WAMC Northeast Public Radio
Published at 12:52 AM EDT on April 20, 2024
When I visited the sprawling Kinderhook orchard of Jake Samascott’s family last Saturday, I figured he had already heard it all, at least in relation to apples. It was because the Columbia Land Conservancy had sponsored a workshop about apple tree care.
On our top hill, my son-in law and I planted some apple saplings a few years ago. It wasn’t as bucolic as it sounds. No soil on our property. The shale is what’s there. Renting an augur was necessary to push the rocks in order to lower the tree ball. We barely made any progress with heavy equipment.
After our fight, I didn’t have the energy to secure the fence. The metal poles that I had planned to use would also struggle to gain any traction as the trees did.
Instead of wrapping deer fence around individual specimens, I used it to wrap the fencing. The following autumn, after neglecting to use deer repellant in the summer months and the devastation of the trees I applied one dose.
Everything seemed fine until the winter. Or as good as it can get for trees who have still not produced any fruit or are completely disfigured. One of the metal poles I had tied to the tree in order to hold it up – I thought hammering the bottom a few inches would be better than doing nothing – was flush with the earth. When I investigated, it was clear why. I went to investigate and discovered why.
Our obnoxious, deer-like creatures were unable to reach the delicate leaves and branches. They took out their frustration on the tree by uprooting it. The roots of the tree are shallow enough that they did not struggle to do so.
He said that the deer had to be pretty hungry for them to do such vandalism. He had not encountered this problem in his orchard. This is probably because a woven-wire fence of eight feet high surrounds two hundred acres. Jake found several deer eating the profit when he returned to work after a recent incident when the gate was left open.
Even though I was aware that the problems I had with my deer problem and growing apples were not easily solved, I attended this workshop.
That wasn’t the case. Will Yandik was a member on the Columbia Land Conservancy board, and fourth-generation apple farmer. His advice proved to be the most useful and relevant I heard during the event.
Will revealed that the orchard of his family, Green Acres, in Livingston also has a lot of shale. His grandfather, unlike mine, refused to let sedimentary rocks push him around. Will remembered that his grandfather had literally used TNT. Will remembered, “Whatever the cost.”
It’s unlikely that I will resort to extreme measures. What can possibly go wrong? In spite of this, the workshop was very helpful. Among other useful things I learned, fungal problems are more dangerous to trees than insects. Jake said that a fungal infection can occur whenever there is moisture.
Samascott also prunes when its employees can. With 1,000 trees per acre, it’s not a good idea to wait until the trees are inactive. Yes, you heard it right. The high-density trellising allows you to plant more trees and get a greater harvest because the sunlight can reach every apple. It also makes it easier for you to pick and prune.
My fellow workshop attendees — who had apparently discovered the best way to keep deer away from their properties — asked so many relevant, specific questions. If only for myself, I was curious if any orchard customers who had purchased trees through the U-Pick program in autumn were disappointed with this method.
When I visit the apple farm to pick apples, I am attracted by their free-standing old trees. I like fruit trees that are majestic and have full branches. It was stated that apple trees require two apple varieties to pollinate.
It’s not hard for me to make that statement, since my apple trees never survive past the first twigs. Vincent Van Gogh would have been born in 21St Century Hudson Valley instead of 19The th It’s hard for me to imagine that Arles, in the south of France, would have enjoyed painting trees with trellis that look more like vineyards rather than orchards.
At the end of the workshop, Columbia Land Conservancy President Troy Weldy announced a partnership between Nine Pin Cider and Columbia Land Conservancy. The production was a collaboration between Nine Pin Cider and Columbia Land Conservancy.
This doesn’t really apply to me, because I have no trees that have ever produced an apple. And now that deer has uprooted my trees, they will never produce any. It’s not that I am bitter. The deer were trying to tell me something. It’s better for my mental health as well as my wallet if I choose to pick apples in a commercial orchard with people who know what they are doing.
Ralph Gardner, Jr., is a New York City-based journalist. He also divides his work between Columbia County and New York City. Substack has more of his work.
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