BCTF Horticultural Message
October 8, 2014
Return Bins
Half bins (not being used for apples) need to be returned by Oct 15th. Demurrage (rental)
charges of $10.00 per week per bin begin after that date.
In the Orchard:
Do not apply glyphosate (Round-up, Touchdown, etc) herbicides yet. We see damage most springs
from the fall applied glyphosate. It is best to avoid using this herbicide until the tree has lost its leaves;
very late in October or early November.
We do not recommend pruning soft fruit at this time. Removal of big wood in over vigorous trees may
be beneficial if there are no bacterial canker problems in the block, but the detailed pruning should be
left until the trees are dormant.
Weekend Receiving Hours
Oliver, Osoyoos, Keremeos, Penticton, Summerland, Vaughan, Roanoke, Rutland, Winfield and
Vernon will be closed this Sunday, October 12th and open on Thanksgiving Monday.
Apple Harvest:
Honeycrisp harvest is pretty much finished. There is no established end date, but growers should
multiple pick Honeycrisp by red colour as soon as the background colour has broken from hard green to
light green/lime green.
XF1 Honeycrisp require 25% #4 colour
XF2 Honeycrisp require 25% #2 colour
Fancy Honeycrisp only require a show of red colour.
Golden harvest is wrapping up. We are aiming for a slightly more golden coloured Golden Delicious this
year. In the picture below the colour of the 2 apples on the right are ready for harvest. The apple on
the left is too green.
Golden 2014
Area Sug .Start
Last A
Last ABC
Start AB D
1
22-Sep
28-Sep
7-Oct
8-Oct
2
22-Sep
28-Sep
7-Oct
8-Oct
3
23-Sep
29-Sep
8-Oct
9-Oct
4
28-Sep
4-Oct
13-Oct
14-Oct
5
1-Oct
7-Oct
16-Oct
17-Oct
6
2-Oct
8-Oct
17-Oct
18-Oct
7
4-Oct
10-Oct
20-Oct
21-Oct
8
6-Oct
12-Oct
21-Oct
22-Oct
9
6-Oct
12-Oct
21-Oct
22-Oct
Added 1 day to Last day A Area 8&9 and Area 7 Last Day ABC
due to Sunday closing
In order to receive more mature Goldens we have changed the parameters for A, B and C category as
follows:
A Category Golden Delicious averages less than 4.5 on the Golden starch chart.
B Category Golden Delicious averages 4.5 to less than 5.5 and pays 10% less.
C Category Golden Delicious averages 5.5 or over and pays up to 25% less.
Spartan Harvest has started in all Areas.
Spartan 2014
Area Sug .Start
Last A
Last ABC
Start AB D
1
18-Sep
24-Sep
3-Oct
4-Oct
2
18-Sep
24-Sep
3-Oct
4-Oct
3
22-Sep
28-Sep
7-Oct
8-Oct
4
23-Sep
29-Sep
8-Oct
9-Oct
5
25-Sep
1-Oct
10-Oct
11-Oct
6
27-Sep
3-Oct
12-Oct
13-Oct
7
28-Sep
4-Oct
13-Oct
14-Oct
8
30-Sep
6-Oct
15-Oct
16-Oct
9
1-Oct
7-Oct
16-Oct
17-Oct
Added one day to Area 6 Last day ABC due to Sunday
Closing.
A Category fruit averages less than 3.0 on the Spartan starch chart.
B Category fruit averages 3.0 to less than 4.0 and pays up to 10% less.
C Category fruit averages 4.0 or over and pays up to 25% less.
X-Fancy Spartans require 65% #6 colour.
Fancy Spartans require 30% #4 colour.
Ambrosia Harvest is underway in Area 1-3. Penticton and Naramata Area 4 growers are strongly
encouraged to start picking before the Suggested Start Date as they are more mature than the northern
Area 4 Ambrosia. We expect fruit from Penticton and Naramata to go B or C category on the first day of
the ABC window.
Ambrosia 2014
Area Sug .Start Last A
Last ABC
Start AB D
1
19-Sep
29-Sep
6-Oct
7-Oct
2
19-Sep
29-Sep
6-Oct
7-Oct
3
21-Sep
1-Oct
8-Oct
9-Oct
4
2-Oct
8-Oct
17-Oct
18-Oct
5
3-Oct
9-Oct
18-Oct
19-Oct
6
5-Oct
11-Oct
20-Oct
21-Oct
7
6-Oct
13-Oct
21-Oct
22-Oct
8
9-Oct
15-Oct
24-Oct
25-Oct
9
10-Oct
16-Oct
25-Oct
26-Oct
Area 7 added one day to Last day A due to Sunday
closing.
XFancy Ambrosia require 30% #4 red colour
Fancy Ambrosia require 25% #2 red colour.
Nicola Harvest starts at about 4 on the Cornell Starch chart. If the colour is poor, or the background
colour not breaking please do not pick, consult your fieldman.
Most Area 1to 4 Nicola are ready for harvest.
All lots of fresh market Nicola with good internal quality will go A Category.
XFancy Nicola require 65% #6 red colour.
Fancy Nicola require 40% #4 red colour.
Red Delicious Harvest
Red Delicious 2014
Area Sug. Start
Last A
Last ABC AB Div
1
1-Oct
7-Oct
16-Oct
17-Oct
2
1-Oct
7-Oct
16-Oct
17-Oct
3
5-Oct 11-Oct
20-Oct
21-Oct
4
8-Oct 14-Oct
23-Oct
24-Oct
5
10-Oct 16-Oct
25-Oct
26-Oct
6
12-Oct 18-Oct
27-Oct
28-Oct
7
14-Oct 20-Oct
29-Oct
30-Oct
8
15-Oct 21-Oct
30-Oct
31-Oct
9
16-Oct 22-Oct
31-Oct
1-Nov
BCXFancy1 Red Delicious requires 90% #6 red colour
BCXFancy Red Delicious requires 65% # red colour.
Fancy Red Delicious requires 40% #6 red colour.
Granny Smith harvest may start in Area 1 & 2 October 8th. Harvest may start in Area 3 October 10th and
Area 4 and later on or after October 11th. There are no end dates for Granny Smith.
BCXFancy Granny require less than 16% red blush
XFancy 1 Granny Smith have 16 to 35% red blush
XFancy (blush) fruit has more than 35% red blush
Salish
We are coming up to harvest for Salish. Please contact your fieldperson to maturity test your fruit
before picking. This year growers should pick Salish into plastic half bins.
Fuji
We are maturity testing Fuji and do not expect harvest to start before October 26th.
Pears
All pears from West Kelowna and north will be received at Vaughan only.
Anjou Pear harvest is underway. Anjou pears must average less than 16 pounds average at receiving to
go A category.
Post Harvest Nutrients: Post harvest, but before leaf fall is a good time to apply foliar nutrient sprays.
Applications of nitrogen, zinc and boron are beneficial on all tree fruits at this time. Phosphorous and
magnesium may also be beneficial.
Nitrogen: Urea at 5 – 10 kg/acre (or a combination of Urea and 20-20-20 or Calcium nitrate)
Zinc: Zintrac 400ml/acre or Tiger Claw Zn at 1.5 Lt/acre
Boron: Solubor at 2kg/acre OR Bortrac at 400ml/acre
Magnesium: Hydromag 800 ml/acre OR Tiger Claw Mg 1Lt/acre OR Epsom Salts 7 kg/acre.
Phosphorous: Use some 5 kg/acre 20-20-20 in place of some of the Urea.
Prunes, Peaches, Nectarines, & Apricots should have a fall fixed copper at the high rate of 3.6 kg/acre.
Apply after the crop is off, but before autumn rains.
Young cherries (under 5 years old) and older cherry blocks with bacterial canker should apply a fixed
copper spray at the 3.6 kg/acre rate when about 50% of the leaves have fallen. This will help (a bit) with
preventing new infections. Wait until leaf fall; you are trying to protect the leaf scars from infection.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Lindsay Hainstock
250-498-7091 [email protected]
Charlotte Leaming
250-490-5717 [email protected]
Steve Brown
250-490-1846 [email protected]
Molly Thurston
250-864-8640 [email protected]
Kelly Berringer
778-214-1403 [email protected]
Hank Markgraf
250-979-2612 [email protected]
Tony DiMaria
250-550-4827 [email protected]