FRUIT NOTES - Arril, 1940 



W. H. Thies 

 Extension Horticulturist 



Sl-Ji'ie. S u;--;p;esti_ons o n Transip lant in," Trees 



Too often eui air pocket is left iiTJuediately under the roots of the 

 newly planted tree. Intimate contact botv/een roots aiid soil nay be accomplish- 

 ed in several ways, according to H. B. Tukey of the Geneva, Kev; York, Agricul- 

 tural iixperiinent Station, but its importance cannot be overemphasized. E. S. 

 Goff of 'Jisconsin in so:..o of the first sciontiiic studies with fruit trees in 

 America showed the ii^iportance of water. Newly set trees supplied v;ith water 

 through a rubber tube attached to a root, developed foliage much more ra-^ddly 

 than untreated trees. The so-called "Stringf ellow :.ethod", devised about 1900, 

 in rhich the roots v/ere trir-i.ied close and ran-aued into place seems to have been 

 successful because it placed the roots in intimate contact v;ith the soil. A 

 good pleai is to throw a few shovels of top soil into the center of the tree 

 hole, place the tree on the conical cushion, covor the roots lightly, aiid tamp 

 the tree f ir; '.ly into place. One of the advantages of using a peat soil mixture 

 is th^.t it results in a springy although tight cont;:ict of soil and roots. 



The old m.ethod of pourxn^ a pail of water over tlie soil when the 

 tree is planned is helpful largely beca.use it causes the soil particles to flov/ 

 together and around the roots besides supplying v/ater directly to the roots. 

 There is no better m.ethod of comp3.cting soil than by v/ashing it v/ith water. 

 European planters still cling to the old method of dipping the roots in a heavy 

 mud mixture before planting. The advantage of this m.ethod, if any, seems to 

 lie in placing finely divided particles with a large surface area in intimate 

 contact with xhe roots thus providing a connecting link between the roots and 

 the soil particles. 



Want_ed_ - A I.i agic V/and . 



All of us are interested in easy v/ays of doing hard tasks. Often 

 the search centers in a new material. Is 3.pple scab troublesome? Then I must 

 try tnat new highly advertised materic.1. Is the fruit green and of poor keep- 

 ing quality? I \7onder what fertilizer cor.bination v>dll correct that. One in- 

 dividual inquired about this m.agic chemdcal for making fruit stick on the trees, 

 when maggot was actually the causa of the difficulty. For fear of being ;;is- 

 understood we hasten to say thf.t some of tiiese new m.aterials are extremely prom- 

 ising and will undoubtedly find a place in our managei.ent program. But there 

 seem.s little to gain by treating the orchard floor for apple scab in 1940 when 

 the real trouble in 1939 was a co!.ibination of breakdown of the sprayer at the 

 Pink Stage and a scanty coverage in tlie other applications. The spray program 

 offers an opportunity to "put first things first" and to bring about a proper 

 balance between timing, tiioroughness and '".laterials . 



TreoE worth .;op grafting i'.ro also worthy of atte::ition afterward. 

 A few days ago the writer sav/ a hundred or more trees of nearly ideal frame- 

 work, the result of a clever job of grafting about eight years ago. V/ell lo- 

 cated branches v/ore seloctod at that tim.o and one of the most vigorous scions 



Issued by the Extension Service, V/illard A. Llunson, Director, in furtherance 

 of Acts of May 3 and June 30, 1914. Massachusetts State College, United States 

 Depart.-.ient of Agriculture, and County Extension Services cooperating. 



