resistance to disease and insects make it easier to produce organically than most commercial varieties. This apple satisfies a local need for a late-ripening apple that can be direct-marketed.

NodheadJewett’s Fine Red

And so the story goes . . .

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Community Orchards

• Fresh advantage• Flavor diversity• Nutrient–dense• Tastings sell

unknown varieties• Know your Farmer,

Come to the Farm

We do this to make a living!Start pricing at $3 a pound$7.50 qtr. peck

Bulk pricing at $80 bushel

Terroir Potential • Pristine, William’s Pride• Zestar, Chestnut, Regent• Akane, Arlet, Crimson Crisp• Spartan, Winesap, Elstar• Adam’s Pearmain, Shizuka,

Topaz, Spigold, Suncrisp• Arkansas Black, Golden

Russet, Fuji, Stayman• Black Twig, Dula's Beauty,

King David, Terry Winter • Indiana Bittersweets (tbd)

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Just Ask Ike

Fruit Shares • Vegetable CSAs are a hungry EXISTING MARKET for fruit.

• Weekly delivery of mixed varieties/fruits selected by grower

• Preorder basis by CSA members

• Cider variations

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Completing the Circle

Find the bakers and candlestick makers who get it that TRUE LOCAL ECONOMY can only be built on reciprocity. Don’t hesitate to spread this message!

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Value Add• Cider Jelly• Cider Syrup• Prairie Apple

Butter• Real Cider• Cidre (as the

rest of the world knows it)

• Apple Brandy

Market opportunity for cider apples currently translates into $2500 for 275 gallon tote of bittersweet juice shipped nationwide

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He that drinks his cyder alone, let him catch his horse alone.

-Benjamin Franklin

Tree Wisdom

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The Name Game

Certified Organic

Ecological

Integrated Fruit Production (Europe)

Biodynamic

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Local Organic

Damn all you sissies who don’t like my chemicals!

Organic Health Management (OHM)

Allopathic vs. Holistic

The ideal management choice will always put the emphasis on the health of all concerned!

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Biological Transition

The Truth• This process does not

happen overnight.• Expect 3-9 years for

transition to a fully-functioning biology both below and above.

• Insufficient energy for biological digestion of mineral amendments might result in diminished energy for crop growth in early transition years.

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Orchard Polycultures

An orchard ecosystem consisting of “just trees” and a narrow aisle of orchard grass is a sad affair indeed!

Suppose I were to plant a whole number of herbaceous plants in the soil . . . so that their roots intertwined and merged with one another . . . until it all became a regular mush of roots, merging into one another . . . would not allow itself to remain a mere tangle, it would grow organized into a single entity . . . the saps and fluids would flow into one another . . . a common root being would arise for these plants.

Rudolf SteinerThe Agricultural Course 1924

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Soil BalancePractices that favor

bacterial dominance:• Herbicides• Soluble nitrates• Captan and other

conventional fungicides (check out www. mycorrhizae.com)

• Tillage warfare

Practices that favor fungal dominance:

• Ramial wood chips• Aged compost• Fish hydrolysate and

humic acids • Good drainage• Forest edge species

composition

milky way quote

We all travel the Milky Way together, trees & men.

Mark Twain