Daily Archives: April 3, 2010

There are exciting plans in the making for STFS future events:

On April 24^th, 9:30am-12 noon, in the Douglas Classroom at the Center for Urban Horticulture, will be the next Member Meeting with Marilyn and Dick Tilbury as our speakers.  They will speak to us on the life cycles and controls for Apple Maggot, Coddling Moth, and the Spotted Winged Vinegar Fly.  We’ll make traps for the SWVF at the meeting. 

 

On April 24^th, 8:00am-9:30 before the Member Meeting, we will have a Board Meeting where we will introduce  our new Membership Person on the board.  Also, we have a volunteer to be nominated for Vice President.  We have no other nominations for VP and if you know of any please bring them to our attention before the April 24^th meeting. 

  

Also on April 24^th, after the Member Meeting, we will have a Membership Fruit Database meeting.   We have talked for a couple years now about coming up with a member database of the fruit varieties that we all grow.  This would benefit the club by knowing where to get scion wood for the spring shows, fruit for the fall shows, make name tags for the fruit/wood at the shows, and for apple identification at the fall shows.  A database of this information would be very valuable to the club.  We will meet to discuss the possibilities and categories we’d like to see developed after the Member Meeting on April 24^th.  We will probably move outside to a warm corner of the CUH garden for this meeting.  Bring a sack lunch. 

Grafting wax– Used to seal grafts, 4oz, $7.29+tx

Source:  Skagit Farmer’s Supply  (360)757-4055, 1276 S. Burlington Blvd. Burlington, WA 98233

 

TangleTrap – Insect Trap Coating by Tanglefoot, 15oz Tub $5.75+tx

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

Small Planer -Makes flat cuts when splice grafting, $7.98+tx

Source:  Lowes (425) 744-8411, 3100- 196th St SW, Lynnwood, WA 98036-6960

 

Rubber Splicing Tape – Used as grafting tape, breaks down faster (being rubber) than vinyl electric tape and sticks to itself more than the graft wood. $2.40/roll+tx. In the Electrical section, but on an end display.

Source: Home Depot (206) 361-9600, 11616 Aurora Avenue North, Seattle 

 

Yellow Sticky Traps  – 3”x 5” Sensor Cards –Used to Monitor and Catch fruit pests. $15.95+tx / Package

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

Grafting knives   $12.95+tx

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

White Plastic Labels – 7” long, $24.95+tx / 1000 on a roll

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

Aluminum Labels –  3”x 1”, $5.75+tx / box of 50

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

Industrial Permanent Markers – More Permanent than Permanent Markers, Will last longer outdoors.

$1.25+tx each (but you buy a box for that price)

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

Chip Bud Tape   -used for grafting, ½” Grafting Tape, $4.95+tx /roll

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

Calcium Magnesium Suppliment  -used as watering suppliment to add Calcium to soil for treatment of Bitter Pit in Apples, 1 quart / $14 +tx

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

TreeKote  –used to seal grafts, ½ pt/$3.95+tx

Source:  Steubers Distributing   ‎(360) 568-2626, 308 3rd Street, Snohomish, WA

 

Parafilm Grafting Tape   -used for grafting, ($34.35 each box of 12)

Source:  Search Online for ‘parafilm grafting tape’ from SPI Supplies www.2spi.com/catalog/supp/parafilm-grafting.shtml

 

Fels Naptha Laundry Bar Soap  – Used to make Insecticidal Soap Spray to kill soft bodied insects $3.00 each

Source:  Online search Amazon.com    $2.31 Each  =$23.10 (shipping incl.)/10 bars

Surround ®– Used to dip Maggot Barriers in for added control of Apple Maggot and Coddling Moth

24pound sack for  $27.86 (I was quoted $49.00)

Source:  Wilbur Ellis  (360) 466-3138, 13586 Bayview Edison Rd, Mt Vernon 98273

The “how-to” for Surround soaked footies

Need 4 quart pan, colander to hold 288 footies, another pan to catch fluid. Directions:

1. Add container of Surround® (3 T) into 3 quarts of water
2. Stir– or Surround® will not dissolve
3. Place 288 footies in Surround® + water – stir to soak footies
4. Pour footies and Surround® mixture into colander with pan beneath to catch fluid 5. stir captured fluid and pour over footies with catch container beneath
5. Keep repeating until fluid does not have evidence of Surround®
6. Dry footies by spreading on wire mesh, table,etc.
7. Apply to fruit BEFORE codling moths mate

0-5-25  PNW Fruit Tree Maintenance Formula – This fertilizer is made in the PNW, for the PNW.

Source: Skagit Farmer’s Supply  360.757.4055, 1276 S. Burlington Blvd. Burlington, WA 98233

Price:  20# bags, $13.99+tx & gas & time

It is also available in 50# bags from Skagit Farmers Supply.

 

0% Nitrogen (this helps to restrict excess top growth)

5% Phosphorous (needed for energy production in the plant)

25% Potassium (critical for sugar movement into the fruits)

15% Sulfur (for enzyme and protein production)

5.4% Magnesium (for photosynthesis and sugar production)

6.6% Calcium (critical for normal cell development)

0.14% Boron (for pollination and fruit development)

0.15% Zinc (needed for shoot and leaf growth)

 

The sources of nutrients for the Skagit Farmers Supply 0-5-25 Fruit tree fertilizer: Granulated Bone meal, sulfate of potash, K-Mag natural, Granubor and Ruff& Tuff 10% Zinc. All ingredients used are OMRI certified ORGANIC. The bagging equipment (used to package this product) is not organically certified.

 

The directions for fruit trees and all berries, grapes, shrubs, & roses is 1-3# per 100 square feet. To avoid getting too much Boron in one season, don’t apply more than 5# per 100 square feet per year. Peaches, young trees or trees on very poor soil will often benefit from adding some Nitrogen, such as feather meal or ammonium sulfate, in the spring.

 

This fertilizer, the PNW Fruit Tree Maintenance Formula, was developed by Bill Swanson (Skagit Farmers Supply) & Gary Moulton (WSU Mt Vernon).  It has been unadvertised but available for approximately 4 to 5 years now.  This is the first time that Seattle Tree Fruit Society has offered it to our members and Show attendees.

     http://snohomish.wsu.edu       by Lorine Brakken 

The Snohomish County WSU website has a wealth of information for home gardeners in our area.  It is located at WSU Snohomish County Extension in Everett.  Great things to find at the website are:

• Direct links to the WSU Plant Pest Leaflet Series – info on local insects! 
• Once-a-month ‘Bugs & Blights’ workshop having both lab and field time on timely local garden issues,
• ‘Preserving the Harvest’ 5 part workshop starting in June
• Master Beekeeping classes coming up soon! 
• Drip Irrigation class on April 8th is 1pm -3:30pm and again 6pm – 8:30pm.  Learn how to develop your yard for easy maintenance and low water usage.  Regular watering for fruit trees is very important through the summer and if we can conserve water using drip irrigation, all the better.  Cost is $20/per person, or $25/2 people sharing materials, pre-registration required. To register download the form at www.snohomish.wsu.edu/garden/workshops/ registrationform.pdf and mail with your check, or call Karie Christensen at (425) 338-2400, e-mail klchristen@cahnrs.wsu.edu

Wow!  Great Show.  We had a lot of fun and I want to Thank Everyone.

I did want to thank each of you personally and managed to get quite a few phone calls in but if I have not spoken with you, know that I am truly thankful for everyone’s help.  This show was a success in it’s enthusiastic atmosphere and great attendance.  It could not have happened without each and every one of you. Thank You!

I would like feedback from you all on how we can improve the show for next time and am saving these notes for the next show.  Feel free to let me know what you think.   We want to know.  I’ve listed the Thank You’s by Job because it takes a lot of different activities to put this event on.  The Show process started in December and is wrapping up now in late March.   Thank you everyone for making this such a wonderful event!

 

Thank you to All who helped on… 

Creation of the Show Poster – spring-show-flier

Publicity – to media contacts,  Ciscoe’s Show, putting posters up, and All You who put the info up on the web in chat groups, calendars of other organizations, & distributed fliers around town.

Signs – There were lots of complements about well posted signage and directions to the site!

Show coordination and planning – This took onsite evaluations of use of space, planning for sales, activities, and numbers of people that might attend, running errands, picking up materials, floor plans, thinking thru the process of a show, preparing literature for handouts, where to get rootstock and scion wood, labels, everything…. Reak

Collection of Scion Wood at WWFRF – and storage of it all!

CUH Staff – help with layout, planning, and parking

Set Up Saturday–set up of the rootstock and scion wood areas, labels

Set Up on Sunday 8-10 – Assisting vendors with setting up their booths, signs up around the CUH, parking for volunteers/vendors.

Parking – All day long and we had full parking lots!

Cashiers– the accounting for all the sales is no easy task and this crew was adaptable beyond call.  We have useful info now on what sold and how people heard about the show.

Info Tables – These folks answered questions tirelessly all day. Thanks!

Scion wood– This is a huge draw for people to see the scion wood tables and all the varieties of fruit that are possible to graft up and grow yourself!

Rootstock –  The foundation of a great fruit tree.  We ran out of rootstock for the first time ever!  We took orders on the spot and delivered the orders last week.  Thinking on our feet to keep people’s interest in grafting alive and well!

Grafting– This is a wonderful event to watch and learn from the experts here.  People were in line for this service and it is very important.

Tool Sharpening– People really appreciated the service and tools were in line all day to be sharpened and cleaned up for a busy spring of work.

Movers – There are the folks that counted heads and kept the trash recycled and made sure it was all working smoothly.  Thank you!

Lectures –An intensive session of 2 lectures going at a time.  Quite the juggling event with 14 lectures in all!  This was offered free this year and the topics could have used a lot more time.  The job was covered with competence and our experts were diverse and knowledgable.

Memberships /Info table–The people that worked this table were experts on STFS!  Long time members with a lot of experience on past STFS activities and a knowledge of what STFS can offer.  Thanks.

Maggot Barrier Sales – Very important to our being able to put on this event is the sales of the maggot barriers.  Home gardeners appreciate being able to buy these in person and skip the shipping costs.

Dept of Literature –Our literature is up to date and in demand.  I hear that so much was purchased that we are needing to order a lot of new material!  I’m excited to see what we will be getting next.

Mason Bee Info – Our native pollinators, so important to the garden in our cool wet springs before Honey Bees are out.  There were lots of questions to get answered about keeping our mason bees safe and healthy.

Insect Info – A host of pests and beneficials to look out for in the garden keep this booth very busy with questions from attendees.  Thank you for answering our questions! 

Educational Booths -by the Friends of Piper Orchard, Chinook Compost Tea, About Chestnuts, City Fruit, PlantAmnesty, Seattle Tilth, WWFRF,  Peninsula Fruit Club,  South Sound Fruit Club.  Thank you everyone for taking the time to set up an education display and answer all our questions.  You made the event very worth attending for many people.  Thank you!    

Composting & Recycling – We were able to recycle and compost a huge amount!  Our team is evaluating the event for even better ‘green’ times in the future.  Thank you greenies! 

Food Vendors – Our espresso drinks and ‘Got Soup? meals were delightful.  Being able to sit in the sun on the pation was incredible too!  

Break Down– Putting away all the toys and cleaning up those grafting chips came at the close of the show.  We were all so happy with how it went that it seemed like a breeze.  Thank you all of you who stayed and helped from beginning to end.  You are all wonderful.

 After Show Grafting/Rootstock Orders –  We had quite a few orders to produce and distribute after the show.  All done now!

Accounting Wrap Up of Show – Finally, end of March.  Thank you for the wrap up of the finances and help putting everything back into storage!