Lake Ontario Summer Fruit Tour

July 24, 2014

Please pre-register by July 18 so we have enough lunches and handouts.

Pre-register online or call/email/fax using Registration pdf below.

No rain date, bring raingear, hat, and sunscreen and a seat if you have trouble standing.

Due to complexity of monitoring DEC rosters while running tours, there will be no DEC credits.

8:00-8:30 AM: Registration at Kast Farms, 43°16'16.06"N, 78° 8'58.37"W, west side of Lattin Rd. (1.34 miles south of RT 104) , Albion, NY

Stop 1 - 8:30 AM - 9:40 AM: Kast Farms is a large diversified operation of fruits, vegetables, and grain crops. David Kast, his 2 sons, John and Brett, and Gary Davy, manager, are actively planting new orchards including NY-1, NY-2, Gala, Honeycrisp in the tall spindle system. They used GPS planting to lay out orchards. You will see a 20 acre planting of Gala/M.9377, NY1/M.9Nic29, NY2/M.9Nic 29, NY2/B.9 planted in 2011 and 2013). They invested in a deer fence in collaboration with Jim Kirby. Alison DeMarree and Brett Kast will discuss costs and how it has worked for them.
Weeds and Weed Control in young trees, and new herbicides - D. Breth will present results from the ARDP funded project to evaluate the critical timing for weed control in new plantings, and report on weed control results in other field trials.
Managing Fire blight in Young Trees - Kerik Cox will review the practices critical to protecting new apple plantings from disaster.
Dr. Terence Robinson (Dept. Horticulture, Cornell U.) will lead the discussion on management of NY1 and NY2. Mario Miranda Sazo (CCE-LOF) and Gary Davy will show additional results of de-fruiting techniques (manual, chemical) used for NY1 this season.

Stop 2 - 10:10-11:00: Pettit Farms (Bates Rd., Medina, NY) have been actively planting new apples adopting tall spindle. But they have recently encountered a new challenge that has been detected in many more farms this year. The black stem borer has established itself as a new pest that ultimately is killing trees. Debbie Breth and the summer intern, Hannah Rae Warren, will show the symptoms of infestation, how to find it, and review the biology of the insect. Debbie and Art Agnello are working together to find control tactics.
At this site, Pettit's have been pushing soil against the rootstock to get the graft union closer to the soil line with a common custom-built farm disc to address low vigor in NY1 and Honeycrisp. This deeper planting depth may be a good strategy, but be careful not to go too far when berming a block for this purpose. We will discuss the pros and cons of this practice with Dr. Robinson (Dept. Horticulture, Cornell U.).

Stop 3 - 11:20 - 12:00: Ledge Rock Farms, LLC. (4378 S. Gravel Rd., Medina, NY), operated by Charlene and Jeffrey Smith, Guinevere and Alan Panek. They want to show you their new planting of NY 1, NY 2. They have been incorporating Tall Spindle plantings into this farm. We will visit a nice 4.5 acre block that was fenced in 2013. See the first 100 NY1 and NY2 trees on M.9Nic29 rootstock planted in 2011 and compare them with NY1 on G.30 and NY2 on G.41 planted last year. The second planting of NY1 and NY2 incorporated the use of trickle irrigation, a mounted platform for trellis construction, and the execution of more timely and precise horticultural practices for maximum and safe tree growth. Discussion on precision chemical thinning will be led by Dr. Terence Robinson (Dept. Horticulture, Cornell U.) and Mario Miranda Sazo (CCE-LOF).

Stop 4 - 12:30 - 2:30 PM: Vizcarra Vineyards At Becker Farms (3760 Quaker Rd., Gasport, NY)
Lunch and visit with sponsors and equipment exhibitors.
You will hear about the History of Farm & Market, Winery, and Brewery from Oscar and Mindy Vizcarra.
And for berry growers, we will have an update and display for learning how to identify and control Spotted Wing Drosophila in Berry and tree fruit - Juliet Carroll and Cathy Heidenreich

Stop 5 - 2:45 - 4:15 PM : New Royal Orchards (across from 8012 Rochester Rd., Rt 31., Gasport, NY) Alan, Tim, and Dennis are brothers operating this family farm. At this stop, you will see:
The new SDHI fungicides for scab and mildew, where they fit? - Kerik Cox will reflect on is trials at Geneva. You can see a demo with 8 rows each of Merivon, Fontelis, and Luna Tranquility.
Phytotoxicity demonstration with tank mixes at petal fall, 1st cover. - Kerik Cox & D. Breth set up small plot tests using different combinations of fungicides, with/without captan, with/without Regulaid, with/without Sevin, with/without urea. Kerik will share the results in his Geneva plots, and you can see a set at this stop.
Protecting sweet cherries from the rain- Voen System and other canopies - Mario, Greg Lang, and T. Robinson. Buhrs installed a Voen canopy system for a ½ acre sweet cherry planting (7'x16') in cooperation with Dr. Robinson and the CCE-LOF team last year. See and hear how the covering system has worked for them. At this orchard planted in 2011 you will see Benton, Regina, Black Pearl, Burgundy Pearl, Ebony, and Attica cultivars all on Gisela 6. We will discuss the pros and cons of the Voen canopy system and modern sweet cherry production techniques with invited speaker, Dr. Gregory Lang, from Michigan State University.

Following the CCE-LOF Summer Tour

Please join us at the retirement celebration of 2 of our colleagues, Stephen A. Hoying, and Alison De Marree who have each dedicated more than 30 years to the NY fruit industry.
Date: July 24, 2014
Time: 5 PM
Location: Leonard Oakes Estate Winery, 10609 Ridge Rd, Medina, NY 14103
Please pre-register for the dinner catered by Zambistros. $25 per person.


We have filled the 15 3-minute time slots for sponsorship for the tour but if you would like to be a donor, you can contribute at this link. https://lof.cce.cornell.edu/sponsor_event.php?event_id=228

LOF Summer Tour Program (PDF; 198KB)

LOF Summer Tour Registration Form (PDF; 169KB)