The successful grower I met in Washington irrigates Bud 9 every 5 days. This is under-tree sprinkler irrigation. I do the same and water 1 - 1.5" with each irrigation every five days on average in the summer. If the weather is really hot, say 95F everyday, then I might shorten that to every 4 days. My soil is a silt/loam that has good drainage, high organic matter and holds moisture well. In fact, I was amazed at how much water HC/B9 needs. I believe if you are not irrigating Honeycrisp on Bud 9, you are in trouble. Bud 9 seems to like "wet feet," but at the same time the soil needs air. My philosophy is to water an inch plus, and then let that drain down and give the trees a chance to have air for a couple of days, and then do it again. I can see stunting if the trees get dry, as the roots will send a chemical signal to the upper part of the tree and tell it to "stop growing." My sense is that Bud 9 has a hair trigger on sending that signal. I just assumed that all orchards back East have irrigation, if not, then I would bet a cheeseburger that this is the problem with runted out Bud 9's.
If I had a stunted Bud 9 block, I would get a soil test and a tissue test and POUR the nutrients on the block and NEVER let the trees dry out too far. I would crank up the NPK and minors at the expense of fruit quality for a season and then back off the N for fruiting if the trees recover. My two cents... On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 4:04 PM, Steven Bibula <sbib...@maine.rr.com> wrote: > Especially for Jon Clements, but others as well:**** > > ** ** > > Are your initial Honeycrisp/Bud 9 Tall Spindle trials, where you cropped > starting in 2nd leaf, agreeing with Mike’s experience? Looking at these > trials subsequently, what happened to production? I have a 1,000 tree > Honeycrisp/Bud 9 Tall Spindle planting planned for 2015 and this discussion > has taken a very interesting turn.**** > > ** ** > > I noticed this year that with my 2nd leaf Snowsweet Tall Spindle on Bud > 9, the trees that were fully cropped hardly grew (but produced huge fruit); > however, the trees that had no fruit (spotty pollination in southern Maine > with nearly continuous rain during bloom) also grew very little. Not one > Snowsweet is even close to the top wire, located ~8.5’. We did have four > periods of drought-induced stress this year, and the Bud 9 varieties were > clearly the most checked. I will have Uniram drip with fertigation for all > trees starting in 2014, and I anticipate that this will help ameliorate.** > ** > > ** ** > > Steven Bibula**** > > Plowshares Community Farm**** > > 236 Sebago Lake Road**** > > Gorham ME 04038**** > > 207.239.0442**** > > www.plowsharesmaine.com**** > > ** ** > > *From:* apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto: > apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] *On Behalf Of *Mike Fargione > *Sent:* Friday, October 25, 2013 9:42 AM > *To:* jon.cleme...@umass.edu; Apple-crop discussion list > > *Subject:* Re: [apple-crop] M9-Nic29 winter hardiness**** > > ** ** > > Some growers in NY’s Hudson Valley prefer to plant Honeycrisp on B9 > because they feel these trees are less prone to biennial bearing and can be > cropped more heavily each year compared with Honeycrisp on M9. Our > experience is that planting Honeycrisp/B9 at higher density and not > cropping in years 1 & 2 can produce a very productive orchard.**** > > Mike**** > > **** > > *From:* apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [ > mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net<apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net>] > *On Behalf Of *Jon Clements > *Sent:* Thursday, October 24, 2013 6:26 PM > *To:* Apple-crop discussion list > *Subject:* Re: [apple-crop] M9-Nic29 winter hardiness**** > > **** > > Simple solution -- pre-order and plant them 2 ft. X 10 ft. Will make you, > and the nursery, happy...:-)**** > > **** > > Jon**** > > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > >
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