June 15, 2024

Fruit this June on the original Scout tree

TODAY IN THE ORCHARD

Today we worked in the Finley Lane nursery and orchard. Alyssa was there all day to assist. We weeded all the 2024 newly grafted trees and seedlings and a row of dwarf (Bud 9 and G 11) trees (no herbicides, please). We went through most of the trees in the orchard and tagged those with fruit. The trees are nearly all on standard rootstock and are just beginning to bear. Noting which ones have fruit is useful for many reasons, one of which is that when we spray fruiting trees only, we know which ones to spray.

Finley Lane is an old tract of land we purchased a decade ago adjacent to our farm. It was initially cleared and then farmed by two families before the Civil War.  By 1900 the farm buildings were gone, and the land was owned by someone named Finley. Finley Lane is a narrow dirt road leading to the old cellar holes. We began to farm the part of Finley Lane we call “the nursery” in the early 1990’s. Twenty years later (2013) we purchased the property and expanded our operation there. Since then we’ve planted about 500 apple and pear trees.