Major accomplishments as an orchardist

General Fruit Growing
#41

@Palmy_Oceans

No they are blacker when ripe more like these photos. The darker colored ones in the photos are ripe. The one you picked is perfect for pie.

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6 Likes
#42

Honing you skills with everything you plant. :grin:

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#43

Alright, for now pie is out of my radar but I guess Iā€™ll wait extra time for the other few fruit that may still be hanging

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#44

Is a white mesh net of 0.04 inch squares good or it isnā€™t good on cherries

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#45

@Palmy_Oceans

Should be pretty decent unless you have higher than normal pest pressure. Iā€™m not the best to ask I used none.

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#46

Ok they are supposed to protect against insects too right? I suppose thrips will get through still?

#47

Got it, sorry I didnā€™t see the last part

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#48

you want some bad enough, HoneyberryUSA sells/ ships the cherries and haskap too.

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#49

Yeah I have like 6 bushes now, just waiting, and looking for diseases so the bushes make it

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#50

My accomplishment this year is continuing to walk through the orchard every day even though my back and legs donā€™t want to go. The trees bring me a sense of calm and joy that I desperately need.

I spend a fair amount of time caring for them, labeling, checking grafts, spraying, reading up on varieties, worrying about late freezes and hot dry summers, making notes and the like, but the chores seem minor compared to what they do for me. Sounds corny I know.

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#51

Yummy, yum yum.

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#52

Makes perfect sense to me. D

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#53

We use a similar net. It keeps out the Western Cherry Fruitfly and the birds. But it does slow the ripening and probably the Brix. The intense bird pressure doesnā€™t give us another choicešŸ˜–

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#54

Does it slow progress because the net is covering the sun?

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#55

Yes. As much as 2 weeks in Western Montana.

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#56

Wow thatā€™s a lot, is there are tactic to let sufficient sun in or is there a specific net that does less slowing?

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#57

Traditional black bird netting doesnā€™t slow the ripening of the cherries but it does not keep out the Western Cherry Fruitfly. I use it on the large Cherry trees along with one spray of Spinosad for the WCF. On the small trees like Northstar, Juliet and Carmine Jewel I use the white mesh netting. Years ago, I purchased wonderful little nets with side zippers and drawstrings for the trunk. They are so easy to place and remove that I traded later ripening for ease of use. My ultimate goal is to install a curtain netting system like the commercial orchards.

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#58

I agree with you 100%. That is exactly what I do as well. So I guess we both or corny. I keep a journal on the things going in my orchard from year to year. In the winter I go thought it and read what accomplishments have gone on over the years in my orchard.

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#59

My main goal for a very fine net is to keep thrips out to try and halt any virus spread, unfortunately I learned that thrips can easily get through this net, for the fruit flys I guess Iā€™ll buy surround, and buy a bird net as the fruits start to ripen

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#60

Iā€™m not sure Iā€™ve arrived at Nirvana, but Iā€™m pretty stoked to have had to thin apples this year. Might even get a fruit or two from something I grafted - that will be a fullfilling feeling. If I get deer fence finished, irrigation installed trees successfully transplanted and get enough apples to fill the pressā€¦ then Iā€™ll be a beaming Montana boy.

6 Likes