Today started out clear, but by mid-day it was gray. Still it was mild and quite pleasant out in the orchards. Perfect working weather in the 40’s. Both Cammy and I continued pruning. I spent my time up at Finley, mostly on rows 6 and 7. The snow is gone, and the pruning was easy. I brought along a roll of masking tape and made several dozen loops as I went along. I bend the “watersprouts” and other longer, one-year-old growth into circles and then wrap a bit of masking tape around the loop to keep it from slipping apart. Supposedly the loop triggers some sort of hormonal shift in the wood. It slows vigor while increasing fruit bud formation. It’s an alternate strategy to cutting off watersprouts and then having them all come back again next year. I’ve been doing it for the past three years.

Typically I take a few seconds to massage the twig I want loop. That softens it up so I can make the loop without snapping the twig. The young growth on some cultivars is super flexible, and loops can be made with practically no effort at all. Golden Russet of Western New York (aka GR1) is one of those. On others the growth is nearly impossible to loop without snapping the twig. Too brittle. So I give up and move onto the next tree. It’s easy, fun and is definitely a conversation starter. But does it work?

In a few locations in the orchard, there are two adjacent trees of the same cultivar. I loop one tree and leave the other one un-looped. Although the sample-size is small, I can at least get a vague sense if the loops appear to be making a difference. It seems to be: many of the loops are a mass of fruit buds.

The bees were out in force mid-day. The hives at Finley were all a’humm. Today was the Opening Day for the Red Sox. The Green Monster is back. Some claim the Green Monster can save the world. I tend to agree. The Sox won. They are now undefeated.