Posts Tagged ‘orchard report’
Update from Dwight and Lauren Bradley
Lauren and I moved out of Alaska in mid September and drove two cars and three pets to Randolph, New Hampshire. We bought an old farm on 20 acres here; I worked at this farm in the 1970s, before becoming a geologist. The farmhouse is in great shape. There are three attached barns Two of…
Read MoreA Garden Report
by Mary Patania Gardening 2013 The events of fall 2012 set the stage for 2013. We had huge amounts of rain 2012, July through August then a sudden quick freeze in Sept. The results of 2013 were: Early Spring: No garlic or tulips. The ground didn’t warm up until mid July. We had…
Read MoreOrchard Report
By Tami Schlies If you’ve been to the membership forums, you’ll find a section where people are posting the results of the past winter. Very interesting to see what survived and what didn’t in various parts of the state. Like many people, I had terrible dieback on my Evans cherries. They are about eight years…
Read MorePresident’s Message
By Kevin Irvin This year has been quite the roller coaster as far as weather as I am sure you all know. Many iron-clad varieties had survival problems and it wasn’t just apples! It also is dependent on the micro-climate we each have at our respective orchards. Some fared far better than others simply…
Read MoreFrom the President
By Pat Mulligan Hello members. Much of the value of this group is the sharing of experience. When one member tries something new, we all benefit. Why should we miss new, hardier plants or make the same mistakes? Our newsletters convey some of our experiences. Please join me in thanking Dawn Deiser for scanning…
Read MoreFrom the Editor’s Garden
By Tami Schlies Another season is over, with the golden birch and cottonwoods raining down their leaves in a forecast of the snow to come. I sit at my computer once again, reworking in my mind all that has occurred in the brief summer since the last newsletter. Spring seemed to take its own sweet…
Read MoreFrom the Editor’s Garden
By Tami Schlies A Haiku Dog tracks in the house leading from the kitchen door. Spring in Alaska That seems to be about all I have seen of spring at my house so far this year. The Siberian squill, crocuses, daffodils, and tulips are late coming up (they have shown their heads finally…
Read MoreOrchard report for 2005 growing season – Peters Creek
by Dwight Bradley, Peters Creek Our orchard was laid out in summer 1992 so this was its 14th summer. It’s looking more and more like a real orchard and less like the “stick farm” that it once was. Of the 50 trees that were planted in 1992-1993, only six remain (Heyer 20, Crimson Beauty, Norland,…
Read MoreSchlies Orchard Report 2006
Schlies Orchard Report 2006 By Tami Schlies This was a good year for fruit yield at our house. Almost every apple tree produced fruit, and the Evan’s cherries actually produced enough for a couple of pies (well, would have if my son had not had a feast one day while he was looking for duck…
Read More2005 Orchard Report — Kenai
2005 Orchard Report by Mike O’Brien O’Brien Garden & Trees 49152 Orchard Circle Kenai, AK 99611 (907)-776-8726 obrienorchards@gci.net Hello Tami, This started as a note on the highlight of the 2005 season but after proofing also includes previous years. I enjoyed demonstrating the grafting procedure at the workshop last April, 9 with Dwight…
Read MoreFrom the Editor’s Garden 2005
Fall blew in on a windstorm this year, the normal mode up here, but this year it seemed to be nearly a month late. I usually have a killing frost by the end of August, and it was the beginning of October before frost finally took my beans, squash, and pumpkins. The winds blew…
Read MoreThe Editor’s Garden
By Tami Schlies Greetings from the Editor’s Garden! Our heat wave this summer has been great to many of my plants, and I wish I’d planted more beans and corn. As they say, it is either a bean year or a lean year, and this is definitely a bean year! My potatoes are suffering from…
Read MoreApple production at O’Brien Orchards – 2002
Apple production @ O’Brien Orchards 49152 Orchard circle Kenai ,AK 99611 907/776-8726 E-Mail obrienorchards @gci.net 2000 2001 2002 Breakey .25# Breakey 10# Breakey 25# Centennial 45# Centennial 25# Centennial Crab 184 # Bud 9 – 1# CGE 3# CGE 5# CGE 3# Carroll 30# Chestnut crab 2# Chestnut crab 10# Chestnut Crab 43#…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Peters CreeK – 2002
Peters Creek, Alaska by DWIGHT BRADLEY Jan. 6, 2003 This was the third straight good apple year for us in Peters Creek. The winter of 2001-2002 was about average, with coldest temperatures in the range of -25°F (one day I’ll start keeping better track). Winterkill was minimal. We hosted a pruning workshop in…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Peters Creek – 2002
Orchard Reports by Tami Schlies We got to see the wonderful acreage of Larry and Judy Wilmarth out in South Anchorage in July, and she gave us some notes I thought I would include in this issue. They have a huge greenhouse where they keep some of their potted fruit plants in the winter. They…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Edmonton – 2001
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by THEAN PHEH November 28, 2001 I live in Edmonton which has a microclimate in Zone 3. I also have contacts with other growers in Zone3 and 2 in Central Alberta. The first killing frost of 2000 arrived late, giving the plants about two extra weeks to prepare for the…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Peters Creek – 2001
Peters Creek, Alaska by DWIGHT BRADLEY Dec.8, 2001 This was the second straight good apple year for us in Peters Creek. The winter of 2000-2001 was very mild, no colder than about 0°F. We didn’t have a decent permanent snow cover until sometime in January; meanwhile, a couple inches of glare ice built up…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Ketchikan – 2001
Ketchikan, Alaska by JERROLD KOERNER December 26, 2001 We are late in getting out our written evaluations on our trials of early ripening apple varieties here at the nursery. Ketchikan experienced another horrible spring, much like the spring of 1999. The apple bloom was delayed more than four weeks, spring temperatures were below normal, and…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Cottage Grove, Minnesota – 2001
Cottage Grove, Minnesota by ROBERT PURVIS August 21, 2001 This spring, my 1-year-old trees of M.604 and Debbie’s Gold apricot both blossomed on a warm day in late April, 2 wk after the last frost. The bumblebees worked the blossoms, and the trees tried to set fruit, but ultimately they all fell off. Now…
Read MoreOrchard Report Peter’s Creek August 30, 2001
by TAMI SCHLIES It is hard to believe that summer is almost over already. It has not felt cold enough to be fall yet, but the trees have that bronzy sheen that speaks of the golden days of autumn just around the corner. Perhaps milder days will give me the incentive to clean…
Read MoreUpdated Apple-Tree Growth Curves For Peters Creek, Alaska 2001
Updated Apple-Tree Growth Curves For Peters Creek, Alaska By D. BRADLEY In January 1998 I measured the heights of the 77 apple trees then growing in our orchard and plotted tree height against age to get a growth curve. In November 2000 I made new measurements of the 100 trees now growing. The results are…
Read MoreOrchard Reports – Fall 2000
Peters Creek, Alaska Dwight Bradley, Sept. 1, 2000 It’s finally starting to look like an orchard. Without a doubt this has been the best apple year since we planted the orchard in 1992. Most trees survived last winter with very little damage. Bloom lasted from June 3 to somewhere around the last week of…
Read MoreKETCHIKAN ORCHARD REPORT
—by Jerry Koerner Jerry Appleseed Nursery PO Box 6292 Ketchikan, AK 99901 Due to the La Nina reversal, Ketchikan experienced a very late and very cold spring in 1999, which severely effected our bloom time, pollination and ripening dates. Bloom time was delayed 4 to 6 weeks, as was the ripening dates for…
Read More1998 ORCHARD REPORTS
Anchorage – Bob Boyer Although this was a cold spring and summer, I had more varieties of fruit this year. First I had about 2 pints of kiwis and I harvested over 28 quarts of service berries. I didn’t get as many raspberries this year. I bought a “Fall Red” plant this year.…
Read MorePETERS CREEK orchard report 1998
PETERS CREEK —Dwight Bradley This was the best year yet for our apple orchard in Peters Creek. The fall of 1997 was a late one, which allowed just about all trees to harden off nicely. There were no severe fall ice storms when the leaves were still on — one of the two worst…
Read MoreOrchard Report: EAST ANCHORAGE—Kevin Irvin
EAST ANCHORAGE—Kevin Irvin This past growing season proved to be somewhat of a challenge with the spring weather turning cold as it did and essentially stopping growth for up to a month depending on the varieties. In my crowded container grown orchard the biggest set back was pollination. While all trees eventually blossomed they…
Read More1998 ORCHARD REPORTS
FAIRBANKS—Clair Lammers Our growing season started at the normal time of year!” We had NO rain until July 11. I started irrigating May 27th. We had “the best year ever”. I ripened 93 varieties of apples for a total of 1239 pounds, 8 varieties of plums for 67 pounds, 5 varieties of pear…
Read MoreWINTER 1996-97 SURVIVAL
WINTER 1996-97 SURVIVAL -by Clair Lammers Coldest temp was -42 on 1-13-97 with a snow cover of 22 inches. The first freeze was 10-3-96 with a +26; last freeze on 5-14-97 with a +27. Total rainfall for 1996 as 6.63 inches. On average, our spring was 7-10 days later than normal. To understand this…
Read MoreSOME APPLE-GROWING LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY IN TEN YEARS IN PETERS CREEK
– Dwight Bradley It’s been ten years since Lauren and I bought our place in Peters Creek and planted our first apple trees. Since then, the orchard has grown to about 80 trees, but for every few steps forward we’ve been set back a step. This is written for the benefit of rowers…
Read MoreAPPLE-TREE MORTALITY DURING THE WINTERS OF 94-95 AND 95-96 IN PETERS CREEK
by Dwight Bradley The winter of 1995 96 turned out to be a “test winter” for us in Peters Creek. It wasn’t particularly cold (lowest was not quite -30°F), but the problem was that there was no snow. The first significant snowfall wasn’t until January, by which time we had already had been…
Read MoreREVISED SURVIVAL FOR WINTER 1995-1996
by Clair hammers (1364 Esro Road, Fairbanks, AK 99712 phone 907-488-6446) Our coldest temp was -40°F on 12-5-95 with a snow cover of 1.5 inches. We did receive an additional 18 inches on 2-2096 with a total for the winter of 26 inches. Total rainfall for the 1995 growing season was 11.10 inches.…
Read MoreORCHARD REPORT 1996
by Helen Butcher (Received July 8, 1996) The Golden Transparents received for Mothers Day 1986 have had a steady, not always consistent production. Several years ago I started culling down to two left on each group with resulting larger, regular-sized apples. Maybe the weather played a part? The trees are in the open…
Read MoreSPRING ORCHARD REPORT 1996
by Dwight Bradley Owing to the lack of snow cover until January the winter of 95-96 had the potential to be rough on tender plants. I heard one report that the ground in Anchorage froze down to 14 feet below the surface. Whether or not this is an exaggeration, there certainly were a…
Read MoreSUMMER ORCHARD REPORT – Peters Creek 1996
-by Dwight Bradley After the rough 1995 winter which killed 20 of our 50 apple trees and set back quite a few more, the summer of 1995 was a great growing season. Most of the trees that survived the winter, and all of the new whips that went into replace the lost trees, put…
Read MoreORCHARD REPORT
ORCHARD REPORT -by Michael J. O’Brien Nikiski This report covers the production of fruit for this past season in my Nikiski orchard. I have six Meteor cherry trees which produced one cherry each. These trees are seven years old. Concerning apples, I had one-quarter to one-fifth the fruit as last year, approximately…
Read MoreFRUIT TREE THOUGHTS
by Bob Boyer Anchorage The following are blossoming dates (B) and fruit pick dates (P) for trees in ground or buckets. Nanking cherry. B May 5, P Sept. 26. 1 gallon. Cavalier cherry. B May 22. No fruit. Chokecherry. B May 22, didn’t pick; put Cygon 2 on tree. White Nanking cherry,…
Read MoreORCHARD REPORT – Interior Summer 1995
by Clair Lammers Fairbanks Pick dates of my various fruits. (Apples unless otherwise stated. * = new variety) Variety Date Picked Mesabi cherry 7/30 Pin cherry 7/30 Nanking cherry 7/30 Elderberry 8/4 Ground cherry 8/17 (P. fruitcosa) Chinese Golden Early 8/19 Dawn 8/21 *Sylvia 8/23 Parkland 8/26 Ptitson #5 plum 8/28 Heyer…
Read MoreORCHARD REPORT
by Joe,Orsi Auke Bay My micro-orchard in Auke Bay, north of Juneau, was initially planted in 1991 and consists of about 30 summer apple varieties and several varieties of sour cherries, sweet cherries, and plums. The maritime climate in Auke Bay is mild by Alaskan standards, with high and low temperatures moderated by…
Read MoreORCHARD REPORT, June 3, 1995 – Fairbanks
— By Clair hammers 1364 Esro Road Fairbanks, Alaska 99712 907-488-6446 Our coldest temperature was -38° on January 27 with a snow cover of approximately 36 inches. On the average, our g started about one week earlier than last year but on May 22, we had a hard freeze of +22°F — so…
Read MoreSPRING ORCHARD REPORT – Peters Creek
-by Dwight Bradley We sustained fairly bad winter damage to our 50-odd apple trees in Peters Creek, This came as a surprise and a letdown, because last fall and winter really were pretty mild. The first serious frost didn’t come until the first few days of October, giving everything a few extra weeks…
Read More1994 MICRO-ORCHARD REPORT FROM SOUTHEAST ALASKA
—by Joe Orsi Since I began planting my micro orchard in Alike Bay near Juneau in 1991, this was the first year many of my trees flowered and set fruit. I had fruit on ten varieties of apples (Centennial, Discovery, Duchess of Oldenburg, Geneva Early, New Summer Scarlet, Red Astrachan, Rescue, Summer Rambo,…
Read MoreFALL ORCHARD REPORT FROM DAVE CRUSEY
For our May meeting, Dave and Carolyn Crusey kindly gave a tour of their one-acre orchard in Knik. The Cruseys live in a very favorable spot that gets more sun and less wind than Anchorage, Eagle River, or Peters Creek, which are just a few miles away across Knik Arm. The soil is a rich,…
Read MoreSPRING ORCHARD REPORT FROM CLAIR LAMMERS
Last May (or early June?), Clair Lammers sent a listing of nearly 400 varieties being tested in his favorable location on the road to Chena Hot Springs just outside Fairbanks. The coldest temperature last winter was -30°F, on Nov. 19 and again on Feb. 14. Snow cover was 18-20 inches. I count 41 pear varieties,…
Read MoreFRUIT GROWING IN ALASKA vs. WASHINGTON
By Bob Purvis Alaska members of the Alaska Pioneer Fruit Growers may sometimes feel that, compared to Washington State, they have few advantages and many disadvantages in growing tree fruits. As one who has grown fruit trees in Anchorage, then in Pullman (near the Washington-Idaho border, elevation 2350’), and now in Selah (five miles…
Read MoreFEBRUARY MEETING REPORT
On February 18, Dana Olson spoke to us of her efforts, together with her husband, Nansen, to start a commercial “gourmet” apple orchard and nursery in southcentral Alaska. Their orchard is on the Knik Arm, which means they have a longer growing season (and less wind). The Olsons want to promote and encourage…
Read MoreGARDEN AND FRUIT GROWING REPORT
By Gerald L. Sudkamp The following is a report of my garden and fruit growing activities for the last five (5) years at a lot I have near Wasilla. This report begins when I purchased a 2.8-acre lot located about 10 miles northwest of Wasilla on Pittman Road in the late fall of 1987.…
Read MoreGROWING FRUIT TREES AND MUCH MORE IN TOK
Last winter (89-90) we dropped to -50 F and had a lot of snow. There was considerable damage from snow mold. We occasionally had snow mold in Michigan, but it never seemed to be harmful. Here last winter we lost a lot of our strawberries (‘Toklat’, ‘Pioneer’ and an old variety from friends of friends…
Read MoreCLAIR’S FRUIT TRIALS
Just a short note to let my fellow fruit growers know of some of the new rootstocks I will be testing this year. Prunus nigra, Prunus ussuriensis and Prunus mamima (pure) will be used for various stone fruits. Last fall I received some ‘Beautiful Arcade’ seed from Canada, and they are being started at this…
Read MoreFRUIT TREE SURVIVAL RECORD, WINTER 1989 -1990 FAIRBANKS ALASKA
My coldest temperature was -46°F in late November, 1990 when we had very little snow cover. The following plant showed no winter injury: Apples: Antonovka, Battleford. Centennial, Chinese Golden Early, Dawn, Dolgo, Duchess of Oldenburg, Gravenstein Red. Heyer 12, Heyer 20, Lords Seedling, Morden 363, Norcue, Norda, Noret, Norson, Norland, Orenco, Oriole, Parkland,…
Read MoreTHE HAINES FRUIT SEASON
We had an excellent fruit-growing season in Haines, with an early and warm spring. By the time the apples were in bloom, insects were active and did an excellent pollinating job. Many of my trees bloomed for the first time, including my ‘Summer Crisp’ pear and ‘Mt. Royal’ plum. Since my other pear tree, Hudar’…
Read More1988-89 WINTER HARDINESS REPORT: Purvis
By Robert A. Purvis The winter of 1988-89 was a “test winter” in both Southcentral Alaska and in the Interior, with temperatures dipping into the -30 to -40°F range in Southcentral and into the -50 to -70°F range in Fairbanks and vicinity. As such, this past winter can provide valuable information on how…
Read MoreFRONT AND CENTER: CLAIR LAMMERS
Chapter member Clair Lammers has been in touch with me a few times over the past two months and has written down some of the things he is testing in a very favorable microclimate close to Fairbanks. During the nine years he has kept records, it has yet to go below -32 F at his…
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