Planting Onions, Spinach, English Peas And Dormant Oil Spraying Of Fruit Trees

Feb 04, 2015

By Carl Cantaluppi

Watch the weather reports and be prepared to apply dormant sprays to fruit trees. The temperatures should be high enough (at least 40 degrees F.) so the spray material dries before the temperature drops to freezing. Otherwise, plant tissues might be injured.

A dormant oil application on fruit trees and blueberries will help control scale insects. Remember that dormant oil is not a cure-all to control all insects that attack fruit trees. Timely applications of other insecticides throughout the growing season will ensure less insect damaged fruit.

When applying dormant oil, thorough coverage of the limbs, branches, and twigs is very important so that you do not get a re-infestation of insects from the unsprayed area of the tree. Applying the spray during mid to late morning is advised so there is time for the spray to dry before the temperatures drop to

freezing. Try to apply the oil before buds swell; however, you can apply dormant oil on apples up to the fruit bud growth stage of “green tip”.

Source: ncsu.edu

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.