Cold injury to fruit trees a big concern

By Gary Pullano, Assistant Editor Reprinted with permission from Fruit Growers News, April 2014 Edition Vol. 53, #4 The need for growers to understand the impact of cold injury to fruit trees in 2014, particularly to the more tender crops, made a series of presentations by Jon Clements, Extension tree fruit specialist with the University…

Read More

A Study of the Winter Kill Phenomena

  By Anne Wieland Passed on from Ellen VandeVisse, a member from Palmer AK.   Dear Homer friends who garden, Back in June you may have taken the time to enter data in the Winter Kill survey.  It’s been quite a while since then and some amazing things have happened demonstrating the resilience of nature…

Read More

President’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 More

The Importance of Chilling Hours

The Importance of Chilling Hours Flower buds require sufficient chilling hours during the winter to break dormancy and bloom in the spring. Chilling hours is a complex and confusing issue. Because so many customers have asked about chilling hours, Grandpa has compiled some charts from the best sources that he has to help customers concerned…

Read More

INCREASING APPLE CULTIVAR HARDINESS TO -40° F

  —by Bernie Nikolai 14012-86 Ave. Edmonton, Alberta T5R4B2   (Reprinted from Pomona, v. 25, no. 4, Fall 1994, with permission)   For about the last five years I’ve been experimenting with attempting to significantly increase the hardiness of tender apple cultivars to enable them to survive and produce after prairie Canada’s long, very harsh…

Read More

EARLY ALASKAN ORCHARD BEARS FRUIT TREE KNOWLEDGE

Thanks to Joe Orsi, one of our Southeast members, for the following–it’s a great article!   Dear Pam:   I enjoy reading the newsletter material and think you are doing a great job with it. In the last newsletter I really liked the piece by Bob Purvis on “Preparing Your Fruit Trees for Winter”, and…

Read More

FRUIT TREE SURVIVAL RECORD FOR WINTER OF 91-92 IN FAIRBANKS, AK.

The following had no winter injury:   APPLE 922 END                                                                               IMP. BATTLEFORD                          RED SUMBO AKANE                                                                                 JACQUES                                             RED WELL AL MA SWEET                                                                   JOHN WALLACE                               RENOWN ANOROS                                                                               JORDAN RUSSET                              RESCUE ARBOR DALE                                                                     KEEPSAKE                                          ROMFO UNKNOWN ARCTIC RED                                                                      KERR                                                    ROSTHERN 18 BATTLEFORD                                                                    LEAFLAND                                          ROSYBROOK BIDDY                                                                                  LIVELAND RASBERRY                  SCOT 144 BREAKEY                                                                            LODI                                                      SEPT. RUBY BREAKEY X CRIMSON BEAUTY                                LOWELL                                             …

Read More

PREPARING TOUR FRUIT TREES FOR WINTER

By Bob Purvis   Getting a 1- or 2-year-old fruit tree to survive an Alaskan winter is not all easy task even if the tree is a hardy Canadian apple variety on an Antonovka or Ranetka rootstock. With winter almost here, it may be worth outlining practices that improve the odds of tree survival. These…

Read More

1988-89 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 More

Overwintering Fruit trees in Alaska 1988

During the winters of 1986 and 1987 and 1987 to 1988 I overwintered in pots, a number of apple, pear, plum, apricot, and sweet and tart cherry trees. The decision to grow things in pots was based on these considerations: First, a black plastic pot provides a warm environment for growing new roots on bare-root…

Read More

Arborgards — better than burlap

After some bad experiences this past winter with bark rotting caused by wet burlap applied originally to my apple trees for sun scald protection, I found an alternative: Arborgards. Arborgards are white spiral perforated tubes, 24 – 40 inches high, made of durable, springy plastic. Used by professional landscapers to protect trunks of newly planted…

Read More