C22—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 12,1980
Specialist offers advice
on Md. fruit plantings
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
If you’ve got the fever to
plant fruit trees around the
farmstead this spring, heed
these words of advice from
Arthur H. Thompson, hor
ticulture research worker at
the University of Maryland
in College Park.
Thompson advises against
plantmg apricots, sweet
cherries or pears in
Maryland home orchards
Instead, he suggests apples,
peaches and plums.
Apricots are hardy enough
to survive in Maryland, but
they bloom early and the
flowers are often damaged
by late-season frosts. Thus,
they usually will not bear a
good crop of fruit.
Sweet cherries, also, are
often harmed by late-season
spring frosts in Maryland.
And when the fruit is near
maturity, it is frequently
subject to cracking. Birds
love chemes; they can
devour an entire crop in
short order unless
precautions are taken, such
as covering the trees with
netting.
Pears grow well in
Maryland, but they are not
recommended for most
areas of the state because of
the devastating bacterial
disease, firebhght.
Thompson and other
workers at the Maryland
Agricultural Experiment
Station have been searching
for a pear that is both high in
quality and resistant to
disease The Magness pear
was introduced by the U S
Department of Agriculture
in 1960 to meet these needs
But while a good-quality
pear, it is not a reliable
producer.
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Many varieties of apples
will do well in Maryland,
Thompson notes. He par
ticularly recommends two
new varieties—Gala and
Spartan.
Originally from New
Zealand, the Gala apple
appears especially
promising in Maryland
variety tests. It is available
only from Stark Brothers
Nurseries of Louisiana, Mo.,
which holds the U.S. patent
rights on this variety
Thompson also recom
mends some of the old
familiar apple varieties,
such as Red Delicious,
Golden Delicious, Jonathan,
Stayman and Rome Beauty
for Maryland conditions.
In the home garden, ap
ples with a dwarf or semi
dwarfmg rootstock are often
desirable, smce they take up
less space and bear at an
earlier age than fullsized
trees.
Mailing 26 is a dwarfing
rootstock which causes the
tree to grow only about 40
percent as large as a stan
dard apple tree. A Mailing 9
rootstock produces a tree
which is even smaller. But a
Mailing 7 rootstock yields a
considerably larger dwarf
tree, about half the size of a
standard tree.
Remember to plant at
least two different varieties
of apple for cross
pollmation.
Peaches require more
care than apples, smce they
are somewhat more sen
sitive to insects and disease
They need more pruning and
thinning than other fruits
They bear abundantly,
starting as early as the
second year after planting
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Most peach tree varieties do
not require cross-pollination,
as apples do.
Thompson recommends
several varieties of peaches
for the home orchard.
Candor ripens in early
July, while Redhaven ripens
in late July. Sunhigh is ready
to eat m early August, and
Redskin follows in late
August. Marpnde and
Marqueen ripen in early
September. These latter two
peaches were developed by
horticulture research
workers for the Maryland
Agricultural Experiment
Station.
Plant three or more of the
recommended varieties m
your yard this spring, and
you could be enjoying fresh
peaches all summer long by
1982.
Plums are easier to grow
than peaches, mainly
because they do not need as
much pruning and thinning.
The Stanely is a European
prune-type plum that does
not require cross-pollination
from another variety. By
contrast, Methley and Santa
Rosa are Japanese plums
which should be planted
together for cross
polhnation.
Before planting fruit trees,
take a soil test to determine
if you need to apply lime or
fertilizer. The University
of Maryland offers tree
analysis of soil samples for
Maryland residents. Y s ou can
get a free soil test from your
county extension office.
Fruit trees must be
sprayed several times each
season to assure a blemish
free, bountiful crop For
detailed information on
spray programs, contact
Sorghum program participants
to receive $6l million
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Farmers who compiled with
the 1979 sorghum set-aside
program will receive around
$6l million in deficiency
payments from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture,
Ray Fitzgerald, ad
ministrator of USDA’s
Agricultural Stabilization
and Conservation Service
said Monday.
The payments will be
made by county ASCS offices
in early April.
For eligible 1979 sorghum
acreage, the deficiency pay
ment rate is 13 cents per
•bushel, the difference
between the $2.34-per-bushel
target level and the $2.21
average market price. There
will be no corn deficiency
payments since the average
market price of $2.31 exceed
ed the com target level of
$2.20 per bushel.
Fitzgerald also announced
the final national program
acreage for com at 85.7
million acres and for
sorghum at 15.9 million
acres. The program alloca
tion factors for each gram is
100 percent.
Eligible sorghum growers
who have not signed applica
tions for payment should do
so as soon as possible
through their local county
your county extension
agricultural science or
urban agriculture agent. Ask
for a free pamphlet, Sprays
for Home Fruit Planting,
Bulletin 125.
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