Yesterday we bought this used 1983 Subaru Brat for $1,800. the guy was asking $2, 250 but Bill had the Blue Book value and they negotiated to the agreed price. The plan is for it is to replace the large Chevy that Arturo drives everywhere on the farm. The doors have some rust so we'll either replace them or protect them with a spray on a truck liner substance. Bill's worried he paid too much for it but it's really hard to find a small 4 wheel drive pick up.
Here's a view from the quad down a Honeycrisp row. The crop is heavy so there isn't much head room driving down the rows. I have to drive with my chin on the steering wheel. Bill thinks this will be our second biggest crop. I'm so excited! Among other things I was checking for codling moths.
I found 2 in the upper right hand corner so Bill is having Cuco put on a cover spray to protect the apples. Calcium will be part of the mix as well. We'll be spraying calcium every 4 days because our leaf analysis showed an excess of nitrogen. Too much nitrogen will cause bitter pit so since calcium offsets the nitrogen we're going to have an aggressive calcium spray plan until harvest at the end of September.
Whoa, there is a strong aroma of DPW decomposed poultry waste pervading the cherry block. Here Balta is loading it so it can be spread throughout our cherry blocks. It's the main source of nitrogen we'll be using. Our guys throw it on the trees with shovels as the loaded trailer moves through the orchard. In this way we can customize the amount trees get. The weaker trees get a bigger shovelful. Doing this manually is more expensive but it's made a big difference in minimizing weak trees in the block.
Sweetangos
This crop also looks good. Yay!
I'd love to talk about the Sweetangos but I have tomatoes to can. More about that tomorrow!
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