Project Description
Sustainable Agriculture
Featured stories about organic pest control appear in this issue.
Click here to view a PDF version of this issue.
Finding a better way
All of the vines at Badger Mountain Vineyard are trained to the Scott-Henry trellis system. Bill Powers says that the Scott-Henry is more labor intensive
Eastern organic apples
Until now, Owens has worked with orchards established conventionally and converted to organic. This year, Anthony Owens will start his second decade as a grower
Organic plantings drop
Organic tree fruit acreage in Washington State is on the decline overall, although plantings of organic Honeycrisp have increased significantly over the past few years,
Ready for the audit?
Nicole Brunner checks the Gras2p training manual, which can be purchased by any Washington grower. Photo by Geraldine Warner More Washington growers and packers are
Niche product
Sevin (carbaryl) will continue to be available for chemical thinning and pest control in tree fruits, says Dr. Jonathan Akins, director of regulatory affairs with
Promising organic herbicide found
These large crabgrass seedlings show the effect of preemergence application of manuka oil. Control is on the right. Concentrations of manuka oil increase toward the
Lone organic grower finds it tough
Most of Owens’s orchards are surrounded by mature timber. On this mountain, he has three isolated orchards, each about a half mile apart. Luckily, infrastructure
Silver bullet is short lived
Neal Manly said Tiberon was a unique tool to help nurseries produced branched trees for high-density plantings. Photo by Geraldine Warner When a plant growth
Need a lawyer?
A group of Young Leaders listens to Don Kraemer, acting deputy director of the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, during the leadership
Head of the class
The Young Apple Leaders of 2012 are, back row left to right, Sarah Dressell, Sara Shanteau, Casey Collins, Adam Peters, Mark Boyer, Dave Gargasz, Jeff
Fruit drop is not simple to manage
Dr. Rongcai Yuan made important contributions to understanding fruit abscission processes. He died a year ago of cancer at age 45. Photo by Steve McArtney
Last Bite
Arctic Snow, patented by Zaiger Genetics and sold by Dave Wilson Nursery, ripens late August to early September. The fruit is freestone, sweet, low acid,
Going without sulfites
Greg Powers knows viticulture and enology from the ground up and was manager for the family estate vineyard before taking on winemaker duties. Melissa Hansen
What do rootstocks do
Apple growers first became interested in grafting scions onto rootstocks when they realized that dwarfing rootstocks could tame vigor, bring trees down to manageable size,
Organic viticulture is all about timing
Bill Powers used common materials—screen mesh, bottoms of plastic jugs—to construct his pest fan. Melissa Hansen The key to making organic practices effective in the
Sustainability can be economical
More than 160 photovoltaic panels rest on the rooftop of Powers Winery, generating about 20 percent of the winery’s electricity needs. Photo by Melissa Hansen
Choosing not to replant
An example of layering, in which a cane is brought from the old Cabernet Sauvignon cordon on the right to where a vine was missing,
A report card for juice grapes
A team of Washington State’s juice grape industry members and university scientists has begun a three-year project to develop a sustainability guide for grape growers.
Vineyard replanting economics
When replanting an existing vineyard, a grower has three scenarios to choose from—replace plants and preserve existing trellis and irrigation systems, replace plants and modify
Good to Know
Premature fruit drop can cause 20 percent or more yield loss in pears without intervention. Natural drop signals fruit maturity and the onset of tree
Watch out, codling moth!
Left: A female Neoscona oaxacensis orb-weaving spider. Top: Cheiracanthium spiders are known as yellow sac spiders. They are usually pale colored and are 1/5 to