LOF Summer Fruit Tour -Wednesday, June 17 Featuring the Wayne County Fruit Industry

June 17, 2015


Full Schedule: Registration begins at Stop 1 at 8:00 AM. The tour runs from 8:30 AM - 4 PM.

Stop 1 - 8:00am - 10:30am: Windmill Farms, 193 County Line Rd., Ontario, 14519. Windmill Farms is becoming a state of the art operation with several new high density plantings. Dave Coene and his father Bob have planted new orchards including NY1, Gala, Fuji, and Honeycrisp in a tall spindle system. At this stop you will see a 10 acre planting of Gala/M.9377, NY1/M.9Nic29, and Fuji/M.9377 planted in 2013 and 2014. They invested in a deer fence in collaboration with several more NY growers and a consultant. Matt Wells and Dave Coene will discuss costs and how it has worked for them.
Dr. Terence Robinson will lead the discussion on precision crop load management of Honeycrisp and the management of NY1. Mario Miranda Sazo will show branch management results after vigorous feathers of Fuji were bent with pre-cut black annealed wires in late June 2014.

Stop 2 - 11:10am - 11:50am: Cherry Lawn Farms, 6420 Boyd Rd, Sodus, NY 14551. Ted Furber and Eric Budinger will talk about the orchard wind machine they use for frost/freeze protection in crops in this orchard and how they think it has benefited their bottom line. Art Agnello, Kerik Cox, and Deborah Breth will present a progress report for on-going research to control black stem borer in established apple orchards, and apple nurseries funded by Apple Research and Development Program and NYFVI. You will hear about the status of black stem borer trapping network across the region and the state.

Stop 3 - Noon—1:45pm: We will then proceed to Cherry Lawn's New Storage Facility at 6095 State Rte 14, North Rose, NY 14516 just north of Alton. Todd and Ted Furber will talk about the decision making process to build their own CA storage. Lunch will be served (thanks to the sponsors) by Burnap's Farm Market.
Sponsors will have an opportunity to show equipment demonstrations including platforms, new sprayer technology, and more. Enjoy lunch inside or outside the modern storage facility. Visit with sponsors, who will have tables inside the building, and equipment and demos outside.

Also hear Dr. Tomas Cabre (NYSAES, Geneva) discuss his latest spray deposition work.

Stop 4 - 2:00pm - 2:45pm: VanAcker Farms, 7233 Redman Rd., Williamson, NY 14589. Kathy Orbaker and Dan VanAcker will host the planting. In May 2009 a rootstock trial with Honeycrisp was established at this stop to make side by side comparisons of some of the new Cornell Geneva rootstocks. Dr. Terence Robinson and Mario Miranda Sazo will present a progress report of the ongoing research on average yield per tree, fruit weight, and efficiency of these rootstocks for this weak growing variety. You will also hear about diseases in peaches.

Stop 5 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm: DeFisher Fruit Farms 3274 Eddy Rd., Marion, NY 14505. The final stop for the day will be at DeFisher Fruit Farms and Apple Country Spirits. Bill and Dave DeFisher operate a 4th generation fruit farm, with their primary focus is on processing apples and tart cherries. At this stop we will discuss grafting or top-working. Bill and Dave have used this technique for many years to change over varieties that become difficult to market. Last year they converted an orchard to hard cider varieties to support their new venture in distilling and hard cider making. In 2012 the DeFisher's opened Apple Country Spirits in an effort to diversify their business and to utilize their own fruit in a value added enterprise. After the discussion on top-working we will visit the state of the art distillery to discuss the “buzz” about hard cider. Ian Merwin will provide more information on hard cider varieties.

Sorry, NO DEC Credits will be issued.