Much of the day was spent weeding apple trees and painting them with a biodynamic-inspired concoction of Jersey cow manure and clay. My hope is that the clay/manure combo will deter the round-headed apple tree borer (Saperda candida) while nourishing the bark on all our trees and healing those with damaged trunks. Fortunately (or unfortunately) there always seem to be a good sample set of trees with unexplained bark damage, perfect for testing the special “paint.”

One good candidate is the Frostbite (AKA MN 447) in the BRC. The tree has an excellent crop as well as a large bark-less swatch on the southwest side, quite possibly the result of winter injury. So it got a healthy coat of the “patented” blend. I’ll let you know how it responds.