Just got back from the Conference in Grand Rapids, MI.
First time I’ve been to the Expo. It was pretty good. It was nice to hear presentations from some of the most recognized leaders and researchers in the fruit industry.
Of course the conference was based on commercial production, but I thought there were a few takeaways which might interest backyard growers.
Most of these points experience backyard growers have already figured out, but it was interesting to know research backs these things up.
Re: peaches:
-Dwarf and semi-dwarf rootstocks produce higher brix fruits than standard trees.
-Peaches higher in the canopy ripen earlier and have higher brix (no surprise there)
-Unthinned peach trees ripen later and have lower brix than thinned trees. Brix is lower by up to 3 points vs. peach trees which have a lighter crop.
-Guardian rootstock is the most hardy rootstock for peaches. K-1 is the least hardy. K-86 takes the longest to shut the tree down for winter dormancy, but is also the latest to come out of dormancy (possibly useful in areas where spring frosts are problematic).
-Unthinned peach trees produce significantly less fruit buds for the following season (on the varieties tested) to the point that they didn’t produce enough fruit buds to have a full crop the following season. This was measured before winter kill and spring frosts, which can obviously reduce the crop further.
-No persuasive research to indicated spray-on frost protectants improve frost tolerance of peach blooms.
-High humidity conditions increase frost damage in peach blooms. 28F with high humidity can be worse for blooms than 25F with low humidity. This is new research compared to the old MSU frost damage tables where humidity wasn’t factored in.
-Trece OFM combo lures perform much much better than straight phermone lures in orchards where mating disruption is practiced (basically it’s a waste of time to use straight phermone traps when mating disruption is used).
-Ghost traps with impregnated insecticide netting worked extremely well to kill BMSB. These traps are very effective in controlling BMSB, which is different than traps for J. beetles. J. beetle traps bring beetles in from long distances, whereas BMSB ghost traps are only attractive to BMSB for about 30 meters.
-Spain is doing research and using controlled water deprivation (around pit hardening time) to improve brix of peaches in commercial production.
Here are some pics from the trade show:
Here is a lightweight hand held shielded spray to spray concentrate on weeds. Supposed to spray a very light film inside the hood for concentrate sprays.
Here is a pair of teflon coated pruners from Kamikaze. The guy at the booth had a pair of brand new high dollar felco pruners he claimed he bought that morning. He had me try the teflon pruners vs. the felco pruners on some pretty hard wood. The teflon coated pruners cut a lot easier - a lot easier. I don’t know how long the teflon coating would stay on, but if it stays on good, this is a new technology (as applied to pruners) which will make non-teflon coated pruners obsolete. I saw at least one other brand of teflon coated pruners at the trade show, so this isn’t the only brand.
I took a pic of a summary poster of research on kickback activity of various insecticides for SWD.
As mentioned, it was kind of neat to meet leading people in the industry after reading their articles for a long time. I saw Bill Shane sitting by himself for lunch and my wife and I sat down at his table while I probed him with questions over lunch. Paul Friday was at the conference. A friend of mine suggested a get a photo with the icon, so I did (I’m the younger guy, lol.)
Paul Friday had just told me a joke (as follows). A man was following his wife around a grocery store, while she was buying expensive face creams. The man asked, “Why are you buying that stuff?” She replied, “I want to look good for you.” He responds, “Let’s go to the beer aisle. $7.50 there will do the same thing.” Paul Friday’s deadpan delivery made it pretty funny.
