NW Fruit (Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation)

Bring your pruners and come to learn about the winter pruning of Kiwis on January 14th, 2016 in the Fruit Garden. More information…

In preparation for the coming workshop on kiwi pruning, please check your kiwis for AYLS, a condition or disease which causes yellow blotches on leaves. See Kiwibob’s AYLS web page for more information and photos.

I checked my kiwi’s here in Arlington, and sure enough, I found some leaves with the typical yellow blotches. You have to check carefully because there may only be a few leaves showing the blotches now, but more will show up later in the season. Be sure to check the older leaves on the underside of the plant. If you find any please report on the AYLS page above.

Saturday, July 16th. Registration begins at 10:10 am, pruning demo starts at 10:30 am in our Fruit Garden, at 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon.

If your kiwis are getting out of hand, be sure to join us!

The kiwis are waiting for Kiwibob to come and give them a much needed training session. Followed by a talk on figs, and a demonstration of summer pruning of apple trees and bud grafting.

Come help out in the Fruit Garden!
By Tom Wake

We have a very large fruit set so we Fruit Garden volunteers will continue thinning this Thursday from 9 am to noon.  The honey berries are turning blue so it is time to net them. We can also pick some after noon. We are still on the lookout for damaged trees, insects, and disease.

Bob Glanzman, also known as Kiwibob, will be demonstrating the summer pruning of hardy kiwis, and also talking about growing figs here in the PNW in the Fruit Garden on Saturday, July 16th, beginning at 10:30 am.

Following Bob’s workshop we will be sampling some fruit in the Garden, and then Bill Davis will demonstrate summer pruning of apple trees, followed by a demonstration of bud grafting.

Cost $15   Free to WWFRF members

Schedule
10:15        Registration
10:30-11:30       Kiwi and fig workshop
11:30-12:15       Fruit Sampling
12:15-1:15       Summer pruning of apple trees and bud grafting demonstration

On May 5th from 9 am to noon we will finish thinning the pears and we will start thinning the apples. There are a number of trees in the nursery that will be planted. We will continue to look for disease and tent caterpillars.

The Fruit Garden volunteers enjoying a snack during break.

On April 20th from 9-noon come out to the Fruit Garden and help with pruning, looking for tent caterpillars and transplanting young trees.

The Fruit Garden volunteers have recently finished putting a layer of biodegradable mulch covered with several inches of sawdust on the blueberry beds. This should not only help  suppress weeds, but it should help suppress the mummyberry apotheca (mushrooms) and reduce mummyberry infection.

The 1:30 – 2:20 pm demonstration of Pruning Freestanding Cherry Trees, which takes place in the Fruit Garden and which was originally to be done by Dr. Bob Norton, will now be done by Bob Baines.

Join us at our annual Winter Field Day on Saturday, March 5, 2016! We’ll have rootstock and scion wood sales, workshops on pruning and grafting, and Fruit Garden demonstration on pruning UFU cherries and slender spindle apples by Tom Thornton of Cloud Mountain farm!  We hope to see you there!