PRUNING PEACH TREES 



Peach growers are faced ^^7ith the task of pruning trees which were in most 

 instances left unpruned last spring. Most trees made remarkable growth considering 

 the amount of wood injury sustained during the week of January I4th in 1957. 

 This year growers should head back the tall peach trees and prune to replace 

 the winter injured wood. 



Tall peach trees are kept at the desired height by heading back upright 

 branches to an outward grov/ing lateral branch. 



In the future probably considerable limb breakage will occur on trees having 

 winter injured branches, unless they are replaced by new wood. Well placed 

 branches on the inner parts of the tree should be retained so that they will 

 subsequently replace older wood. Some of the scaffold branches on tbc bearing 

 trees should be headed back into 2 and 3 year old wood. These branches should be 

 headed to a desirable outward growing lateral. This process will reduce the 

 length of the scaffold limbs and their future fruit load and lessen the chances 

 of scaffold limb breakage. 



— -W. J. Lord 

 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 



BLUEBERRIES IN THE VJEST 



The cultivated blueberry industry of the far west has developed principally 

 in the coastal regions of Washington and Oregon, west of the Cascade Range of 

 mountains. In this area the climate is quite favorable; plenty of rain, enough 

 cold to satisfy winter chilling requirements without excessive cold, favorable 

 summer temperature without excessive heat, and good soil. East of the mountains 

 the rainfall is so light that the region is totally unsuited to fruit crops, 

 except in a few scattered areas where irrigation is possible and practical. 



In spite of the favorable conditions, the blueberry industry has been 

 slow in developing. The chief reason given for this is the lack of good markets. 

 It is said that consumers on the west coast are not so accustomed to eating 

 blueberries as those in the northeast are. One sign of this is the kind of pie 

 available in resturants. One seldom finds blueberry pie. On the other hand, 

 stra^^7berry or "berry" - it may be boysenberry, loganberry or blackberry - are 

 offered in almost every resturant. 



Another difficulty is the scarcity of large markets in the northwest. 

 Population density is far less than in the northeast. Aside from Portland 

 and Seattle, there are few large population centers. This means that for any 

 large volume of berries markets must be found in California or elsewhere. 

 Nevertheless, there are several hundred acres being grown and the industry is 

 expanding slowly. 



Because of the heavy rainfall, 80-100 inches, diseases are more important 

 than insects. A Botrytis which causes shoot dieback is one of their worst 

 troubles. On the other hand, muiiiriy berry is unkno^m. 



One grower in the Puyallup, Washington, area has been unusually successful. 

 He had 19 acres set to a considerable number of varieties. The soil and climate 

 are so favorable that all varieties appear outstandingly vigorous and productive. 



