Posts Tagged ‘pests’

Jun13

Burke-Gilman Stewards Put Footies on Trees

We talk a lot about ways to help prevent and manage pests and diseases on fruit trees. Afterall, the fewer pests & diseases, the healthier the tree, and, as a result, the better the fruit.

In addition to encouraging and educating home owners to take care of their own trees, the Fruit Tree Stewards have done a great job making sure that trees within parks and other urban orchards are protected. One example of that is the Burke-Gilman Fruit Tree Stewards (did you know fruit trees were along the Burke-Gilman trail?) — they’ve been super active caring for the fruit trees along the trail and most recently applied a bunch of bags on the low-hanging fruit on some trees. And using some footies City Fruit is supplying, they’re in the process of finishing off the trees by adding additional footies to the fruit higher up.

Their work is turning these previously neglected trees into productive, healthy trees that produce tasty, beautiful fruit.

Interested in learning more about how to apply footies or bags to your fruit trees to help keep pests away? Check out this video from our resident fruit tree expert, Don Ricks. As you can see it’s super simple.

Posted by James Rooney in Fruit Preservation, Fruit Tree Stewardship

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Feb22

Seattle Orchards: Piper’s Orchard

[This exerpt is from Seattle's Orchards: A Historic Legacy Meets Modern Sustainability, by Audrey LIeberworth. It's a thesis paper written for Scripps College that explores the historic and new orchards in Seattle.]

The historic orchard at Piper’s Canyon, photographed by Audrey Lieberworth

Piper’s Orchard at Carkeek Park is one of the oldest orchards with an abundance of fruit trees in Seattle. As the “Piper Oral History Meeting” of February 20, 1984 recounts, the first owner of this land was the Piper family, which included Bavarian-born Andrew W. Piper, his wife Wilhelmina and their children. The family originally settled in what is present-day downtown Seattle, where Piper ran a konditorei, or a confectioner’s shop that sold baked goods and candy. However, his shop was burned down in Seattle’s Great Fire in 1889, and soon after, the family moved up north to an 80-acre plot of land by Piper’s Canyon, located in what is now Carkeek Park. The family planted an orchard on the land with many pioneer varieties, such as the German Bietigheimer, and a large vegetable garden. The “Piper Oral History Meeting” notes state that while Minna and her son Paul were the main caretakers of the garden, her husband often used the fruit harvested from the orchards to make pies. Minna and Paul took the fruits and vegetables from the orchard and their vegetable garden into town to sell. However, Piper died in 1904, and the City forced his family off the property a little while later to create Carkeek Park.

Carkeek Park was one of the first parks established in Seattle. Brandt Morgan, author of Enjoying Seattle Parks, a description and history of the parks that had been established by the time of publication in 1979, relates that Morgan J. Carkeek and his wife, Emily, settled in Seattle in 1875. Carkeek was a stonemason from England and one of Seattle’s best early artisan contractors. The park originally dedicated in Carkeek’s name was located on Pontiac Bay on Lake Washington 1918; however in 1926, the land was turned over to the federal government in order to operate a Naval Air Station. Consequently, Morgan states that Carkeek donated $25,000 in 1928 for a new park to be located at Piper’s Canyon and the City put up $100,000, to create the park. Carkeek Park opened for operation one year after this plan was finalized.

Since its creation, Carkeek Park has been utilized for a variety of different purposes. Some of the more notable uses were a sawmill company that was operated on the parkland in the 1920s, which usurped all of the timber in the original forested land, and the Whiz Company, whose fish traps were used to collect salmon until 1932. The park was then used to create work for those who were hard-hit by the Depression to make camp buildings and forest trails. Later, the park was used for a loop road, shelter, and picnic area in 1953, and a model airplane field in 1959. The park then slowly evolved into a place for community gathering, in part because of the discovery of the orchard after many decades of abandonment in the 1980s.

Map of Carkeek Park. Piper’s Orchard resides within the park.

In 1981, Daphne Lewis, a landscape architect, stumbled upon Piper’s Orchard, covered by layers of blackberry bushes. Lewis discovered the orchard in the process of surveying Carkeek Park in order to create a master plan for park restoration. Bob Baines, a SPD employee who was involved in the original restoration project, recalls that the restoration team consisted of volunteers, descendants of the Piper family and members of the newly formed Piper’s Orchard chapter of the Western Cascade Tree Fruit Association. The Piper’s Orchard chapter adopted and began to take care of the orchard. As part of this restoration effort, more pioneer varieties of apples were planted, which included Wagener, Red Astrachan, King, and Wolf River. The first wave of orchard restoration brought together the knowledge, expertise and resources of different members of the community.

Interest in taking care of this orchard has wavered over the years. However, a new era of the Piper’s Orchard restoration project began about five years ago, asserts Brian Gay, a naturalist for SPD at Carkeek Park. At this time, SPD and orchard volunteers put together a sustainability plan complete with recommendations for future care of the orchard. Afterwards, there was renewed interest in the educational opportunities that the orchard offered.

Today the orchard includes 82 fruit trees, 30 of which were originally planted by the Piper family. There is an abundance of apple, cherry, chestnut, filbert, pear, walnut and hawthorn trees all planted on the park hillside. Don Ricks, president of Friends of Piper’s Orchard, mentions that many of the fruit trees suffer from apple scab, a fungal disease, but they are putting up pheromone destructors and nylon socks in an attempt to counteract the incidence of pests.

While SPD owns the land, the non-profit organization Friends of Piper’s Orchard tends and maintains the orchard.

Posted by James Rooney in Education, Fruit Tree Stewardship, History, Urban Agriculture

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Nov07

November update

(We post our monthly email newsletter, with tips about fruit tree care, notes about happenings in the area and updates about City Fruit, to the blog but if you want it delivered directly to your inbox, please email info@cityfruit.org.)

Hi everyone,

Fruit tree tip: Pick up your fallen fruit. Experts say that the single most important thing you can do to prevent pests next year is to remove fallen fruit (and leaves). Pests in the fruit overwinter beneath the tree, just waiting to create problems next season. Rake it up and put it in your yard waste (not your compost pile).

New grant supports Rainier Valley fruit trees: We have a new grant to help the Rainier Valley community plant and care for fruit trees. If you have a public (e.g., school, senior center, city street, park, public housing, etc.) site or an ‘institutional’ space (senior living facility, business or office site, etc.) in the Rainier Valley that could support fruit trees or berry bushes, let us know at info@cityfruit.org .

The Rainier Valley Eats (RaVE) program, supported by the United Way of King County, recognizes that fruit plays a significant role in urban food production and is helping us grow more — and more appropriate — fruits in south Seattle.

2011 Harvest Summary: We harvested more than 7,000 lbs of fruit in the Phinney-Greenwood corridor and in south Seattle neighborhoods. Again this year, plums — our major ‘crop’ — were light, so we worked hard to compensate with apples, cherries, grapes, figs and even quince. Crop diversity is important, since fruit production is closely related to fickle spring weather: while there were few plums, 2011 was a bumper year for figs. More than 25 different organizations received fruit: they include women’s shelters, senior centers, food banks, meals programs, daycares, community centers and youth programs.

While our per pound cost to harvest fruit goes down each year due to increased efficiency, harvesting in an urban environment is still expensive — this year about $1.00/lb. We funded the 2011 harvest by selling a small portion of the fruit to restaurants, by a grant from Puget Sound Energy and through City Fruit memberships and donations. In other words, by becoming a member of City Fruit, you will directly support next year’s harvest.

Hard Cider Making workshop: Speaking of hard cider, check out the week-long seminar on “Cider Marking: Principles and Practices” Dec 12 – 16 in Mt. Vernon. International cider expert (from England) Peter Mitchell will cover hands-on cider-making techniques and give an overview of the market. The seminar is sponsored by the NW Agricultural Business Center and the WSU NW Research and Extension Center in Mt Vernon. Register at NABC website or contact Ann Leason at 360-336-3727.

New fruit growing book: From Tree to Table: Growing Backyard fruit Trees in the Pacific Maritime Climate by Barbara Edwards and Mary Olivella states on the back cover: “Plant a fruit tree — join the revolution.” It goes on: “This charming and easy-to-use guide dispels the myth that local gardeners in our sun-challenged, maritime Pacific climes can’t grow fruit trees.” (My own local fruit expert says the advice in the book is right on.) In addition, there are great recipes, from preserves to fruit-based main dishes to how to make pear perry. If you buy the book from City Fruit, the publisher shares the proceeds with us — so don’t delay! Cost is $18.95. Contact us at info@cityfruit.org .

Okay, take care and have a great Thanksgiving!
Gail
–

Posted by Gail Savina in Uncategorized

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Jun15

Mid-June Report

First, thanks to Jill E., Lily S., and Linda K. who work in connection with City Fruit and who helped Sue Hartmann and her half dozen volunteers to protect the Seattle Tilth garden area apple trees last week. The event was a success and marked a coordinated City Fruit and Seattle Tilth cooperation, something which we hope will happen again.

Now, as to the fruit this year: It seems to be a light year for fruit, so if you have any, be grateful. If anyone out there has seen an Italian prune plum tree with much fruit on it, please email me as I would like to know.

Apricots? Forget it. We don’t grow them in Western Washington and this year is no exception.

Pears? No need to worry about pests just yet, but check the July report in two weeks.

Cherries? It is time to spray for cherry fruit fly. Consult a local nursery for help.

Plums, Peaches, Blueberries? Okay so far. Wait for the mid-July report for more info.

Apples? The codling moth is flying and mating now, but there are no eggs hatching into larvae just yet. City Fruit member Claire D. is helping me monitor these and she caught many moths in her Greenwood trap just recently… just as I have seen these in the Wallingford area a couple weeks ago. The codling moth is what puts the proverbial worm in the apple.

The other pest for apples, the apple maggot fly, is less perceptible and more destructive. Since it doesn’t start flying until July this year, you still have plenty of time to protect against it with your apple maggot barriers (aka footies). Kaolin clay and neem oil also work.
Final note: You can learn how to apply footies at the Piper’s Orchard this Saturday, June 18th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Drop in for an hour or a half hour…or just stroll by and enjoy the park.

Report by Don Ricks

Posted by Don Ricks in Fruit Reports, Uncategorized

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Jun13

Upcoming!

In the next month, we have classes to help you grow beautiful fruit, and then preserve it for year-round sunshine in a jar!  Plus, we’re gearing up for the Phinney Harvest.

First, there’s Organic Pest Management for fruit trees coming up this Saturday, June 18, 10am-12pm at the Green Bean Cafe in Greenwood.  Many folks who are serious gardeners know very little about how to protect fruit from pests (at least organically).  But, I’ve found more and more interest as people are recognizing fruit trees on their properties as a great source of food, and they would like to keep the fruit edible and pretty.  This class will cover lots of different methods for protecting fruit trees from the most common pests in the northwest.

Then we have two canning classes for preserving the summer harvest, whether it’s your own or your favorite farmer’s.  Jackson Place will host Jam-Making Basics on Saturday, June 25, 2-4pm, and on Phinney Ridge we’ll have Canning Basics, on Saturday, June 16, 10am-12pm.  Both of these classes will be taught by City Fruit board member Nancy Gohring, who is a Seattle Tilth Master Preserver.  They both will cover basic water-bath canning techniques, but with a slightly different recipe focus.  These are good classes for the beginning canner, and you can build off these skills to do many more recipes, from marmalades to pickles to salsas.

Finally, all you harvesters Save the Date for our 2011 Phinney Harvest Volunteer Info Meeting.  Details: Tuesday, June 28, 6:30-7:30pm at the Greenwood Library.  All returning and new volunteers should attend this meeting (if you can’t make it, email phinney@cityfruit.org).

Posted by City Fruit in Uncategorized

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May16

Permanent Plum Companions

A guest post from City Fruit Urban Orchard Steward, Matt Maria:

It was March 29th , and you could say the morning air was honey-crisp amidst the early spring bustling at Bradner Gardens Park in the Mount Baker Neighborhood of South Seattle. City Fruit was hosting a few lucky Orchard Stewards and a mix of local and visiting horticulturalists that had registered before the class sold out.

We had the pleasure of an intensive, hands-on lesson from a couple of our city’s premier permies. Jenny Pell and Jackie Cramer brought out the fundamentals, as well as some intricate details, of permaculture theory and practice as it relates to feeding and protecting fruit trees. Even my green-armed grandfather was taken back by the intensive lesson, excitedly talking about it weeks later.  Like you will find in the assorted permaculture workshops and handbooks, our instructors highlighted the importance of a diverse palette of species to reduce chemical inputs, namely pesticides and commercial fertilizers.

The subject of our attention at Bradner that morning was a Jam Session Plum tree, less than 10 years old and settled nicely into its year-old home after a bare root transplant. The first exercise for our group was to pull out the nastiest weeds and aerate the soil within a 4-foot perimeter of the trunk with digging forks, to open up the soil for some water-saturated compost fertilizer. Then, to fight back the ever-encroaching grass we employed the lasagna-like weed-killing sheet mulch treatment: first burlap, then soil and compost, next plenty of water to keep it grounded and finally a healthy layer of wood chips and some more water.

Now that all weeds were in check for at least a year it was time to bring in the friendlies. Many of our companion plants went along the edge of the circumference with the expectation that the Plum would grow out, and the plants would be just inside the drip line. Ideal companion plants bring multiple services to your tree. Comfrey is an herb often used for its ability to chemically repel grass as well as pull up deep nutrients though a taproot and accumulate them in its leaves or biomass; it can also be cut back periodically and the leaves used on the spot as mulch. Allium, chives, daffodils and other bulbs also serve to repel encroaching grass roots. Other plants are used to either attract pest-eating insects, like basil, or repel pests, like lemon balm, marigolds, mint or plantain. Another service to employ is nitrogen fixation from lupine, clover or allium. Companion planting is specific to the site and species, so with some experimentation a suite of different species will protect trees against nutrient deprivation and opportunistic insects or diseases.

Matt Maria is on the board for Bradner Gardens Park and a City Fruit Urban Orchard Steward there. He is studying agroecology at the University of Washington School of Forest Resources.

Posted by City Fruit in Uncategorized

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Jan04

Sign up for a class; grow healthy fruit!

We’ve lined up a winter calendar chock full of classes to help you grow healthy fruit.   Two classes are coming up in January:

Fruit Tree Biology and Orchard Management
Understanding the basic systems of a tree–its root, vascular, and photosynthesis/leaf systems—helps you better care for your trees and produce healthier fruit.  The class covers basic tree biology and orchard management month by month—when to prune, thin, manage pests, etc.   Finally, the class discusses orchard safety (especially ladder safety) and basic tools and equipment.  Ingela Wanerstrand, is the owner of Green Darner Garden Design, specializing in edible garden design.  Ingela has been pruning fruit trees professionally for 15 years, works with the Friends of Piper’s Orchard and Plant Amnesty, and receives high marks for teaching.

Saturday, January 15, 10 am – noon
Phinney Neighborhood Association: 6532 Phinney Ave. N, Seattle, WA 98103

Mason Bees for Pollination
North America is in the midst of a pollination challenge with honeybees; our fruit and garden crops suffer as result.  Native, non-aggressive mason bees can dramatically increase fruit yields while improving the entire city ecosystem.  Take action on the pollination challenge in your neighborhood by learning to manage mason bees.  In this class, you’ll learn how to be successful in raising mason bees, you’ll see fun techniques to try in your yard, and you’ll receive hands-on experience with harvesting mason bees.  Instructor Dave Hunter has been working with mason bees for nearly 20 years. He has been partnering with US scientists, University researchers, the ARS/Logan Bee Lab, and multiple experts across the country to help gardeners become more aware of their pollination requirements.  He recently opened the internet www.crownbees.com to assist gardeners with successfully raising mason bees.

Saturday, January 29, 10 am – noon
Phinney Neighborhood Association: 6532 Phinney Ave. N, Seattle, WA 98103

Check out the rest of our class calendar for February and March classes, topics include pruning, planting, grafting and permaculture.

Follow the link to register via Brown Paper Tickets, or send a check, the name of the class, and your contact information to: City Fruit, PO Box 28577, Seattle 98118.

All City Fruit classes cost $15 for members, $20 for non-members—and remember, when you join City Fruit, you can attend one class for free!

Posted by City Fruit in Uncategorized

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Dec13

Keeping a Different Bee

Last weekend the New York Times published an article about the growing interest in raising honeybees, and the movement to lift bans on beekeeping in cities across the country.

At City Fruit, we’re big fans of honeybees, especially in the city.  Not only are they great pollinators who help fruit trees produce more local organic fruit, they also can produce tremendous amounts of honey in small urban spaces—even rooftops and balconies.

The commitment and learning curve for keeping honeybees is pretty high though, and the NYT article and other recent press miss the fact that honeybees are not the whole solution to the pollination problem.  Alternative pollinators, especially native species, can increase yields without the trouble and expense of honeybees.  For those who aren’t interested in donning the white beekeeper’s suits, keeping native mason bees is a low-cost, easy way to increase fruit yields while also improving the local urban ecosystem overall.

City Fruit has teamed up with Dave Hunter, a local expert who has kept mason bees for over 20 years, to teach a class on mason bees this winter.  Dave’s trying to get the word out about mason bees, reaching out to homeowners and commercial orchards with the new website www.crownbees.com.

“Honeybees are beekeeping 301, mason bees are 101” Dave said.  Mason bees are non-aggressive, and rarely sting, and even if they do, their venom is extremely mild compared to honeybees.  He suggests that people try keeping mason bees for a few years if they are interested in beekeeping and graduate to honeybees if they decide they want to produce honey.

Mason bees require a small wooden home (think birdhouse), mounted somewhere on or around your house which holds paper tubes called “straws,” where each individual bee makes its home.  The beekeepers chores each year include putting out the straws and the cocoons in the spring, monitoring for pests, taking down the straws in summer or fall, and removing the cocoons from the straws to store over winter.  Mason Bees may be in your backyard, or can be ordered the first year.  With a few easy steps, you’ll be able to reproduce your mason bees successfully.

Interested in learning more?  Come to our class on Saturday, January 29, 10 am to noon, and visit www.crownbees.com.

Posted by City Fruit in Uncategorized

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Nov01

A Food Forest in Jefferson Park

What could be better than a forest full of food?  What if it was also a community garden in a city park?

At Jefferson Park in Beacon Hill, this idea is becoming a reality as community members plan a “food forest” to be designed, built, and maintained by community members.

A food forest is a permaculture land-management technique that’s designed to work like a forest ecosystem, but incorporates edible plants to be harvested.  Unlike annual vegetable gardens, a food forest is planted with mostly perennials or self-seeding annuals, so it produces a high yield for low effort after the first few years of establishment.  The plantings are designed to work together in a small ecosystem, with closed loops like leaf litter that becomes compost, or companion plants to ward off pests and attract pollinators.  Just like a natural forest, a food forest has groundcover (like strawberries or dewberry), an understory (like evergreen huckleberry or Egyptian walking onions), and a canopy (fruit and nut trees).  Can you see why we’re excited about this at City Fruit?

At Jefferson Park, community members plan to create a food forest in the sloping southwest corner of the park.  It would incorporate some p-patch beds and plenty of edible plantings in the forest.  Their next meeting is Thursday, November 18 at 6 pm in the Beacon Hill Library; they’d love input of all kinds, so even if you can’t be a dedicated volunteer, you can contribute your ideas and expertise.  Check out their website, where you can also contact the group.

Posted by City Fruit in News, Urban Agriculture

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Jul28

Spotted Wing Drosophila

SWDA New Pest in Town

We’ve made reference to it previously, but more and more we’re getting reports of the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) being in WA state — both out east in the orchards and here in the city. It’s kind of a big deal as it’s a new pest and so there are still a lot of experiments with how to deal with it. And it’s attacking soft fruit (peaches, berries, etc.), which have previously escaped things like the Apple Maggot Fly and Coddling Moth. More and more we’re finding it necessary to undertake pest prevention methods for all kinds of fruit.

About Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)

The pest is originally from Asia, but has made its way up to Washington from California — it’s rapidly spreading from state-to-state. They are closely resemble the common vinegar fly but the difference is instead of attacking rotting fruit, the SWD attacks perfectly healthy fruit. It was really first seen around Japan and other parts of Asia in the 1930s. The way it works is that females search for soft fruit, land on the fruit, and then lay their eggs — laying as many as 300 eggs in their lifespan and up to 13 generations per season. The larvae then grow inside of the fruit.

University of California has this helpful resource to see photos of the life cycle of the SWD and its impact on fruit.

The economic impact could be somewhat significant for soft fruit and would vary by region. But not enough research has been done to provide an accurate estimate.

Treatment

We only recommend non-chemical ways at managing existing SWD infestations. If only some fruit is infested, the best approach is to harvest & sort the crop immediately — separating the good from the bad. And to help reduce the number of SWD in the future, we suggest placing infested fruit in a sturdy, sealed plastic bag and dispose of it in the trash. Also, be sure to remove any fruit that has fallen on the ground and any infested fruit remaining on the plants. But do not compost! This will not kill the insects.

Prevention

As this is somewhat of a new pest to the U.S., there are a lot of tests going on as to the best method to prevent SWD infestations and protect vulnerable fruit. Oregon State University has a great resource for backyard growers. The best known approaches so far….

  • Traps: There are a number of different types of traps people are trying, but below is a video for one in particular. These will not only help you capture SWDs, but also monitor how many are in your area.

  • Netting: A few places have suggested setting up netting over your soft fruit plans and trees prior to the fruit developing.
  • Habitat & Varieties: One way to prevent the SWD is by selecting thick-skinned fruit varieties that are more resistant to the pests. Also, to modify any other plants you have in your yard that might attract the SWD — thus making it less likely that they’ll find your habitat attractive.

So keep an eye out for this pest. We’ve already heard from folks about it attacking their raspberries and currants. If you find it in your backyard, definitely drop us a line (info@cityfruit.org) — we’d love to better understand how and where this infestation is happening so we can help work to manage it better.

Posted by James Rooney in Education, News

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Jul19

Fruit Q&A: Currants, Pests, & Ladders

Don & John are back, answering more questions from readers. This time the focus is on berries, the pests that love them, and where to find a good deal on orchard ladders.

Dear Don & John,
My neighbor and myself grow both Red Currants and Gooseberries.  This year we both have a bumper crop of fruit setting on our healthy, leafy bushes.  We were very excited, until we noticed that something (an insect?!) has carefully laid eggs in every single berry. You can visually see the damage on the outside of the not-yet ripe fruit and inside there is a small, white grub growing.
 
What pest would do this to Ribes family fruit and what can we do to discourage this is future years?
Rachel
 
 
 
Hi Rachel,

Thanks for writing in. We don’t get many currant or gooseberry questions!

You’re instinct about the problem being an insect is probably correct. Currants and gooseberries are usually a pain to grow here because of the Currant Fruit Fly which actually is a small fly which hits the fruit, and the Currant Sawfly which is not a fly but a type of wasp whose larvae look like currant-leaf-colored caterpillars. There’s also a small chance it could be the Spotted Wing Drosophila (which they recently found in WA), but we suspect the larva is more likely the Currant Fruit Fly.

The good news is that there is a non-chemical way to address this issue. You should immediately pick all fruit and remove it from the area – I wouldn’t recommend eating any of them, although if you only juice the fruit, you can still pick clean now and process.

The reason for removing them from the area is that the larvae drop to the ground and overwinter under the bushes, much as apple maggots burrow into ground under apple trees. Removing all the infected fruit may cut the life cycle enough such that you get a clean crop next year. 

And while you can share this information with your neighbor, there’s no telling what the rest of your neighborhood might be doing and there may be infested currants in your area which are not managed and these can re-infest your fruit next year. One way to help against that is to net the shrubs with a fine mesh just after pollination but before fruit begins to form. 

If you want to determine exactly which insect it is, save a handful of fruit, place in large Ziploc bag, store on kitchen counter, keep beady eye on it and see who emerges.  If a small vinegar fly emerges in a couple weeks or so, you have the Spotted Wing Drosophilia.  If no one emerges or rice-sized pupae are seen, you have the fruit worm which won’t emerge until next year.

Hope that helps and good luck with the berries!

Don & John

fruitqa@cityfruit.org

Dear Don & John,

I actually have two questions built in to one request.

1.  My inherited apple tree (variety yet unknown) has some kind of disease causing the leaves on many branches to curl and look nasty.  How do I treat it without chemicals?  Is it too late? 

2.  Do you know where the best place is to get a reasonably priced orchard ladder (tri-pod style)?  Those things are crazy expensive.

Thanks,

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for writing in and it looks like you get a 2-for-1 special today!

Your apple tree probably has apple scab, causing some leaf curl and color distortion and you can read all about how to manage that organically at our website. We’ve got some suggested sprays and techniques listed there.

However, if your leaves are tightly curled upward that could be a sign of a new insect, the Apple Leaf Curl Midge, that’s been coming down from British Columbia, Canada. The damage is caused by the new larva feeding on the leaves – which can lead to distorted limb growth, pre-mature leaf dropping, etc. Luckily there is no evidence of reduced quality of fruit.

For a mature tree, you should be safe to ignore it.  For a 1 or 2 year old tree, remove affected leaves to try to save others from curl since it is thought to have 2 generations per year here. We would anticipate that parasitoids will slowly catch up with it and keep it in check.

With regards to the orchard ladders, yeah, they can definitely be pricey but worth it. You should probably be able to get by with a 6-8’ ladder unless your tree is really tall. We’ve found Tallman to be an excellent brand generally, which you can sometimes find used. For new, we purchased ladders for City Fruit at Horizon in Bellevue, WA, but Wilson Irrigation in Yakima is also a good bet.

Hope that helps and good luck with the apple tree!

Don & John

fruitqa@cityfruit.org

Posted by James Rooney in Education, Fruit Q&A with Don & John

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Jun08

New Project: Seattle Fruit Tree Stewardship

A New Grant

City Fruit has just been awarded a grant from the Department of Natural Resources to develop a community stewardship program to care for fruit trees on community-owned properties, such as parks, community gardens, schools, and other community areas.

Fruit Trees on Public Land

There are a ton of fruit trees on public property – more than 30 Seattle parks have fruit trees. Parks like Carkeek, Othello, and Martha Washington have extensive orchards with some good specimens. And there are other parks that have planted several fruit trees (mini-orchards) as part of other edible landscaping projects – such as the Linden Orchard P-Patch and Bradner Gardens.

While these trees are of value to the community, their maintenance and care are often times more labor-intensive than non-edible trees. And typically the civic landscaping budgets cannot cover the costs of the pruning, managing pests, harvesting fruit, etc. So we’ve been talking with the Seattle Parks Department to figure out how to better care and nurture these trees, harvest and use the fruit, and not negatively impact the bottom line. This project is our attempt to create a model by which we can make that a reality.

About the Project

The project has three main objectives:

  • Create and pilot test a curriculum and training program on fruit tree care for lay gardeners
  • Develop a sustainable, volunteer-based model for the care of fruit trees on public properties
  • Recruit and train 12 – 15 volunteers interested in fruit tree management, using them to evaluate the training curriculum and the stewardship model

We’re really using Seattle’s successful Forest Steward program (a project of the Green Seattle Partnership) as a blueprint – that project builds on volunteers’ desires to work with others to improve the urban landscape. Fruit tree stewards will be responsible for winter and summer pruning, thinning of fruit, recruiting community volunteers to harvest fruit, picking up dropped fruit, summer watering, and basic pest management. The goal is to place at least two stewards per park, with each making a two-year commitment to their orchard. (In the future, stewards can be rotated so that experienced orchard stewards are paired with new ones.)

By the end of this project, volunteers will ‘adopt’ the fruit trees in 4 – 5 public parks. Through collaboration between public agencies, private nonprofit organizations, and the volunteers themselves, the project will create a mechanism through which a fruit tree stewardship program can be sustained over the long-term. Such a model could easily be adapted by other communities interested in preserving this resource but lacking public monies to do so.

To Participate & More Info

If you’re interested in becoming one of the fruit tree stweards or have questions about our new project, e-mail info@cityfruit.org.

 

Posted by James Rooney in Announcements, Fruit Preservation, Urban Agriculture

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Mar15

March 20: Planting & Caring for Young Fruit Trees

Not sure why I have so much to announce today, but there is a lot going on this week.

This Saturday, March 20, John Reardon, vice president of the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, will teach a tree care class for folks who have young fruit trees. They require a specific type of care to thrive and resist pests & disease.

The class is from 10am – 11:30am at the Orca School Environmental Learning Center. The cost is $10 for City Fruit members and $15 for non-embers but if you can’t afford the class but would like to attend, email info@cityfruit.org .

Register at Brown Paper Tickets or by sending a check to “City Fruit,” PO Box 28577 Seattle 98118.   For more information, email info@cityfruit.org.  

The class is co-sponsored by the Phinney Neighborhood Association.

 

Posted by James Rooney in Education

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Feb24

Pest & disease prevention and management

My wife was out spraying our trees over the weekend and that got me thinking about pest & disease prevention. We created a new page on the City Fruit web site that provides some information, tips, and guidance for preventing and dealing with various pests & diseases that impat our fruit trees.

We touch on scab, leaf rush, apple maggot fly, and coddling moth. Plus a variety of links to other resources for more information.

 

Posted by James Rooney in Education

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Jul31

First Annual Photo Contest

We’re looking for some excellent photos to use in our 2010 City Fruit Calendar. They should be related to growing, harvesting, picking, eating, and generally using urban fruit.

This is our first annual competition for our first calendar. How cool would it be to see your own photo in a calendar? And for the winning photo, the cover! We need photos of urban orchards, pests, bugs, people eating fruit, cider pressing, jam and . . . you get the idea.

Send it by Sept 1 to james@cityfruit.org.

Read the terms & rules.

Posted by Gail Savina in Fundraising

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