Summer Tour: Videos 6-7 released on Wednesday, Aug 12th
Video 6: Farming in a freeze, hurricane, hail, and pandemic
Take a pit stop at the office to cool off and listen to a panel discussion with three local growers. Your guide Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist with Perennia is curious to learn how they have dealt with challenges over the last few years and any wisdom they can share. Hear from Larry Lutz, David Power, and Andrew Bishop. Over the last few years their farms have been faced with a freeze in June of 2018, hail and hurricane Dorian in 2019, and now COVID-19. Learn how they have adapted, tackled risks like fire blight, changed nursery tree practices, found new opportunities, and how they are adjusting during COVID-19.
Video 7: Thinning with an extra boost
The next stop is at Birchleigh Farm to follow up with a fruit thinning trial that is a repeat from last year. The primary investigator is your guide Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist with Perennia. She is especially interested to see how the heat wave affected the trial. Michelle brings you with her to the field to evaluate thinning efficacy and crop tolerance of thinner combinations using mineral oil. She shows you how her team measured fruitlet diameter using the Orchard Tools App in order to time thinning treatments. Follow the trial through significant stages including after flower fertilization, when phytotoxicity shows up, and after final fruit set. The research was funded by the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association and the NSDA Crop and Livestock Management Trials Program.
