October Tips: Fruits and Nuts

October Tips: FRUITS AND NUTS

Smaller apples usually keep longer and bruise less.
Allow for air circulation when storing.

Prepare your soil now for planting raspberries in the spring. A pH of
5.8 to 6.5 and sandy-loam soil are best for raspberries. When
planting in a garden, avoid areas where tomatoes, eggplants, or
potatoes were planted to guard against verticillium wilt being in the
soil.

Nut trees are a fine addition to a large yard. They provide framing
and background for the house, shade in the summer, food for wildlife,
and a source of homegrown nuts.

Although most nut-producing trees grow tall and need plenty of room
to
expand, filberts (also called hazelnuts) are the exception. Without
pruning, they grow into large, suckering shrubs useful as an edible
hedge.
Alternatively, trim them into small landscape trees 15 to 25 feet
tall.

You can reduce the number of pests on fruit trees next year by
picking up and destroying all fallen fruit, branches, and leaves.
Worms and other pests feed on this fruit, overwinter in the soil, and
emerge in the spring to lay eggs and start the cycle all over again.

Many of the late-maturing apple varieties, such as Winesap, Yellow
Newton, Rome Beauty, and Northern Spy, are best for storage.
They can be stored outdoors in insulated boxes, straw-lined pits, or
buried containers. As long as outdoor temperatures are above 10F,
they should not freeze. They will, however, last longer and taste
better if kept in plastic bags or in plastic-lined, cardboard boxes
in a fruit cellar.
Cardboard boxes and plastic bags must be perforated to allow for air
circulation.

Most pears are grown on the West Coast, so to avoid bruising in
transit, they have to be shipped before they are ripe. Those hard
pears will become soft and juicy simply by putting the fruits in a
paper bag or a basket on top of the refrigerator or other warm place
for four to six days. The fruits will not ripen to a satisfactory
quality if they are kept in a plastic bag or in the refrigerator.

Strawberries covered in the fall with a spun-bonded polyester
material and uncovered in the spring just before bloom produced up to
60 percent more fruit than plants given the conventional straw or hay
mulch cover, reports Dr. James Pollard of the University of New
Hampshire.

Surround the trunks of fruit trees with hardware cloth or similar
wire, and bury the edges in the ground to prevent rodents from
chewing on them.

Clean up home orchard and small-fruit plantings.
Sanitation is essential for good maintenance. Dried fruits or
"mummies" carry disease organisms through the winter to attack next
year's crop.

Nut trees are a fine addition to the home landscape.
They may accent the house, provide shade in the summer, and even
become a good source of homegrown nuts.

To beat birds, squirrels, and other pests to your crops, prompt
harvesting is a must. This month harvest pecans, grapes, and pawpaws.

A final weeding of your strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries
will help keep weed problems down to a minimum. Start collecting
fresh pine needles or clean straw to mulch strawberries after the
ground has
frozen.