Growing apples

Apple trees may start bearing every other year.  This is called alternate year bearing and can be avoided.  When apple trees produce every other year they set a huge fruit load that produces small apples and the fruit load may be so heavy it ends up breaking branches.  The fruit load also drains the resources of the tree and it doesn’t develop flower buds for the following year.  A tree that is bearing fruit in alternate years can be brought back into yearly production by managing fruit load with thinning the fruit, proper pruning, and specific summer pruning.

Frosts may cause the blossoms to freeze in the spring about blossom time which will also cause fruit not to set.  You can try keeping some air moving or lightly misting the crop with water a few times during the below freezing temperatures.  Water may freeze and cause branches to break.  Another method to keep trees from freezing is warming the area with fire.  One of my uncles wrapped Christmas tree lights on the branches and the small amount of heat from the lights kept the blossoms from freezing (that’s a lot of work).  The best method is to select a variety that is tolerant of the cold and selected for your environment.

Commercial fruit growers yearly thin the fruit after it is set when the new fruits are about the size of a dime or nickel.  They use commercial products that must be applied at precise rates.  I wouldn’t recommend this be done by amateurs.  Homeowners may have difficulty spraying an even amount of chemical over the whole tree.  If your tree has excessive fruit numbers, hand thin when fruit is about the size of a nickel and before it is the size of a quarter.  Prune until there are one or two fruits per terminal.  The terminal is the group of leaves at the end of a branch.  An old fruit grower said you need 40 leaves to produce one apple.  The fruit will be much larger and you will get a good yield with proper thinning.   When thinning, leave the apple at the very end of an apple bunch.  This apple grew from the king bloom.  In a bunch of blossoms the king bloom is the center and larges blossom and will produce the largest and nicest apple.  By good pruning and controlling the fruit load, you can have fewer apples but each apple will be a lot larger and the over all yield will be a good yield.

If you are bold and want to chemically thin the insecticide, Sevin is used commercially for apple thinning.  Consumer packages don’t include apple thinning instructions.  You will have to figure that out yourselves.  If you over thin you will have no apples.  If you under thin you will have to reapply or thin by hand.  Apple trees often have what is called the June drop where the tree self thins.  Some varieties and trees do a pretty good thinning job by themselves.  Others may have so many apples it looks like the fruit was wrapped around the branches like a rope.

Prune the tree each year to remove excessive branches and any branch that will brush or interfere with other branches.  Fruit should be able to hang without banging other branches. The distance between branches when pruned should be 2 to 3 feet.  During the growing season this distance will close and then you prune again the following year.  Determine whether you want the tree to have a single leader with branches coming off the main trunk or do you want an umbrella shaped tree with several main branches arching over.  When pruning remove all water sprouts.  Those are the shoots that grow straight up but are not the central leader.  Pruning will stimulate more water sprouts to grow.  There are very sophisticated trellising or staking methods for growing apple trees planted at very high populations. 

Trees with alternate year bearing usually don’t produce flower buds because of the high fruit load stressing the tree when it does bear fruit.  Proper fruit load reduces the excess stress so the tree has the strength to produce flower buds for the following year.  Flower buds develop mid to late summer then bloom the following spring and turn into fruit.  Pruning stimulates the tree to grow new growth.  You can stimulate bud production by a light pruning mid July.  Prune 8 to 10 inches of the tips of some small branch that don’t have fruit. The remaining leaf bunches will be stimulated to produce flower buds that will bloom the following spring.

Deer Control

June 11

My yard is home to deer.  Last summer, a doe raised her two fawns in the 50 yards of woods between myself and my neighbor.  In the woods there are three main trails crossing from one area to another.  Every year, the hostas in my yard get grazed, some to the point of looking like they were run over by the lawn mower.  Two years ago, every day lily flower bud except one was eaten just before it opened.  One year a dear ate several tulip flowers and my rose buds.  My fenced vegetable garden had an unsecure gate and a deer got in and ate all the carrot tops.  Deer love carrots.

How do you control deer from grazing in your yard?  Anyone with deer in the area knows how destructive they can be.  They are yard vermin.  Temptation to shoot them runs high but it is illegal, even though I feel like it is similar to shooting rats.  Here are some remedies:

Dogs – Don’t laugh, a good dog and deer don’t mix.  The dog has to be outside and the ability to run helps.

Deer fence – This works for some items but not for ornamental beds.  (Remember to keep the gate closed.)  For deer it must be a 6 foot tall fence.  Electric fences work but they require some maintenance like weed control and the electricity supply has to be reliable.  This is costly and not very aesthetic.

Ultrasound and electronic controllers – Here are words from one rater: “In theory this keeps deer away from the area because they dislike the sound.  However, ultrasonic devices don’t work around obstructions.”  Motion detectors set to turn on a real noise maker like a radio may work.  I have not tried these.  Products are named Deer Gard and Yard Guard. The cost $50 to $100.

Chemical deer repellents – The several types of repellents are those made of putrescent eggs or blood with mint oils, garlic and so forth; hot pepper sprays or capsaicin; products containing Bitrex, a bittering agent deer dislike; and large predator animal urine.  These all have the ability to work rather well.  However, they all need to be reapplied on a regular basis.  Some are malodorous to humans as well as deer.  They also shouldn’t be used on plants used for food.  Product are named Plantskydd, Deer Scram, and Deer Repellent. Cost is $10 to $20 a package.

Motion activated water sprinklers – My neighbor deploys this method with great success.  It does require water use.  The motion detectors and water sprinklers are physical objects in the landscape and some maintenance may be required.  This is one of the more costly methods.

Milorganite – Last year at a large nursery in the Twin Cities at which I spent the day working, I saw Milorganite.  It is a granulated dried, residue from the Milwaukee sewer system sold as an organic fertilizer.  It worked for deer control. Every week after I mowed my lawn, I spread two to three pounds around my yard over plants deer eat.  Not one plant was eaten until a month after I quit spreading it in the fall.  Then the deer again grazed the hostas.  My lilies were beautiful, my summer flowers all had heads on them and there was no browsing anywhere I treated. There is a human smell when you open the bag but after it was spread, I couldn’t smell it in the yard.  Over the spring, summer and fall I used one and a half bags for a total cost of about $15.  It was very easy to spread with my hand held granular spreader and only took 3 to 4 minutes a week.  In addition to deer control it does supply needed fertilizer.

Brown Marmolated Stink Bugs

June 3, 2011

Many articles have been written and much research is being conducted on the Brown Marmolated Stink Bug.  If you live along the I-95 corridor around Wilmington Delaware to Richmond Virginia and over into the Appalachian chain you had stink bugs, especially if you were in a somewhat rural area.  Smaller infestations were found in just about all Midwestern states.  They ruined fruit and vegetables, in the fall they congregated on houses trying to get in for the winter.  They are expected to be a problem in many farm crops and around home ornamentals this summer.  

The term stink bug is not a scientific name, but a nickname because of the unpleasant odor they emit. Stink bugs emit their odor as a means of self-defense and protection against harm. A stink bug’s odor smells very distinct, it is difficult to describe, only to say that it is sour, pungent and unpleasant. What do stink bugs smell like? I’ve heard the smell being compared to rotten cilantro and skunk.  They also stink when you crush them.

They and are expected to be a large problem this summer and fall all over the Midwest..  What can you do?  Protect vegetation, both small plants to trees with an insecticide.  Systemic products like Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub or Green Lights Tree & Shrub Insect Killer with Safari will kill the bugs if the plant is treated in time for the insecticide to get through out the plant.  When the stink bug chews on the vegetation it gets the insecticide and dies.  There will be some damage when they chew some foliage to get the insecticide.  Other wise you will have to spray insecticide and reapply it about every 2 weeks.  Don’t believe the claims that a spray will last for up to 12 months.  It will only last about 2 weeks on vegetation.  Sprayable insecticides are Sevin, malathion, and pyrethroids which are most of the rest of the products.  These products will only give about 40 to 80% control.  Even if you spray, new bugs will come into your yard regularly.  This fall spray around your windows and doors and possibly the sides of your house to kill the bugs that are trying to get into your house for the winter.  An insecticide spray on the outside of your house will last longer than on vegetation but most decompose in sunlight.  You will have to re-spray once or twice through the fall.

Weeds, Weeds, Weeds, Will I Win or Will They?

May 25, 2011

This morning I weeded a couple of rows of my vegetable garden.  The plants from seeds are emerging but just as fast are all the weeds.  Perennial weeds were about 6 inches tall and annuals were an inch or less.  This post is ways to consider fighting the weed war.  Plan ahead and your battle will be much easier to win.  Perennial weeds were about 6 inches tall and annuals were an inch or less.

For perennial beds plan before you plant.  Before you plant anything, prepare the soil then cover the whole area with a quality weed mat or landscape fabric.  These come in long strips and are available at Lowes, Home Depot, Menards and garden centers.  They come in various lengths usually 50 to 100 feet long and 3 or 4 feet wide and then cut to fit.  Commercial sizes are much wider. After the area is covered cut X’s where your plants will go and plant the perennials.  Secure the fabric with stakes and cover with mulch or rocks to make the garden aesthetically acceptable.  In the future you can move the mulch, cut new x’s and plant annuals or perennials.  The more cuts through the weed mats, the more places for weeds to grow.  The weed mats will last for many years.

If your garden is in a new area, spray with a glyphosate herbicide like RoundUp or Com-Pleet to kill all the existing weeds before tilling.  This will kill the hard to manage perennial weeds.

Using mulch to cover the soil is extensively used.  It also looks very professional.  Some weeds come through the mulch but they can be physically removed or sprayed.  Many people add about 3 inches of mulch.  Experts recommend using about 1 inch of mulch.  A thicker mulch layer will inhibit the emergence of more weeds.  If you plan on using thick mulch take this into consideration and plant plants to be at the depth of the top of the mulch.  The worst item you can do for the health of perennials, especially trees and woody ornamentals, is to heap mulch up around the trunk.  Heaping mulch around trees, kills trees.  Still many people like the look and it is still done.

Weeds that come through mulch can be sprayed with RoundUp or Com-Pleet, but don’t allow the spray to contact the ornamental spray.

You may add commercial bagged topsoil to eliminate weeds.  They may still have a small supply of weeds in even though it comes in a bag.  A local topsoil may be ideal for fixing problem soils but be prepared to deal with a new brand of weeds brought in with the topsoil.

Herbicides are used extensively in commercial real estate.  Homeowners don’t have access to all the product used commercially but still can easily control the weeds.  Preen is most commonly used for both ornamental and vegetable gardens.  If this writer were to rate products, the highest rating for weed control with a granule would be Amaze.  If it is not available in your area, ask for it specifically.  Amaze from Green Light has two herbicides, one stronger on grasses and one stronger on broadleaf weeds.  It will last longer than other products for weed control around ornamentals.  Amaze covers more area per pound of granules and will be cheaper than other products.  Amaze should not be used in vegetable gardens.  There is also a Preen for Southern Gardens that uses dithiopyr but cannot be used in vegetable gardens.  It will control weeds for twice as long as regular Preen.  Some of the commercial crabgrass control products can be used in ornamental gardens.  However, read and follow the label directions before making application.  These products often control many more weeds than crabgrass.

Several companies such as Scotts Miracle Gro sell a similar herbicide as Preen.  One such product is Miracle Gro Weed Preventer.  Most Scotts Miracle Gro products use fertilizer as a carrier which may be an overuse of fertilizer.  A commercial product used in ornamental plant beds is BroadStar or SureGuard, a granule and liquid product containing a new herbicide flumioxazin.  If it becomes available for residential use by consumers it will provide long lasting excellent control of weeds. 

Another way to provide good long lasting weed control is to use one of the commercial products with glyphosate and a residual herbicide.  The most common product is RoundUp Extended Control or SeasonLong Grass and Weed Control.  These products kill all the weeds and lay down a layer of herbicide weeds won’t germinate through.  They will provide about 3 to 4 months of weed control.  If these products are sprayed on existing plants or you get too much on the green bark of young trees and shrubs they will also be killed.  Use with EXTREME caution around existing plants.

The historic way is simply hoe out the unwanted plants with a hoe.  If you are growing a vegetable garden, grow a small size garden, small enough so the weed war is small enough to keep under control. 

Happy Gardening!