Production and Fruit Tree Update

Although the strawberries started late this year, the plants are healthy and the white flowers that are abundant in the field mean a steady supply of fruit for the foreseeable future. Last week we released another round of persimilis mites for what will probably be the last time. Persimilis feed on only one host, the two spotted spider mite—among the worst pests that organic strawberry growers face. The first few years that we grew berries we applied the persimilis too late and we had outbreaks of two-spotted mites that nearly dried up that entire field. The plants would later recover, but we lost almost two months of production. We later learned that starting early and doing multiple applications is the key. This year we have applied a total of 400,000 persimilis mites to our 2.5 acre field, and they have become well established. On every leaf that has the tell-tale damage that the two-spots cause, there are three or four fat and happy persimilis feasting away. (Don’t worry, they hang out on the leaves, not the fruit, so you don’t have to eat them!)

We have strawberries coming in strong now—you can order flats to be delivered to your pick-up site (see note below). Blueberries will still be trickling in for right now—we’ll have more once the next variety kicks in. It looks like we have a good fruit-set on the apple and pear trees this year. This week and last we have been busy thinning the apples which are now mostly about the size of a marble. If you leave too much fruit on the tree not only will the apples stay smaller, but you risk having limbs break off from excess weight. Also, if you don’t thin, you can over tax the tree, causing it to get into an alternate bearing cycle, where it bears heavily one year, and very lightly the next.  The avocado orchard did not fare so well and we lost a lot of the new trees to frost damage over the winter. We will be replanting to fill in the gaps.

Elsewhere on the farm, we are planting most of our hard squash and pumpkins this week. June 1^st is my usual deadline, and it looks like we will just make it under the wire. Over the years we have discovered that planting later makes it much more likely that the squash plants will be stunted by powdery mildew, a fungal disease which is usually worse later in the season. Planting by the first of June also usually gives our pumpkins enough time to turn orange in time for Halloween (green pumpkins aren’t usually too sought after, and pumpkins of any color are not nearly as popular after Halloween)!