June 3, 2025

Today in the orchard

Atheline Wilbur, June 2, 2025.

The temperature was 35F at 6 AM for the second morning in a row. That’s cutting it close but caused no problems. It was Jack Frost’s last gasp for the spring I suspect. We’ll see him back in three months. He’s heading off to pester the Tasmanians. We had a busy day in the orchards today. Up at the Nursery we planted two long rows of potatoes in the spot where we dug the nursery trees earlier this spring. Later Skylar and I transplanted Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) from the blueberry terrace to the BRC orchard where it can spread freely and form its own happy colony. Some people call it “invasive”, but when the Tansy’s in bloom, the flowers are host to a multitude of insects. We cultivated around the grapes that are beginning to grow up nearby maple trees (Acer rubrum) and fertilized them with compost. Meanwhile Cammy planted out corn seedlings in the big garden. At the end of the day Laura and I sprayed the plums, cherries and peaches with Surround and Regalia. Regalia is a biofungicide made of Knotweed (!) that works by helping the plant to boost its own resistance to whatever annoys it next.  After completing the spraying, I took a few minutes to fill up the tractor bucket with firewood from down at the south end of the orchard and contemplate the universe before heading home. The air, the breeze, the sky, the orchard: it was all pretty close to perfect. Maybe it was.

I guess I haven’t yet said goodbye to lilacs for the year. Maybe tomorrow. For now I’ll tell you about one other favorite. I’ve never liked the color pink too much but occasionally there comes along a pink that is hard not to adore. To my eye, Atheline Wilbur is the epitome of that pink. I love it.    

June 2, 2025

Today in the orchard

It was mostly clear and dry today and finally starting to warm up.  If you listen carefully you can hear the plants chanting in a low rumble, “heat…heat…heat…heat…” It’s building to a crescendo. The onions, especially, are about to blurt out “IT’S TIME FOR SOME HEAT!”  The apples could use it too. So could the plum curculios. The poor little guys are shivering in their shells in the woody forest duff. Plum Curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar) is a weevil that winters in the woods of Maine and feeds on small fruit. They particularly relish small plums and apples (c. 6mm). They also need heat to motivate, so although the fruits are approaching the perfect size, we haven’t seen evidence of the “Curcs” yet. The telltale sign is a “crescent moon-shaped” scar on the surface of the tiny fruit. On a “good” curc year, the apple and plum crops can be devastated. The affected fruit typically drops to the ground at a young age, long before reaching a usable size. Conventional growers use certain pesticides to control the Curc. We use Surround, the refined clay powder. Today we sprayed the apples still in bloom (just a few left) and all those at “petal-fall” (many). It’s a big job but we did it. 

Ludwig Spaeth, June 2, 2025.

Quick word about lilacs before they fade away for another year. I mentioned Ludwig Spaeth the other day. I was out admiring it this evening. What a great color. It’s worth growing if you have a soft spot for Lilacs.

June 1, 2025

Today in the orchard

Before we leave Malus baccata and turn our focus in other directions, let’s look at promising Baccata selections with cider potential. Two of the early twentieth century champions of Malus baccata were the breeders Niels Hansen and Isabella Preston. Hansen was into dessert and culinary selections. Preston was into ornamentals. Both found Baccata to be valuable for their purposes, and both introduced apples that are now being considered for their value as cider apples. Both also made extensive use of Niedzwetzkyana which Hansen found in Kazakhstan and brought back to the US. 

One of Preston’s introductions—Geneva—is a selection of Niedzwetzkyana likely crossed with Baccata. It is red-fleshed, generally available and has been adopted by cider-makers. (We are not currently growing Geneva though we should.) We are currently growing two of Hansen’s Baccata introductions with cider potential: Amsib and Kensib. The “sib” in their names indicates Baccata (ie Siberian Crab) in their parentage. Kensib is 2” and bitter. Amsib is nearly 2” and mild. Hansen also introduced the famous Dolgo which is a seedling of Baccata parentage.

May 31, 2025

Today in the orchard

Rain returned to the farm today. After five dry days, a day of rain was welcome. Even though we’ve had plenty of water this spring, we still appreciate those rainy days. (It gives us an excuse to do other things.) Rain or not, we irrigate our nursery trees and give the newly-planted trees in the orchards about ten gallons each, once a week. Don’t be fooled if they look good. It still takes them a good solid year to get acclimated to their new ‘digs.’

Finley Lane old cellar-hole lilacs, likely 150 years old.

The lilacs are at peak bloom now on the farm. The vulgaris types will be fading over the course of the next week. Then the later shrub species will appear followed by the tree lilacs. We don’t consider ourselves to be experts, but we do have some favorites: Ludwig Spaeth (dark purple) and President Lincoln (blue) are among those at the top of the list. We also love the good ol’ fashioned Common Purple. It’s the one you find around nearly every old abandoned cellar hole in Maine even a century after the last building has melted back into the earth. They are hard to beat.    

May 30, 2025

Today in the orchard

The conversation about frost resistance and apple bloom has been an important one, particularly since the May 18, 2023 freeze when temperatures dropped to well below 32F from Maine to Buffalo. By 4:00 PM the afternoon before, I knew we were in for trouble. The air already had that distinct feeling that meant clear and cold. It is a date that apple growers have etched indelibly in their brains. When you say “May 18” you needn’t say more. So what do we do? As mentioned in yesterday’s orchard report, we have done well on our farm with Black Oxford and Frostbite. What is it about those two cultivars that could have outsmarted mother nature on May 18?

Frostbite is the apple that contributed the crispness to Honeycrisp, Cosmic Crisp, SweeTango, SnapDragon and many—or even all—of the other ultra-crisp cultivars. That gene came from Frostbite’s Malus baccata (Siberian Crab) ancestry. It is in that M. baccata ancestry that we may find the key to the cold hardiness of Frostbite that enabled it to produce a nearly-full crop after 22F in bloom. 

Trailman: candy on a tree.

This past spring I was attending an apple roundtable meeting in western MA when one of the other attendees, Amy Miller, talked about the Malus baccata seedlings she was growing in the midwest that had produced full crops after temps plunged well below freezing during bloom. In its native Siberia M. baccata experiences winter temperatures closer to -50F (although not during bloom). It is one hardy crab apple.

The fruit of M. baccata is small. In another recent orchard report we mentioned Sissipuk which has M. baccata in its pedigree. It’s beautiful in bloom and leaf, and the fruit is only about 1/2”. Two of our favorite dessert cultivars—Ivan and Trailman—also have M. baccata ancestry. They are small (2”) but large enough for many growers. There’s nothing lacking in flavor or texture in either of them. They are like candy on a tree. (As E.F. Schumacher famously said, “small is beautiful.”)
For those of you who read MALUS magazine, there’s an excellent article focusing on M. baccata by Andy Brennan in the current issue.  Should we be growing Baccata? Can Baccata play a role in the breeding of future cultivars? We think so. 

May 29, 2025

Today in the orchard

The first wave of bloom—most of the apples we grow—is nearly over, and most are ready (fingers crossed) to set fruit. However, there are lingering flowers here and there, a few trees are still in full bloom, while others are just leafing out. It has been interesting to track the 400+ cultivars and seedling selections we’re growing as they break dormancy. We currently have fifty-five English and French cider apples. Most of them are at petal fall or towards the end of their bloom. Fourteen of them, however, are just beginning to leaf out. That’s 25%. The late bloomers are of concern because their bloom coincides with warmer temperatures which puts them at increased risk of fire blight infection. On the other hand late bloomers are less likely to be hit by frost while in bloom. It’s a trade-off, and sometimes it feels as though it’s a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. We are carefully watching the “late-leafers” this spring as they begin to bloom…just in time for the fire blight warnings on the horizon.

Black Oxford in bloom, May 28, 2025

There’s another group of apples that have long bloom periods. These include two of our favorites: Black Oxford and Frostbite (MN 447). They both seem to bloom forever. Both produced nearly full crops following the terrible May 18, 2023 deep freeze. Two other more recent favorites—the Steve Gougeon selection he calls Dandeneau and the English bittersharp, Skyrmes Kernel—also have long bloom periods. You might think that makes them susceptible to both the freeze and fire blight, but all four seem to finessed the challenges and produced good crops the last few years. 

May 28, 2025

Sissipuk in bloom, May 28, 2025

Today in the orchard

It was warm and sunny for the third day in a row. Laura and I sprayed all the apples still in bloom with Blossom Protect, a yeast-like fungi (Aureobasidium pullulansas )designed to protect the trees from fire blight by inducing the flowers to produce an immune response to the attacking fire blight bacteria. This has become increasingly important as fire blight becomes a big challenge for apple growers in Maine. Conventional growers use antibiotics to prevent fire blight, but now antibiotic-resistant fireblight strains have been found in most apple-growing regions of the US. Blossom Protect seems to be one effective alternative. The upcoming rain and continuing warm temps are the conditions fire blight loves. So we spray. Spraying is also a chance to get a look again at every tree. Many are still in full bloom, and the bloom this year has been fantastic. The Black Oxfords, Frostbites, Gray Pearmain, Kavanagh, Milo Gibson, Sweet Sixteen and Tolman Sweet are the standouts right now.

Today’s featured apple is Sissipuk, selected and named by Isabella Preston in 1930. It is thought to be a cross of Niedzwetzkyana and Malus baccata. The flowers and foliage are at peak right now. The fruit size is small but may still be of value. (We'll find the perfect use.)

May 27, 2025

Today in the orchard

Swarming bees, Finley Lane, May 27, 2025

It was warm and sunny for the second day in a row. The cold weather appears to have damaged some of the flowers, but I think we should get decent pollination. Skylar and I inventoried the bloom on all the trees at Finley Lane. Many trees are flowering for the first time. We also hand-pollinated a second Frostbite tree with pollen collected from Black Oxford, Gray Pearmain and Westfield-Seek-No-Further.

It was a spectacular day in the orchard. The black flies thought so too. There were zillions of them out there keeping us company. With all this rain the streams are flowing with gusto, and flowing water means black flies. It was challenging to think with hundreds of them crawling over our faces. Argh!! The highlight of the day was the swarm of 45,000 bees (or so) that collected on one of the Wickson trees. That was amazing.        

May 26, 2025

Today in the orchard

Lady’s-slipper, BRC, May, 2025

The sun finally emerged, and the rain-rain has gone away and, if we’re lucky, it will not come back until another day, post-bloom. Meanwhile the Pink Lady's-slippers (Cypripedium acaule) have made their annual appearance. We see them in the woods and also in the “BRC” orchard. That’s the orchard that we’ve intentionally allowed to do its own thing. Perhaps as a consequence of our laissez-faire approach, we haven’t scared away all the locals who have been living on this piece of the land for the past few thousand years. (We love our blackberries even if they can be rather aggressive.) Maine has four Lady’s-slippers. We occasionally see the white one though the vast majority of ours—including the ones in the orchard—are the pink.     

May 22, 2025

Today in the orchard

The cold temperatures continued, but the rain held off until evening. Zack Kaiser and Ryan Travers of Absolem Cider in Winthrop came over to dig a couple dozen cider-apple trees to plant at their cidery. Digging season is now officially over. Later Cammy and I hand-pollinated one of two Frostbite trees that I bagged several days ago. We used pollen from Black Oxford, Gray Pearmain and Westfield-Seek-No-Further. I collected more pollen from all three cultivars that I’ll use next week on a second Frostbite tree. A highlight today was seeing a Scarlet Tanager in the Finley Lane Orchard. They are rare and so red.  

“There’s no limit to the things that you can do”, Sun Ra.

We also celebrated Sun Ra’s birthday today by listening to the 24-hour, Sun Ra music extravaganza on WKCR radio. “Somebody else’s idea of things to come need not be the only way to vision the future!”

May 21, 2025

Today in the orchard

John and Sarah Alexander, MOFGA’s Executive Director

The temperatures were in the 40’s throughout central Maine today. It was cold. Laura and I sprayed the stone fruit with Surround in the early morning. Surround is the refined clay powder that “bugs” the plum curculio, the nemesis of the stone fruit (and apples). It irritates them when they attack the tiny developing fruit, causing them to retreat back to the woods from where they reside in the winter. 

The cold temperatures are concerning though their ultimate effect will remain to be seen. It has not been below freezing, just wet and cold. The bees—and the curculios for that matter—are mostly huddled in their sleeping bags. We hope to see the bees in a few days. 

In the late afternoon we went to the Maine Heritage Orchard for a 10th Anniversary Blossom Celebration. I had the honor of giving a few “remarks.” It was inspiring to see so many friends and apple lovers show up to celebrate this milestone and to be recognized for helping to make the orchard a reality. A lot of people care.   

May 20, 2025

Today in the orchard

Ancient apple tree, Brooksville, Maine, May 20, 2025

Skylar and I took a trip to the Blue Hill Peninsula and Verona Island, both in Hancock County, to see old trees. We were not disappointed. In Brooksville we visited Dan and Leslie Paul who showed us several old, unidentified trees dating from the early 20th century, as well as one that looks to be two hundred years old. That tree is among the oldest I’ve seen in Maine and could be of important historic interest. The site is very close to Castine. We took leaves and will submit them for DNA profiling. I’ll also obtain fruit from the tree in the fall. 

We then went to Verona Island and met with Ron and Jeanne Russell and two reporters from Maine Public Radio. We toured the Russell’s assortment of ancient apple trees paying particular attention to the Drap d’Or de Bretagne, one of the most important apple trees discovered in Maine.

On the farm the Asian pears have now dropped their flowers, as have the plums. The early blooming apples are dropping petals too, while most varieties are entering full bloom. The late bloomers are just beginning to leaf out. So far the bloom is one of the best in memory. The temperatures are cold, but the clouds and rain have kept it above freezing.

May 19, 2025

Today in the orchard

Apple seedlings, May 19, 2025

Pruning, grafting, weeding, and harvesting in the orchard provides lots of time to think about life and to have good conversations with companions when we’re fortunate enough to have them with us. Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X. Although he died sixty years ago, he had many interesting things to say about life, much of it quite relevant today, and every day. 

 “There is no better teacher than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed…” 

May 18, 2025

Today in the orchard

Bagged branches of Frostbite, May 18, 2025

Finally completed the topworking for the year. (Well, I might do a few more…). I also began a breeding project. I bagged branches of Frostbite with fine-netted, paint-straining bags. The bags will prevent the flowers from being pollinated by bees so that I can hand pollinate them with pollen from one of three selected cultivars - Gray Pearmain, Westfield-Seek-no-Further or--what else?--Black Oxford. If all goes well, the arranged sexual encounters will produce apple offspring with two known parents (Frostbite and one of the three pollen donors). I’ll save the seed from these crosses to plant next spring in hopes of “creating” new apple varieties for the future. This is what apple breeders do every year on a massive scale. Although I’ve grown many apples from seed over the years, I’ve typically only known the fruiting parent (the mom). Now I’ll know both. Stay-tuned.  

May 17, 2025

Today in the orchard

Two favorite crabapples, Red Jade (left) and Semi-weeping Red (right), May 17, 2025

Rainy and cool. Sunny and warm would be better for the apple pollination, but the cool temperatures mean less chance of the dreaded fire blight. I took the opportunity to go south for the day and attend the annual Wild Wine Fest at Wolf’s Neck Farm in Freeport. It’s down a long road that almost peters out completely before the picturesque farm and a lot of cars appear. The old barn was filled with wine makers and cider makers from near and far pouring tastes of their creations. A highlight was meeting Patrick Collins of Patois Cider in Charlottesville VA. His cider-making sounded right up my alley: very low intervention. And the cider was very good. It was a pleasure to see so many Maine cider-makers participating. But, what about the wine-makers? (I’ll try the wine some other time.)

Meanwhile on the farm the apple bloom is entering full swing. It is glorious this year, one of the best ever.

May 16, 2025

Today in the orchard

Skylar and I continued topworking trees around the farm. We’re just about done for the year. It was actually hot out. The blackflies and mosquitoes kept a respectful distance, and I only got one tick. Skylar is a fast learner and becoming a pro at topworking. That’s what the orchard is all about: passing the baton.

Passing the baton

In the evening Cammy and I went to a jazz concert in Orono. It was the vocal quartet “New York Voices” backed-up by the Portland Jazz Orchestra. The Collins Center for the Arts was packed with hundreds of wildly enthusiastic musicians under the age of 18 who were there for a vocal and instrumental music competition for high school students. They stood up, clapped, sang and danced to the jazz tunes that were mostly written long before they were born. After the concert we hung around the lobby like groupies for a few minutes. It was clear that the band members were delighted with the audience and their enthusiasm for music. One of the four singers said to me with a big smile, “we’re passing the baton!” 

May 15, 2025

Today in the orchard

Trailman (and a branch of Redfield), May 15, 2025

The heat has arrived at last, and the apples have rocketed into bloom. It is spectacular. Many of our younger trees are flowering for the first time. But this is just the beginning. Because of the diversity of apples, some of our trees have not leafed out while others are leafed and in full bloom. We may have apples in bloom for the next three weeks. What an amazing plant.  

The pears are ahead of the apples by a day or two.  Many of them are also in full bloom. Meanwhile, the plum bloom is pretty much done and petal-fall has begun. We haven’t seen such an explosion of plum blossoms in quite a few years. The intoxicating smell was enough to make us swoon.

In the evening Cammy and I sprayed “Surround” (clay powder) and Cueva (copper) on the plums, cherries, peaches and pears. .     

May 14, 2025

Today in the orchard

Tree Swallow in the high-rent district. (note very old apple tree background left)

I spent time repairing the sprayer early this morning and then sprayed a second tank of the Holistic Orchard Spray. Normally two of us do the spraying. One drives the tractor and the second person walks along behind and applies the spray with a gun at the end of a long hose. It’s a pretty good set up when the sprayer is working. I can drive the tractor and do the spraying at the same time, but that has its own challenges since in some areas of the farm the “rows” of trees are not really rows. Spraying alone is a bit reminiscent of texting while driving except that the only thing you might hit is your prize Black Oxford tree. 

The Tree Swallows have officially moved into their houses for the season. They are a regular fixture in the orchard. Give them the right terrain, the right size house with the right size entrance hole and they will give you hundreds of hours of entertainment. Plus, they are very good at insect reduction.

May 13, 2025

Today in the orchard

More topworking today - mostly onto seedings that have managed to appear in the tree rows up at Finley Lane. They seem to know that if they sprout in the rows there’s a decent chance they’ll be allowed to stay. They make good rootstock. It was Skylar’s first time topworking. We’ll let you know in a couple of weeks how she did.

Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides) May 11, 2025

Later in the afternoon Laura and I sprayed our first ‘Holistic Spray’ of the year. The spray is designed to nourish the trees and boost their immune systems as they begin to grow in the spring. The theory is that these ‘health aids’ enable the trees to coexist with insects and disease. The spray includes liquid fish, liquid kelp, EM1(fermented microbes), Neem Oil, Karanja Oil, Molasses and Dipel. Spraying gives me another chance to get out into the orchard and listen to the trees as they begin to wake up after their long winter slumber.

The Maine blackflies have been here for a week or so. It’s been a robust season this year. They breed in running water, and there’s been plenty of that. So far I’ve resisted wearing a bug net. The Hobblebush is in bloom. We see it all over the farm.           

May 12, 2025

Today in the orchard

Plum bloom, May 12, 2025 

Early this morning we sprayed Surround and Cueva on the plums which are now approaching full bloom. They are spectacular this year, and there’s a potential for a large crop. We also sprayed the cherries and peaches. We spray Surround as a deterrent for the small weevil-type bug called Plum Curculio. Surround is a refined clay powder that doesn’t kill the Curculios, it just annoys them so they leave our farm and go to the neighbors. (Sorry guys.) Cueva is a liquid copper product we spray to prevent a fungus called Brown Rot (good name) that attacks the stone fruit. We spray just after sunrise when the wind and bees are still sleeping and we should be too. Later in the day we planted the rest of the newly grafted trees and did a lot of weeding. We ate the first Asparagus of the season for dinner. As we hit the second half of spring, everything seems to be happening all at once.