Page 12—Grower and Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 20, 2000
The Farmstand:
Direct /
Maifcettagj^^P^
2000 SUMMER ORCHARD
TOUR JULY 18-19
This year we will be having
a summer orchard tour in the
south central area of the state
in cooperation with the State
Horticultural Association of
Pennsylvania.
The dates are July 18-19.
The tour will start at 10 a.m.
at Strite’s Orchard just out
side of Harrisburg. After that
we will be traveling, by per
sonal vehicle, down to Adams
county for stops at orchards
and markets in that area.
Stops in Adams county on
the 18th will include Weiser’s
Orchard and Farm Market
and Adams County Nursery
Orchards. Tuesday evening
we will have a picnic supper
at a local park.
On Wednesday, July 19,
we will visit Hollabaugh
Brothers Orchards, Market
and Storage, Bear Mountain
Orchards and Packing
House, Knouse Foods’ Coop
erative at Peach Glen, Rice
Fruit Company Packing
House, and R&L Orchards.
The Days Inn in Gettys
burg has set aside a block of
rooms for Tuesday night. We
have also reserved three
buses for Wednesday.
On Tuesday travel will be
by your personal vehicle. On
Wednesday we will have air
conditioned motor coaches to
transport the group. Regis
tration for the tour will in
clude dinner on Tuesday
night, bus transportation on
Wednesday and lunch on
Wednesday.
For more information con
tact either Rob Crassweller,
814-863-6163 or Maureen
Irvin, 717-677-4184.
—Rob Crassweller,
Penn State
Time To Check For
Strawberry Problems
Spring is the best time of
year to check your strawberry
plants for a number of prob
lems. If you have patches
that are doing poorly, dig up
some plants from these areas
and slice through the main
roots lengthwise.
One diagnostic symptom
of red stele (Phytophthora
root rot) shows up when the
soil is cool, and becomes less
obvious as the soil warms. If
the plants have this disease,
there will be a reddish disco
loration in the center (the
stele) of the root.
Also, check for root weevil
larvae (small white grubs) in
the top inches of soil. Slice
through the crown of the
plant, too. You may find tun
nels made by grubs or the
grubs themselves.
The crown should be
creamy white throughout. If
you notice a brown or reddish
discoloration, the plants may
have been cold-injured,
though some diseases also
cause discolorations of the
crown.
Starting before bloom,
check weekly for tarnished
plant bugs (they cause but
ton-berry) and clipper.
Sample in a V-shape across
the field. For tarnished plant
bugs, tap at least 30 flower
clusters over a white plate.
More than 0.25 nymphs
per cluster before 10 percent
bloom or more than 0.5
nymphs per cluster during
mid to late bloom are the
thresholds for a spray appli
cation. Insecticide sprays
during bloom are to be
avoided if at all possible be
cause of risk to pollinators. If
no tarnished plant bug
nymphs are found until mid
bloom, delay spray applica
tion until after bloom to
protect pollinators.
For clipper, check 5 to 10 -
2-foot sections of row. An av
erage of 1 clipped bud per
foot of row is the threshold
for control. If your planting
borders woods, check some
additional sections in the
border rows near the woods.
Sprays of these border rows
may be sufficient.
Sources of information:
Comerical Berry Production
and Pest Management Guide,
Integrated Pest Management
for Strawberries in the North
eastern United States, and
NRAES Strawberry Produc
tion Guide.
—Kathy Demchak and
Greg Krawczyk, Penn State
Options For Deer Control
In Vegetable, Strawberry
Crops
Steve Bogash,
Commercial Horticulture
Agent
Blair County
There is little doubt that in
order to profitably grow high
value crops such as strawber
ries and vegetables that some
pre-planning for deer control
is a must. The ever
increasing number of deer in
the commonwealth poses a
severe threat to the profitabil
ity of any produce operation.
First a few deer facts:
Deer will eat anything if
they are hungry enough.
There was a time when the
author believed that garlic
was completely out of the
question, but hungry deer
will even take an occasional
bite of garlic.
A little deer math: start
with a hypothetical herd of
24 deer eight are bucks and
16 are does). Now use some
method of effective hunting:
six bucks and eight does are
harvested during hunting
season. This leaves two bucks
and eight does for this
coming breeding season.
Each doe has 1.7 fawns on
average in good habitat. We
now go into next season with
23 deer and this is after kill-
IDEAL for FARM MARKETS:
BAKING MIXES:
In Fowler’s Mill Cloth Bags:
6 Pancake Mixes
5 Muffin Mixes
4 Fruit Mixes (the consumer adds fruit)
In Private Label Paper Bags (consumer adds fruit):
4 Apple Mixes (crisp, cake, muffin, pancake)
3 Peach Mixes (crisp, cobbler, muffin)
3 Cherry Mixes (crisp, cobbler, muffin)
7 Other Mixes (shortcake, pancake, biscuit)
Fowler’s Milling Company • Chardon, Ohio
Call 800-321-2024
ing more than half of the
herd.
No amount of deer control
is effective long term without
intensive herd population
management as ever increas
ing numbers of deer will
overwhelm any barriers we
create.
Repellents don’t work, at
least for very long. There are
numerous repellents on the
market. Most will work for a
short period, but seldom for
more than 2-3 weeks and
most need to be reapplied
regularly. Hungry animals
have been shown to pay little
attention to repellents.
Some methods of deer con
trol worth consideration:
•Radio-collared dogs. Cor
nell evaluated in one research
project a greatly beefed-up
dog radio collar system called
off-limits. This system has
been shown effective on areas
as large as 30-50 acres per en
closure depending on terrain,
dog’s abilities, and desired
control levels. Since dogs are
highly territorial, they essen
tially stake out the area as
their own and will chase any
varmints or deer from inside
the antennae area. Selection
and training of the dogs as
well as the placement of shel
ter, food and water sources is
imperative for this to work
well. Dogs that are not used
to people may be a problem
in “pick your own” opera
tions. Some dogs tire of the
chase without ever catching
the deer and quit chasing
them. Cost: approximately
$4,000 for 30-50 acres.
•Full-height barrier fences.
Nothing beats a full height
(8-10 foot) fence for deer con
trol. If you can afford to sur
round a planting with a
barrier that deer cannot get
over, under or through
you’ve got good deer control.
The big problem with this
method is short and long
term cost. Initial installation
is expensive as even inexpen
sive plastic mesh materials
can run $1 per foot, 10-12
foot posts are not cheap and
annual maintenance can be
time consuming.
•Slant fence. Slant fence
systems using high-tensile
wire and an electric charger
are quite effective, as deer do
not readily jump over a bar
rier with depth. This five foot
tall fence is up to eight feet
deep. Drawbacks to this
system are the initial cost of
installation and the need to
maintain a weed and grass
free strip under the fence.
•Low-cost two-wire elec
tric fence. Baited, low-cost,
polywire fencing can provide
highly effective deer control
with minimal capital outlay.
A typical polywire fence of
this type has two wires on fi
berglass posts set at 20-30
foot spacing. The top wire is
30-36 inches off the ground
and the low wire is 18-20
inches off the ground. Pieces
of aluminum flashing that
resemble pup tents are
crimped along the top wire at
10-15 foot intervals. Peanut
butter is then smeared under
these tents. The wires are
charged and when the deer
come to investigate the
(Turn to Pago 13)