- IDFTA Summer
Tour Spotlight:
Lake Champlain Region
A pre-tour of Quebec, Canada will be Saturday, June 24. The regular tour of sites in New York and Vermont will be Monday and Tuesday, June 26 and 27. Headquarters will be the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center.
Lussier Orchard
The first stop at the Saturday pre-conference tour will be Lussier Orchards. Norman Lussier purchased this farm in 1943. A small orchard of about 10 acres was already established on it. Over the years, more apple trees were planted. By 1968, dairy and maple syrup operations were phased out in favor of fruit growing.
In 1975, Gerald Lussier took over from his father Norman and made major improvements such as tile drainage, drip irrigation and dwarf fruit plantings. In 1984, Gerald’s brother Paul joined the business.
Today, Lussier Orchards consists of 100 acres of apples, including 55 acres of dwarf trees (M.26, Mark, interstem 9/111, Bud.9), 35 acres of semi-dwarf trees (M.7, MM.106, Ainarp) and 10 acres of standard trees.
Varieties include Lodi, Vista Bella, Jersey Mac, Paulared, Lobo, Jonamac, McIntosh, Spartan, Cortland, Empire and Golden Russet. Since 1995, trees have been on the Solaxe training system.
Stevenson Orchards
Located in Franklin Centre, Stevenson Orchards has 90 acres of trees. Most are on dwarfing rootstocks, such as M. 26, M.106, MM.111 and M.7. A few standard trees remain. Varieties grown are McIntosh, Cortland, Lobo, Empire and Spartan.
The business started in 1979 in a 4,900-square foot building by James Leahy and his sons Michael and Danny. In the fall of 1980, a dozen seasonal employees joined the team. At that time, the only items manufactured were fresh apple slices or cubes. Later on, apple pie, turnover pie fillings and applesauce were added.
In 1988, the company expanded and hired a controller, director of sales and quality control specialist. In 1990, the company purchased the Applesnax-Delipomme trademark and began production and marketing of individual sized portions of applesauce. In 1991, it introduced applesauce mixed with other fruit, such as apple-peach and apple-strawberry.
Petch Orchard
This third-generation operation has 110 acres of apples and one acre of pears. The original trees were planted in 1920. Main apple varieties are McIntosh and Cortland. Other varieties include Spartan, Empire, Lobo and Golden Russet and a number of test plots. The pears are all Flemish Beauty.
Rootstocks consist of M.7, M.26, M.9, Bud.9, Ott.3 and many standard trees. All attempts at using dwarfing pear rootstock have fallen prey to winter kill.
The operation includes u-pick areas and a sales area where apples, cider, jellies, doughnuts and other items are marketed.
This stop will be followed by a visit to Quebec Vegetable Distributors. Approximately 500 acres of black organic soil have been developed and 300 more are available for development. Vegetables grown are primarily carrots and onions.
Registration takes place Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. At 7 p.m., an information session will cover climactic aspects of the Champlain Valley and demographics of the apple production areas in Quebec, New York and Vermont.
Monday registration begins at 6:45 a.m. Buses will depart the Sheraton at 8 a.m.
Chazy Orchards
The 300 acres of Chazy Orchards includes the site where Jean Laframboise planted the first apple trees in the northern part of the Champlain Valley in 1763. The orchard is now 1,300 acres and was planted by the Delaware and Hudson Railroad as part of a land development and farm market shipping enterprise between 1924 and 1931. The original planting had more than 43,000 trees of McIntosh, Snow, Northern Spy, Lowry and Kendall.
Beginning in the 1980s, all new plantings were put on M.111 rootstock. In 1990, the first planting was made on M.26 using a staked central leader planting system at 200 trees per acre. In 1997, the first vertical axe system was planted with M.26 at 350 trees to the acre and with Bud. 9 at 450 trees to the acre.
Before 1999, 80% of plantings were McIntosh and 20% were Cortland. In 1999, Honeycrisp was added to this mix. Today’s 1,200-acre farm now has roughly 90,000 trees in the ground on about 700 bearing acres and 100 nonbearing acres. The orchard has been in the Green family since the late 1930s.
While at Chazy Orchards, Tre Green, known as “The McIntosh Ambassador,” will discuss the historic significance and current production of McIntosh. Chris Watkins will talk about storage strategies for McIntosh. Jon Nyrop and Kevin Iungerman will discuss a predatory mite release experiment that started in Clinton County in the spring of 1996 as a backdrop to predator mite introduction at Chazy Orchard this season. David Rosenberger will discuss apple scab.
Just down the road from Chazy Orchards, the tour will stop and view a John Deere tractor collection owned by Tony Trombly.
Forrence Orchards
The Forrence family settled the Champlain Valley in 1807 and was recently awarded the century Farm Award by the New York State Agricultural Society. In 1954, Virgil Forrence and his three sons Roger, William and Virgil incorporated the farm. They built their first cold storage in 1956 and since then have expanded both their storage and production capacities.
Today, Mason, McIntosh, Cortland, Peter and Seth Forrence farm 1,000 acres and produce and store approximately a half-million bushels of apples. McIntosh makes up 75% of the production, Cortland is 15% and the remainder is Paulared, Empire, Delicious and Jersey Mac.
Forty percent of the acreage is planted on MM.106, MM.111, and M.7 spaced at 15 feet by 24 feet. Another 20% is interstems, mostly M.9/MM.11, and M.26 spaced at 10 feet by 18 feet. These trees are central leader trained and some have had considerable renewal pruning. Ten percent of the acreage is planted at five feet by 16 feet or less with M.26, M.9/MM.111 or M.9 on the Vertical Axe system. Most recent plantings include irrigation.
Peter Forrence will demonstrate a hand packing station the way it was done in the past and will then show a new line. Mason Forrence will show the vertical axe planting system now being adopted. Winter cold will be a significant area of discussion as will the need for irrigation for early tree production. Jim Schutt will speak about fall defoliation work and help with the planting system and variety part of the discussion. Terrence Robinson will discuss pruning, training and establishing the orchard.
A buffet luncheon will follow at Royal Savage Restaurant in Valcor, N.Y.
Everett Orchards
This sixth-generation farm is located in the northwest corner of the Champlain Valley just south of the city of Plattsburgh. Apples are grown on three sites totaling 235 acres. The original home farm consists of standard trees planted in the 1960s and dwarf replants set out in the 1990s. The replant blocks feature M.9/MM.111 interstems, M.26 and a few M.9.
The nearby Sears Farm is a 100-acre semi-dwarf orchard of MM.111 planted in the 1970s. The Don G. property was purchased in 1995 following the sale and breakup of the former orchard of that name. The first replants of that farm were made in 1997. Trees are being trained to the Vertical Axe system. Rootstocks are M.9, Bud.9, M.26 and G.30.
Total bearing area is 200 acres and yields are 140,000 bushels annually. The main variety is McIntosh. Other varieties include Cortland, Empire, Red Delicious, Paulared, Spartan and Jersey Mac. Recent additions are Honeycrisp, Gingergold and Gala.
Rulf’s Orchard and Farm Market
Robert Rulf came to Peru, N.Y. in 1954 and started his business with four cows and the purchase of 10 acres of old orchard. Over the years, the operation has diversified into vegetables, bedding plants, small fruit and expanded apple acreage. Today, Rulf farms includes approximately 200 acres on two adjacent properties.
McIntosh is the primary apple, although 14 other varieties are grown for both the farm’s retail stand as well as local market outlets. The original orchard was replanted to MM.106 and some MM.111. Apple trees account for approximately 75 acres.
Northern Orchard
Northern Orchard was one of the first commercial orchards in the Champlain Valley.
Today’s orchard is 460 acres, including 100 rented acres. Fruit is packed on the premises and sold mostly wholesale. Most of the trees are McIntosh, with additional varieties of Cortland, Paulared and Macoun. Since the 1990s, Honeycrisp has joined McIntosh as a major cultivar choice.
A forum on Honeycrisp is scheduled for this stop. Susan Brown, Paul Wooley, Dave Bedford, Jim Schupp and Chris Watkins will lead the discussion.
Gunnison Orchard
This will include two stops. At the first stop, Hugh and Will Gunnison will discus the circumstances leading to the erection of extensive deer fencing in 1999. A special imported post driver will be demonstrated.
Mike Fargione of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Hudson Valley Fruit Program, will review the pros and cons of alternative deer control methods. Fargione and Kevin Iungerman consulted with the Gunnisons on their deer fence. Caleb Torrice of Oswego County Extension will describe deer control with dogs, a method pioneered by his father, Jack.
At the second stop, Robinson will discuss and demonstrate the lessons being learned from nearly 10 years of the extensive Vertical Axe, CG rootstock trial at the Gunnison Orchard.
Today’s farm is 500 acres spread out over several sites. Apples are planted on 160 acres. Another 160 acres are suitable for apples but are instead used for timber. Plantings of McIntosh make up approximately 60% of the apple acreage. Empire, Cortland and Delicious make up another 13%, 10% and 5%. The Macs will be replanted, and will be joined by Honeycrisp.
Approximately half the orchard is planted on seedling stock; another 10% to 15% is on interstems; and 20% is on M7. Over the past few years, planting has shifted to M.9 and Bud. 9.
Sentinel Pine Orchards
This orchard will host launch on a block started in 1977 and features trees that are prone to lean because of breezes coming from the lake. Many different types of tree support systems have been tried over the years, and some of these systems will be demonstrated. Last year, Hurricane Floyd took some more trees and techniques to upright storm-damaged trees will be covered.
Sentinel Pine is a 280-acre orchard located in Addison County. It is one of the largest orchards in Vermont and has a long history of cooperating with the University of Vermont in conducting research, including research on ReTain.
W. Blodgett Sr. started Sentinel Pine Orchards in 1964 with 70 acres of mostly seedling McIntosh. Today, Bill and Whit Blodgett, his sons, run this operation which produces a yearly average of 86,000 bushels, of which approximately 70% is McIntosh. The apples are grafted on a wide variety of rootstocks ranging from M.7 to M.9. The apples grown at this orchard have been stored and packed for the past 25 years.
West Meadows Farm
Lunch will be served at this orchard, which hosts innovative IPM practices. The only standard insecticide applications are at petal fall and first cover.
The final stops on the tour will be either a tour of the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory or the Cold Hollow Cider Mill.
For more information on registration and tour details, contact IDFTA at (570) 837-1551 or fax (570) 837-0090.
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