I want a fruit...& maybe a nut tree - Now What?

 Selecting fruit trees to grow in your yard or orchard depends on several factors:  available space, height and width restrictions, soil type, exposure to good light and air circulation, preferred type of fruit, type of root-stock, and much more. 

The first step is to plan. 

·         The following factors should be considered as you plan: 

• Climate zone
• Soil type and pH
• Location and surrounding landscaping
• 
  Drainage
• Overhead restrictions (power lines, other trees, shading)
• Width restrictions (fences, buildings property lines)
• Underground restrictions (sewer/power/telephone lines, septic tanks or drain fields, layers of poor soil, wells)
• Irrigation and fertilizing
• Time needed for tree care
• Pruning
• Harvesting
• Spraying

Selection of the trees is one of the most important steps. 

There are several great resources to help you select a tree for your yard.

The Pacific Northwest Handbooks publication EC 819, Growing Tree Fruits and Nuts in the Home Orchard  The Treasure Valley is Area II in this publication.

Other factors to consider are: 

•          Choose a reliable nursery with appropriate stock selected for this area
•          Choice of fruit
•          Varieties of chosen fruit that grow best in this region 
•          Dwarf or semi-dwarf root stock
•          Bare root, ball and burlap (B&B), or containerized stock
•         Need of a pollinator or self-pollinator,
•          Blooming and harvest times
•          Pests – insects, birds, or disease resistant

To maintain a strong tree or orchard, time must be given towards tree health.   There are numerous publications from Extension Services through the University of Idaho, Washington State University, and Oregon State University to assist you with your specific trees.

https://youtu.be/_YqQPtsC-eA

The following are important items to consider toward maintaining a vigorous home fruit tree:

•          Training of tree branches
•         Thinning and pruning
•          Irrigation needs
•          Fertilization needs
•          Insect and disease control
•          Weed 
•          Rodent control

A backyard fruit tree or orchard is a wonderful addition to your landscaping.  Be sure to choose trees that are compatible to your region, soil, and property.  With the proper selection, you can enjoy fruit from your backyard trees for many years to come.                                 

Protecting Bee Habitat

Is Your Morning Coffee in Danger of Extinction? Our morning coffee, tea, chocolate, fruits, vegetables, asparagus, broccoli, apples and alfalfa need pollinators to survive. One in three bites of the food we eat requires pollination. We can help save the bees by careful management of their habitat.

Plant a bee garden with different flowers including some flat and tubular flowers. Plant so that you have flowers early spring to fall. Plant flowering trees. Make a bee bath by using a small dish with rocks, twigs and water.

Consider carefully your pesticide and herbicide use (especially neonicotinoids which are particularly deadly to bees). Leave a sunny spot of bare soil for native bees. Build a bee hotel. Let a portion of your lawn go back to its roots, clover and dandelions are favorites for bees. Consider replacing grass with  flowers. Limit fall cleanup by leaving leaves and not cutting back herbaceous perennials.
Working together we can improve bee habitat in the Treasure Valley.
Learn more about other pollinators during Pollinator Week is June 22nd to 28th.

I WANT A FRUIT TREE. NOW WHAT?

Selecting fruit trees to grow in your yard or orchard depends on several factors:  available space, height and width restrictions, soil type, exposure to good light and air circulation, preferred type of fruit, type of root-stock, and much more. 

The first step is to plan. 

·         The following factors should be considered as you plan: 

• Climate zone,
• Soil type and pH,
• Location and surrounding landscaping,
  
• Drainage,
• Overhead restrictions (power lines, other trees, shading),
• Width restrictions (fences, buildings, property lines),
• Underground restrictions (sewer/power/telephone lines, septic tanks or drain fields, layers of poor soil, wells),
• Irrigation and fertilizing,
• Time needed for tree care,
• Pruning,
• Harvesting,
• Spraying.

Selection of the trees is one of the most important steps. 

There are several great resources to help you select a tree for your yard.
The Pacific Northwest Handbooks publication EC 819, Growing Tree Fruits and Nuts in the Home Orchard
The Treasure Valley is Area II in this publication.

Other factors to consider are: 

•          Choose a reliable nursery with appropriate stock selected for this area,
•          Choice of fruit,
•          Varieties of chosen fruit that grow best in this region, 
•          Dwarf or semi-dwarf root stock,
•          Bare root, ball and burlap (B&B), or containerized stock,
•         Need of a pollinator or self-pollinator,
•          Blooming and harvest times,
•          Pests – insects, birds, or disease resistant.

To maintain a strong tree or orchard, time must be given towards tree health.   There are numerous publications from Extension Services through the University of Idaho, Washington State University, and Oregon State University to assist you with your specific trees.

https://youtu.be/_YqQPtsC-eA

The following are important items to consider toward maintaining a vigorous home fruit tree:

•          Training of tree branches,
•         Thinning and pruning,
•          Irrigation needs,
•          Fertilization needs,
•          Insect and disease control,
•          Weed 
•          Rodent control.

Click for more fruit tree information 

This helpful publication below is specific to the Treasure Valley. It can be obtained free of charge from the University of Idaho Extension Services offices in Canyon County (208) 459-6003.

In summary, a backyard fruit tree or orchard is a wonderful addition to your landscaping.  Be sure to choose trees that are compatible to your region, soil, and property.  With the proper selection, you can enjoy fruit from your backyard trees for many years to come.

                       

                       

Honey Bees

The crunch of a crisp apple, picked right off the tree. The sweet juice that runs all over you when you eat a cantaloupe or watermelon. The vivid color of raspberries in you freshly squeezed lemonade. What do all of these foods have in common? They are pollinated by honey bees; along with several other crops.

There are a lot of pollinators, of which bees are 80%. From the crops that bees pollinate come 1/3 of our diet. These pollinators for the last decade have been on the decline. One factor linked to pollinator decline is the misuse of a category of insecticides known as neonicitinoids. While neonicitinoids are used as a systemics insecticide, meaning they move through the plant, they are also used in a verity of different chemical formulas such as dusts, liquid, or granular. Some formulations include Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam.

The average homeowner can take simple steps to reduce see decline. Are you applying the chemical

correctly: time of the day, weather, measurement of the product and using the least harmful chemical for bees? Read and follow the label! Understand what chemicals are in use.

With these tips I hope you enjoy your garden. And remember the Honey Bees and other pollinators!!

*Amerucan Bee Journal. Wild Bee Decline Threatens US Crop Production

              University Of Vermont

*Honey Bee Biology & Beekeeping

              Dewey M. Caron

*Nature. 2012 Nov. 1; 491(7422):105-8doi/nature 1158. epub2012 Oct 21.  

Pollinators By Alison Ogata

Due to the vast decline in pollinators worldwide, it is imperative that we as humans make a concerted effort to protect and encourage pollinators. Pollinators not only include the 20,000 species of bees, but butterflies, moths, wasps, beetles, and bats. These pollinators are crucial to the growth of fruit, vegetables and many nuts, as well as flowering plants.

There are intermingling reasons for the population decline of pollinators. Farming with pesticides exposes the pollinators, as well as parasites and pathogens. It is also important to leave some land for wildflowers and cover crops that feed the pollinators. Additionally, climate change changes the territories of plants and pollinators.

To encourage pollinators in home landscapes, planting a variety of plants and flowers desirable to them is necessary. In my garden, I am replacing an old garden bed with a “banquet” of pollinator favorites. These will include: Liatris (Blazing Star and Gayfeather), Echinacea (purple cone flower), Salvia (Garden Sage, Brazilian Blue Sage, common sage). Coreopsis (tickseed), Phlox caespitosa (phlox), Agastache (Butterfly weed, Bee Balm, Hyssop, Hummingbird Mint) and a Buddleia (Butterfly Bush).

Our pollinators promote the growth of the food supply in the world. Without them and recognizing their importance, the pollinators face extinction. It is of absolute importance and necessity to address and educate ourselves in the protection and encouragement of pollinators

*Pictures of all flowers listed above are at: www.perennialresource.com