It was an odd year on the farm and i learned a lot. My weather is very different than it has ever been. The pond is only down 1 foot on water from the weather so my fish are doing very well. The challenge i run into wiyh fish is if i should harvest them from the pond? Here is the dilemma once i harvest them i use electricity keeping them cold and i dont like eating fish everyday. Would love to raise record breaking bass so i want the bass to get bigger which they do if not harvested. If i harvest large fish it makes room for smaller fish to get larger. If i harvest fish i have fish heads, tales , guts to use on the garden as a super fertilizer. My water pump was used to pump water from my water tank to my garden all year and we saw a drastic increase in green beans and tomatoes as a result. The tank has rain and snow melt only in it and the tank is 2500 gallons. We pumped water once a week all year on the garden except when it rained. We knew water is life but seldom does it hit me harder than when im eating an abundance of meaty tomatoes and beans. Those fresh vegetables are so healthy you can feel the nutrients after eating them immediately.
Back to what i learned now that i stated the back story we need to incorporate the bugs into the farm more and set several lights up at the pond to catch bugs for the fish. Bugs are a huge missed oppurtunity for food for fish and chickens at least but maybe there would be enough for turkeys, Qual, and pheasants. Really miss not having chickens to keep down bugs, voles around the house.The eggs are a huge asset to have around. Someone might test drawing bugs into the chicken house at night where the chickens can consume them. Think a solar light would do the trick bringing in june bugs and other insects. Years ago i raised a large pond of aquarium fish for local pet stores. In the summer i raised out babies that were born in the winter. The way i did it was i purchased small swimming pools and covered them partially for shade. What i learned stuck with me. I fed the fish heavy on fish food for weeks but suddenly they stopped eating it. The fish looked great but didnt eat. In a short time i realized they were consuming algae and mosquito larvae. My mosquito problem dissapeared as i witnessed the circle of life. We need more water catchment its never enough. Solar power is a missed oppurtunity by not catching the sunlight im throwing money away we dont think about. My wisdom grows every year as i become smarter and wiser the more ignorant i realize we are. We live in a land flowing with milk and honey but few realize their oppurtunities. Growing pears is an oppurtunity in Kansas we have known about thanks to testing we have done so now im learning about large blocks of pears maintenance. Full sized trees certainly will shade and compete with each other. Pears can be grown very close together with no issues to a point but there is a point i cross the line and shade out others which causes big problems. Learning to balance the orchard.
The one thing i learned more than anything is to do more and plan less. Many people plan though never doing anything they plan. There are those who do and never plan anything im not suggesting going that way. I bring this up because i have spun my wheels for years on solar because im ignorant on the subject finally realizing its ok to get started. Solar is easier now even if you get some help with what you dont know. They have kits and much better equipment than they once did. We learn more from doing than saying. Remember when you learned to ride a bicycle there was a learning curve you need to physically experience for it to make any sense. Solar is like water skiing or riding that bike you will fall a few times learning how to do things.
Had a huge water plant problem several years ago but now with my sterile grass carp and bluegills there is no moss in my ponds. Duck weed is a super food for fish and can be used in aquaponics and other things. By now you likely see where im going with this there is a trend here and that is raise a smaller number of animals you can feed for free. Chickens can be fed insects you raise and free range. Goats can be used to eat down underbrush. Cows could browse your orchard for grass. Pigs will eat grass just like a cow. Fish can eat bugs you encourage to come there by mounting lights just above the pond surface. Maybe grains are not the answer we think they are. As we see less nutritious grains everyday it makes me lean more towards reducing grain used on my farm to only what we raise. In order to raise fruits and vegetables well the circle of life incorporated into your plans is nice. Nature gives us what we need but do we see it. Imagine if we could draw japanese beetles in easily to use as compost, chicken food, or fish food but its ignorance keeping us from seeing an oppurtunity that is here right now. What would happen if pc were completely consumed every year? The bugs we are plaqued with may be a blessing we are not seeing. Think of the people going hungry in the great depression likely walking past dandelion and lambs quarter in areas infested with rabbits. Weeds are useful for something even if its mulch.
I have found that I can no longergrow fruit of any kind. The squirrels harvested about 10 bushels of 1/2 size fruit from all my fruit tree. I get a few figs and so far all my citrus bjut no blueberries, no pears, no apples, no gooseberries, no peaches, no cherries.
I’ve learned that
1 the best way to stop fire blight is a preventative spray just prior to and during bloom
2 Waiting to spray for PC until petal fall of every darn bloom is waiting too late.
3 patience is a virtue when it comes to fruit
4 it’s ok to obsess and walk in the orchard every day. I catch things early (usually that is)
5 check for and address canker regularly. Found some loose bark and insects underneath on a pear tree yesterday. Almost girdled tree. Follow #4 better
6 treasure the time with my devoted chocolate lab Katie. She’s 12
7 stop planting trees, bushes and flowers so close to each other and other things
8 deciding not to put that bush near the spot where I cut the buried phone line last year is a wise move
9 stop planting vegetables that we don’t like and won’t eat. It’s ok not to have a huge garden. You can’t keep up 20 labor intensive planting and flowering areas in the yard by yourself anymore. You’re not the same person you were 10 years ago. It’s ok. Simplify
10 stop giving a crap what others think and do what you think is right, what you love
11 never buy a timeshare
12 at all times but in difficult times especially my yard and my trees are a place of solace and beauty. Just keep in mind #9. Thank goodness for this forum, the things I’ve learned, and the friends I’ve met
I learned that after trying everything known to mankind for 4 years that the only thing that keeps deer away is to build fences. No matter what i plant, and how close to my house…or how many dogs i have… there will be a night in there somewhere that they browse everything they possibly can.
I cannot do the job of the Grey Wolf.
My state, my govt and my country wants them extirpated.
However my state thinks its ok to pen them up for people to look at.
look up making a self feeding soldier fly farm on youtube. too cold for it here but down your way it can be done. maggots too are also very high in protein for your fowl. many people still able to handle firewood are going back to it after a decade or more of relying on oil which is ok but the demand has pushed prices of wood up $150 a cord and here you need at least 7 cord to make it through the winter. ive learned there is little benefit of growing in a unheated greenhouse so im taking it down and selling it. plant to make many large raised beds in that spot and ramp up my vegetable/ grain production. my corn/amaranth grew alot of grain in a very small area. i plant to grow much more in 2023. more winter squash as well. thank God for the animal manure i have for fertilizer.
I learned that apples can go a long time without water and not show any signs of stress. Even my dwarf Bud 9 espalier don’t seem to wilt. I water them every 2 weeks or so, not really mulched. Still showing young growth, leaves look good.
I learned that trapping the squirrels will get me ahead.
I learned to start earlier, and protect starts- I lost the whole first round of them and ended up starting stuff “on time” which actually was too late.
that I have to not expect fruit, even from precocious trees, a year too soon. the first crop was either small or aborted on a few things and I realized it was just the first try for those trees.
I need to learn more about my olive trees. and I’m done pushing zone, the season is just too short. I need more high heat resistance things in general, but things that can also survive freezes over winter.
we are the apple region for a reason, they love it here. I need to diversify what I plant, I got real flavor fatigue this year from the few things that produced.
oh and I need to stop worrying about watering. I think I’m watering too much for some older trees
I learned that if I cover my fruit with tulle, I can harvest them closer to ripening stage. Best discovery this year. I almost cut down 2 apple trees, then they put out fruit, maybe I should be more patient.
in 20’ and 21’ we had a exceptional and severe drought and my 2 apples came through with all their leaves with no watering. they weren’t fruiting yet so probably why they did so well. lots of mulch helps also.
I learned that I may not have it in me any longer to participate in this hobby. I’ve had the most frustrating year growing fruit since I started the orchard in 2015. Today I started dismantling parts of my orchard. I pulled out my favorite most productive tree due to uncontrollable black knot. Pulled out the remaining cherry trees and Nanking cherry bushes. If I wasn’t so tired and if it wouldn’t have whipped my butt, half of the orchard would’ve disappeared. But the summer is not over yet. My old way of thinking was that I was willing to plant some things that pushed zones and thought it would be okay harvesting fruit once every five years (apricot). But this year I learned that way of thinking was naive. It’s too much work to plant and nurture these thing to not get rewarded every year. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old and I don’t have unlimited amounts of energy any more. I’m pretty confident I’ll never plant another fruit tree any more. I may weed out the misfits and try managing the fruit trees that tend to do better in this area.
Your speaking like a seasoned orchardist because you are. My mother told me the last 20 years this was her last year gardening and growing fruit. She had a great year this year. Pears grow well here but i love lychees, dates, figs, Chocolate, avocado, oranges, and coffee etc. .at some point i decided im pretty good at growing pears not so great at everything. I’m sorry to hear you had a discouraging year but your going to have more time to focus on what does best there. This has been a very difficult year to be an orchardist so hang in there. It’s my opinion everything has been off this year due to weather phenomenons.
sorry to hear that, Dave. that’s one reason why i grow more bush/ cane fruit and only a handful of trees. the bush fruit are bulletproof and nothing much touches them. they dont require sprays either. yes they are more work to harvest and don’t get as much in a harvest but at least you get something consistently every year. my 4 highbush blueberries gave me 50lbs of berries and my 2 tiben black currant gave me 60lbs and they take alot less room than a tree does so you can plant more of them in a smaller area. i see the trees as a extra and not my primary fruit source. have you tried growing mulberry and pawpaw? seems like those would do well in your environment with little care. what does well in the woods around you generally is what you should be growing in your orchard. i just picked 50lbs of apples from a wild tree. its near a pond in a ditch and the apples have very little damage from bugs. they’re very tasty but soft so ill make them into applesauce. i have 7 wild trees i forage from for different uses. northern new england grows a good apple because its cool here and bug/ fungal pressure isnt as bad as say CT or s NY. why they thrive here with no care.
I learned that I need to spray my trees early in the season and do it at a regular pace, regardless of it is going to rain or not. We had a weird spring with rain every other day or so. I waited until I could get a few days of dry weather before spraying.It was not a good outcome. Lots of bug damage. I hate to spray more than when I think I should spray. If I do not then I get fruit that looks horrible and is hard to use. After cutting out all the bad spots there is about half left of the fruit.
I don’t know what to tell you…city folks keep feeding the squirrels and trying to restrict use of guns…so we reap the consequences. Sorry for all your lost harvests. One year bears got all my apples one Saturday night. It hurts. But, don’t quit completely, you’ll find something they don’t like and grow it.
I learned from @barkslip how much easier and more productive summer grafting can be, Thanks Bark! The green scions and chip buds conform so easily to grafting cuts that matching the cambium is much easier and certainly more forgiving than using dormant scions and buds. I learned from @mamuang about the need for a thicker Surround slurry to achieve first coats! And from many others, thanks for your insight!
Dennis
Kent, wa
I can empathize. Squirrels are a bane on fruit trees, especially in a drought year. I’ve studied how to address the problem and it seems it is a lot of money or time. I have read of falconry, but that is even more time and money.
The main thing I’ve learned is that it comes down to numbers. Commercial orchards win by just having so much fruit that something like a squirrel is not even noticed. They also have lots of open ground away from larger trees, and squirrels get nervous in the open. I don’t have room or time for more trees, so the fight goes on.
Not smaller ones. On bad years squirrels can have a very bad economic impact- I’ve heard some complaints. At least my customers can pay for protection by having me erect baffles on trees shaped with over 4’ of straight trunk before first branches. Squirrels have been brutal this season without this protection but I’ve only lost fruit where I failed to recoat my baffles with grease. At some sites I’ve also had to use nets to stop thirsty birds. We’ve had the worst drought in at least a decade.
