Tag: Orcharding

Multi-Cultivar Grafted Trees for Pest Control

By C.J. Walke, Orchard Program Manager Plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar) is considered one of the most destructive insect pests in apple and plum orchards and has been referred to as the “Achilles’ heel” of organic orcharding because of the difficulty controlling this pest with cultural methods and materials approved by the Organic Materials Review Institute

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Orchard Understory Update

By Lauren Cormier I was one of many volunteers at the first tree planting day in the Maine Heritage Orchard eight years ago in the spring of 2014. Then, hardly a plant was in sight within the precipitous gravel pit that descended sharply to a pond. It had recently been terraced and regraded when we

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Working with the Taprooted Nature of Chestnuts

By Anson Biller The appearance of the first taproots of our future chestnut trees emerging from their shells was a pivotal moment at Full Fork Farm in China, Maine. Never mind that I was observing them after the seeds had sat in plastic bags in a walk-in cooler for four months. This was big: The

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Preparing for Orchard Pruning

By Jack Kertesz Within a few weeks, the threat of our most frigid temperatures should abate and pruning work can begin with the assurance of less damage to trees. This is a good time to take the opportunity to review the condition of all tools used to make these cuts and apply the appropriate response. 

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More Than Just Apples: A Polyculture Orchard

By Jacob Mentlik There is a lot more than just apples growing at the Maine Heritage Orchard. While most commercial orchards lean toward monoculture, featuring long even rows of one particular species of fruit tree, the goal at MHO is to create a polyculture orchard, with many species growing together in harmony, mimicking the diversity

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Growing Apricots in Maine: It’s the Pits

By Lauren Cormier Even with the best intentions of buying local and avoiding produce from many miles away, it can be difficult to resist the temptation of apricots when they’re sitting on the grocery store shelf. It might be our only chance to eat them! Apricots are a stone fruit along with peaches, plums, cherries,

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Working Together as a Family at Farr Homestead

By Sonja Heyck-Merlin In Denver, Colorado, Steve Farr was a full-time computer systems engineer at a university and later at a consulting firm. “Being gone 10 to 12 hours a day, I felt like I hardly knew my children,” he says. “I wanted to do something different, and my wife Kari and I came to

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Wild Apples: Novel Pippins and Tough Trees

By Jacob Mentlik “Most fruits which we prize and use depend entirely on our care … but the apple emulates man’s independence and enterprise … making its way amid the aboriginal trees.” -Henry David Thoreau It is believed that the origin of the apples we all know and love can be traced back to south

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Apple Sleuths Get a Boost from DNA Testing

By Jacob Mentlik For decades Maine’s apple expert and pomological detective John Bunker has been hunting for and rediscovering rare old varieties of apples. Using all of the clues he can gather, he pieces together the history and possible locations of ancient trees, finds and collects fruit and then spends hours poring over old books

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