From Michael LaChance:
May 23rd, 2014
To People Interested in Virginia Fruit Production:
The fifth in-orchard production meeting of the 2014 Central Virginia Orchard Meeting series will be held on Tuesday, June 3rd at 11:00 a.m. at 7 K Farms, located at 837 Red House Rd, Rustburg, Virginia 24588. The event is hosted by farm manager Bill Beni and the rest of the staff at this most interesting entrant into the Virginia fruit industry. It is open to all but will be especially interesting to new and established fruit growers, people considering conversion of some of their acreage to higher value crops, and regional decision makers. You will have an opportunity to tour the farm and have your questions addressed by our hosts and Drs. Chris Bergh, Greg Peck and Keith Yoder, Extension tree fruit specialists based at the Alson H. Smith Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center near Winchester.
If you are bringing specimens of insects pests or plant disease for diagnosis and control recommendations, please follow good sanitation practices by putting the material in sealed plastic bags and properly remove your material away from the host orchard after the meeting.
The program begins at 11:00 a.m. so plan on arriving sometime soon after 10:30 a.m. This is an excellent opportunity to see:
- This rapid development of over 200 acres of commercial fruit in central Virginia
- Use of “sleepy eye” propagation technique
- Meeting the need for adequate irrigation and deer control
- Innovative high density fruit tree training
A nice lunch for everyone is being prepared plus water and other cold drinks will be provided that day. Register by Thursday, May 29. To assist us with our planning Please contact either Lucinda MacRae at the Nelson County Extension Office: 434 263 4035 / lmacrae@vt.edu or 7 K Farms main office. Your contact there is Melanie Mahone, (434) 332-4460 / mel7kfarms@centurylink.net.
Directions from Lynchburg: Rustburg is located southeast of Lynchburg. Take Route 501 off of Highway 29 and continue 10 miles to the stoplight in Rustburg, turn left onto Hwy 24 toward Concord and travel 0.5 miles to the next stoplight and turn right onto Red House Road. Travel 0.8 miles to the farm entrance, extra signage will be put up to help you.
Please email us, fax or phone us today so we can get a head count for this very informative meeting. For more information on Extension programs to assist with your fruit growing interests go to: www.anr.ext.vt.edu/tree-fruit/
Sincerely,
Michael W. Lachance
Extension Agent
If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact the Nelson County Extension Office at (434)263-4035 to discuss accommodations five days prior to the date of the meeting.
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‘Sleeping eye’ describes a summer-budded rootstock cut above the dormant scion bud and stored for planting in a nursery or orchard. |
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ADVANTAGES |
DISADVANTAGES |
| A good quality tree can be produced in
one season as opposed to two for a summer- budded tree |
Costs more than twice that of unbudded
rootstock
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| Simpler for grower than benchgrafting,
yet can produce a tree of similar quality in same period of time |
Quality of root and bud important for success of this method |
Source: http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/treefrt/product/Tree_Fruit_Home_Nurseries.pdf