@DennisD and @northwoodswis4 what would you recommend I do to control pests while the trees are still in the nursery bed?
Also from Wisconsin (down by Madison)…as far as pests, your ambition isn’t a bad thing, but in addition to grafting (I can do 5-20 grafts in an hour or two, depending on the difficulty and my “got my shit-togetherness” of the given day) your other scale/magnitude concern is going to be that you have a very large number of very small and vulnerable trees, of a type every pest finds tasty.
Rabbits: Fencing
Deer: bigger fencing
insects: sprays as needed.
I have a nursery bed with trees about at 2.5-foot intervals and ~60 trees, and the bed is nice for efficient use of space, but it means a wandering deer can take out a dozen grafts in a sitting. Rabbits, the same. And things like army worms can build nests across multiple trees. So the negative is you took a tasty tree they’d be happy to eat, and put all of them in one basket: easy to find, great habitat, and a nice place to return to when they’re hungry later.
the upside is everything is in one spot, so it is easier to monitor than trekking all over forty acres to find each tree. Just know you have essentially created a “bait pile” for things that like apple trees, and a lot of things do.
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I’ve done nothing for disease or insects over the past 5 years for my young grafts…except applying a deer repellent spray at one location not near residence.
I’ve had just a few munched on by deer, but none killed.
I have physically rubbed and killed aphids a few times, but it hasn’t been a big issue.
My older in-ground trees get one dormant oil spray and maybe an insecticide spray following petal fall if I’m not too busy to do it when it needs doing. I’m not selling fruit at this point, so some blemishes on the fruit are not bothersome to me.
If deer come in close to your house or wherever you have your nursery bed…that would be the biggest worry the first year or two, not insects.
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In SW WI, deer are going to be problematic. I used to live north of Madison and still drive back and forth. SW WI has some of the highest deer densities in the midwest. On my fruit trees at the old place I used 6’x5’ welded wire cages for deer and aluminum window screen on the trunks for protection from rodents.
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I agree, there is usually not much to worry about bugs or diseases on nursery trees. Only when they start bearing is there a serious need for spraying.
But, you really need to have the critters under control. One winter of voles and your whole orchard is gone. One summer of deer and your whole orchard is gone. etc etc.
I admire your 1000 tree start. I did a similar thing with “only” 250 trees. Get ready for lots of stupid mistakes though. I did bench grafts but didn’t keep the roots happy enough and in the first batch I lost 95% of the stocks. I bought more rootstocks and did a lot better the second time, and fortunately had enough grafting wood left. There is an immense amount of stuff to learn to make sure to talk to anyone you can, and read up all you can in books forums etc.
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Hi Aiden,
First I would try to identify your local regional pests (as they say “know your enemy), do this by consulting your local extension agent, or a nearby Ag school that specializes in fruit research, or ever fellows in your region on this forum who may have experience in dealing with your area’s typical pests.
You can locate and query some other local forum members that will be glad to assist you at the below mapping tool created by:
speedster1Regular
@thecityman had a wonderful idea to create an interactive map that would allow us to show our general location. I’m not trying to step on anyone’s toes or steal an idea, but just wanted to make an effort to see what I could offer. I’m not an expert and there are probably far more eloquent solutions but I decided to try using google maps to accomplish this task.
I’ve created a map below that should give everyone the ability to drop a marker or pin on their general location. I started with my location and also added a few common nurseries for reference.
To browse the member locations map, click on the link below.
To insert your location, PM @speedster1 with the location where you want yourself to be added.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=11t3T6fNjbtjexD88GPEMvgq2dsQ&usp=sharing
Hope this helps!
Dennis
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Scott what mistakes did you make with the rootstock care? That is actually my biggest concern by far since I have so many grafts to do and because of school I might not be able to start right away when they arrive.
How can I keep them alive for upto a few weeks if that is how long it takes?!?!
For those of you in wisconsin, what time do you usually get your rootstocks shipped? I worried they will come too early and I won’t be down with school yet.
Do you think I could contact the nursery and request a minimum shipping date?
You hadn’t specified you were in a dorm or somewhere…but, if you have an in-room refrigerator to keep scionwood chilled/dormant, what’s wrong with hauling 50 or so rootstocks in a black garbage bag with some wet shredded paper or some mulch off to school and grafting an hour in the evening? (Sure, you may have to go to some trouble to keep trash off the floor and the like.) If that’s your situation, I’d try and keep the majority of the rootstocks dormant and damp (even heeled in in a wad in an outdoor location if need be). Damp doesn’t mean sitting in a bucket of water longer than a few hours.
Bench grafts sitting in a dorm room…if that is your situation…in a black bag with damp media on the roots----no problem for a week or two.
Sometimes when advice is offered, it may be wrong if all the variables are not known…like this latest revelation.
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I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 roommates so things are a little tight but you are right I should plan on grafting here. It might be logistically difficult but it’s what I will have to do if they arrive early.
Can I just keep each bundle in a 5 gallon pale full of wet sawdust? Our apartment stays at around 65-70. Will the rootstocks break dormancy too quickly with that? I could store them on our fire escape if needed (north side of building).
I became more worried once scott mentioned losing 95% due to drying out!
Drying for half an hour or something is not a problem…but no damp media of some type for days on end on the roots and it won’t go well. If they get dry for an hour, a quick spray or dip to rewet and then get back in damp paper/damp sawdust/damp mulch…whatever.
Will they break dormancy…yes…at room temps they will in just a few days. And that wouldn’t be a problem for a week or even two…if you could then get them safely into sunlight without freezing temps or hot sun getting the better of them.
Keeping buckets of damp sawdust with roots kept there would be fine…provided you keep them from going much below freezing or keep them from getting above the 40’s…that would be the tough part…
You’ll figure something out…but drying out the roots is the worst. but freezing them or keeping them in too warm a place when spring is a long way away is also going to create interesting situation.
If you can keep most of your roots in a refrigerator tightly sealed in plastic…and only gamble with a few at a time, this might work out ok. some of this you created for yourself and will have to live with the consequences.
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As mentioned above, I haven’t had to deal with insects until my trees started to bear, with exception of spraying some tent caterpillars. It’s the fruit the insects have bothered. Deer and rodent protection is very critical, though.
Best way to protect against rodents? Also should it be a raised bed for any reason? That wouldn’t be hard since we have a tractor to fill it with and a sawmill to source the boards.
I use hardware cloth around each tree and Jaws mousetraps. You could probably just wire the perimeter of your bed. Spray repellents work fairly well, too.
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Slap some lumber together and buy some soil (or even mix your own with aged sawdust and topsoil and some slow release fertilizer)…and do the raised beds.
(Or experiment and try some with and without.)
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It wouldn’t hurt to request a shipping date for your rootstocks. That’s no guarantee you will get it, but worth a try.
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I contacted copenhaven farms and they said it would be no problem to hold them until I am ready!
They have been super accomodating and I highly recommend them if anyone here wants a large amount of rootstocks.
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I’ve heard good things about them.
Still haven’t ordered from them myself…was
able to get a better deal (on 100) from someone else this year,
(and I suppose I’ll find out if the product and service are as good).
Around first half of March are when mine ship.
But, I have bare root viburnum coming in about 3 weeks,
and hopefully the other shippers are staggered out a bit…
I lost my guarantee by asking Indiana Berry to ship a week earlier…
…probably Fedco coming in last towards first of April…with about 40 more roots to graft.
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And did you buy labels of some kind? Keeping things identified is a bear! You are asking lots of good questions - and getting lots of great advice.
Definitely plan to learn to bud. If you can delay shipping so that grafted trees can be planted straight into the nursery that will save lots of work and reduce stress on the trees. If you keep stuff in a cool storage and stagger it a bit you should be able to keep up. 50 is a pretty big day - but I’m just a hobbyist with a day job.
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Thank you for your encouragement and suggestion. I’ll check with my local orchardist friend to see if he think I can plant directly into the bed.
I have a couple different labeling ideas:
- I have lots of vinal blinds that I can cut up and label with sharpie
- I have ~100 sqft of aluminum plating that I can cut up.
- I will also try to make a map of the bed as a backup and eventually a map of the orchard (my brother and I love making maps)
Thoughts on the blinds + sharpie? It might not last forever but would hopefully last a year or so until I see which ones survived and I move them (then I could attach labels).
Those blinds and sharpie are the #1 item on my garden girls’s list. They love to use them. Why spend $$ on labels if you dont have to, and they are pretty indestructable. I vote yes.