Project Description
Orchard Equipment and Irrigation
Featured stories covering tree fruit and grape orchard equipment, and irrigation techniques appear in this issue.
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Extracting goodness
Sales are growing for varietal grape seed oils and flours made from pomace.
New cools of the trade
Secondary chillers are replacing conventional storage cooling systems.
Reducing water usage
E & J Gallo reduced its winery water usage by 25 percent.
Getting the most from compost
Think years, not weeks, when calculating nitrogen release from compost.
Branching experiment results in more feathers
Treatments with Promalin or MaxCel put more branches on young apple trees.
Understand key roles of roots
Knowing more about what’s below ground might translate into improved yields and better informed management decisions.
Six steps to good orchard site preparation
It’s important to prepare your surface soil the right way before planting.
Wine wastewater permits are coming
Final rules for Washington State wineries expected by next spring.
Turning pomace into compost
Walla Walla Community College hopes to show wineries how to compost their wine leftovers.
Beating the competition to help new plantings
In young orchards, good weed control is essential for fast, early growth and high yields.
Demand is strong for Geneva rootstocks
Nurseries and growers have much to learn about the newer ones.
Pedro Cuevas Jr., Young Grower from Royal City, Washington
grower / Royal City, Washington age / 25 crops / Cherries, apples business / Part owner of Rancho Cuevas orchard and fieldman with
Keep varieties updated
Orchards need to be renovated to produce the kind of fruit that’s in demand.
Rootstocks under trial
Geneva rootstocks might be less vigorous in Washington.
Apple box label collection is packer's passion
Bob Price has one of the country’s largest collections of apple box labels.
Canners need Bartletts
Grandy closes almost 20 years as manager of pear bargaining group by sealing a three-year contract with record prices for growers.
Don Mercer to be inducted into Wine Hall of Fame
Don Mercer played a key role in bringing the first vinifera grapes to Horse Heaven Hills. Courtesy Rachel Mercer Horse Heaven Hills pioneer
Another record harvest for wine grapes
Washington State’s 2014 wine grape harvest was the largest on record and posted the third consecutive year of growth, reports the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Washington fruit commission representatives reappointed
Mike Wade of Wenatchee has been reappointed as a representative of the Washington State Fruit Commission on the board of the Northwest Horticultural Council for
Apple specialist retires
Leslie Huffman, apple specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, retired March 1. She joined OMAFRA in 1981 and worked in