Orchard Update: Pumpkins and Cherries

August 22, 2010 by Nevia.

Pumpkins:

Pumpkins were sowed again. The farmer believed the original seeds were old.

On 7/15 the pumpkin plants had only 2 to 4 leaves each. He planted 2 rows, each 1,000 ft long.

On 7/26 pumpkin plants were 6 to 10 inches high. Personally, I did not believe anything could grow this fast. On this day it was very hot, about 95 degrees, and we sprayed the pumpkins mid day at about 12.30PM. You can see from the pictures that the pumpkins were growing on the black plastic which makes it even hotter. It was a good test to see the performance of the repellent on a hot day. As we suspected, the repellent acted as a fertilizer and enhanced the growth of the vines as it does on the flowers and evergreens in the wintertime.    

On 8/4 the pumpkin plants were 2 ft high and showed signs of fruit and runners. At this point they were sprayed on the outside only of both rows.

Will be checking on them soon and will continue our report.

Cherry Trees:

Cherry trees protected by Deer Defeat Repellent were doing great and were growing high and expanding. Some are almost too big to be protected at this point. We will continue to protect the smaller trees. These cherry trees were treated with different methods. We had some deer damage when the protection had worn out, but it was minor. We have since corrected the method and there were no new signs of deer damage. In the same rows there were shrubs of wild mulberries and we could see deer damage all over these shrubberies. Some unsprayed mature cherry trees were eaten by deer but they did not bother the treated cherry trees. That was a very positive sign. There was definitely plenty of deer presence in the orchard and the damage they did on non sprayed wild shrubbery was the proof.  The smaller cherry trees will continue to be protected until they reach a height where it will not make a difference if deer eat a few leaves. I personally think the drought is as much of a threat to these young trees, at this point, as deer are. 

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »