Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 1 · column 2 of 4 · from the scan, no model involved
Small Peach
Crop Expected
By CINDY MAHAN ,
Rappahannock Newi Staff Writer
At an orchard meeting, sponsored by the Rappahannock County Extension Service at Mountain Green Farm outside Washington last Tuesday, Ross Byers, a professor of horticulture with the Virginia Tech fruit research center in Winchester, assessed the damage to the Sharps’ nectarine crop, and found that only two to three percent of the buds are alive.
This is due to the extreme cold this past winter.
He said, though, that even though the crop will be very small, “the fimit will probably be large and of good quality.” Dr. Byers also said that the peach and nectarine trees usually bloom here around April 15, but the trees appear to be too dormant right now to bloom by that date.
Bryant Lee of Lee Orchards in Flint Hill said that a lot of buds have already fallen off his peach trees, and he expects a small crop this year. About one-fifth of his fruit crop is peaches.
A pruning demonstration was given using one of the Sharps’ apple trees. Bryant Lee, Louis Moore Jr., and Alex Sharp assisted with the hands-on pruning. Dr. Ross said, “The most important thing is that you prune the tree. There are a lot of right ways. In most trees there is a center and you want to maintain the center. Take off the limbs that are broom handle size or bigger.”
Dr. Robert Horsburgh, Professor of enromology at the fruit research center, briefly discussed gypsy moths. He said that orchardists should check their orchards twice daily for gypsy moth webs which blow down from the trees on mountains surrounding orchards.
The webs contain the caterpillars, which begin munching on trees as soon as they land. He recommended spraying Dipel to control gypsy moths.
90.9%