On this episode of the Orchard Outlook podcast we’re taking shelter from the wind. I’ve witnessed some impressive windstorms since I moved to Nova Scotia. Whether it’s a nor’easter, post-tropical storm, or just your typical gusts and gales. Our guest Jenny Liu explains the value of windbreaks, species composition, design tips, and maintenance. She’s going to blow you away with helpful information.

Jenny Liu is the Maple, Tree Nut, and Agroforestry Specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. She completed her forestry undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia and then set her sights on agriculture, earning a Master’s in agricultural entomology at the University of Guelph.

Show notes:

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/neworchard/english/apples/16windbreak.html

http://omafra.gov.on.ca/english/environment/facts/windbreaks.htm

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia @nstreefruit Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

Description: For today’s Orchard Outlook episode you’re going to want to store this information. Literally, use it in the storage room. From the moment of picking fruit they’re destined to deteriorate… but not on the watch of storage room operators. Our guest Dr. Robert (Bob) Prange opens the door on storage conditions to explain the relationships between temperature, moisture, and gases and fruit quality.

Guest: Dr. Robert Prange is an Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University and was formerly Senior Research Scientist of Postharvest Biology and Technology at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. During a career-long passion for post-harvest storage he was a co-author of the 3rd edition of the book ‘Controlled Atmosphere Storage of Fruit and Vegetables’ and recently authored “Controlled Atmosphere Storage of Apples and Pears”. He has received a number of awards including Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science and Canadian Partners in Technology Transfer Award.

Show notes: For the book “Controlled Atmosphere Storage of Apples and Pears” contact [email protected]

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

On today’s episode of the Orchard Outlook podcast you might wonder why we’re talking about millet, mustard, and canola on an orchard podcast. It’s not for a salad folks. No, we have far greater motives. Our guest Tianna DuPont explains how cover crops can address soil health constraints, what cover crops are promising, and how we get the most bang for our buck. This podcast was funded in part by the On-Farm Climate Action Fund.

Guest: Tianna DuPont is a tree fruit extension specialist working with growers to scale up and apply research recommendations in the field. She was recently involved in a soil health investigation in Washington orchards that compared high and low yielding blocks to focus on soil health constraints. She previously worked with cover crops in vegetable and small grain systems in Pennsylvania and is now contributing the knowledge to the tree fruit industry.

Show notes: For more information from our guest Tianna DuPont, visit http://treefruit.wsu.edu.

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

Description

This episode is Part 2 of 2 on the apple scab disease. If you haven’t listened to Part 1 you should give it a go first. On Part 2 now, our guest will answer questions about management practices including fungicides, modeling, and orchard sanitation. So here he is again, and the passionate pathology continues, with our guest Dr. Srdjan Acimovic!

Biography

Dr. Srdjan Acimovic is an Assistant Professor of tree fruit and specialty crop pathology at Virginia Tech’s Alson H. Smith Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center. In a prior role he was an Extension Associate of plant pathology at Cornell University’s Hudson Valley Laboratory. Dr. Acimovic was a recipient of an Early Career Achievement Award by the American Phytopathological Society in March 2021.

Show notes:

· The Acimovic Lab website: https://blogs.cornell.edu/acimoviclab/

· RIMPro decision support service for the management of pests in apple: https://rimpro.cloud

· In this podcast, Perennia representatives and episode guests mention the RIMPro service but it is neither an endorsement of the service nor a suggestion that similar services are ineffective.

· On Twitter @SAcimovic_VTech

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

On today’s episode of the Orchard Outlook podcast we are finally putting the spotlight on the most economically significant apple fungal disease! You guessed it, apple scab. We need to know where this fungus is lurking and its relationship with weather conditions. Our guest Dr. Srdjan Acimovic joins us on Part 1 to uncover the organism responsible for scab (recorded on March 9, 2022).

Biography:

Dr. Srdjan Acimovic is an Assistant Professor of tree fruit and specialty crop pathology at Virginia Tech’s Alson H. Smith Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center. In a prior role he was an Extension Associate of plant pathology at Cornell University’s Hudson Valley Laboratory. Dr. Acimovic was a recipient of an Early Career Achievement Award by the American Phytopathological Society in March 2021.

Show notes:

· The Acimovic Lab website: https://blogs.cornell.edu/acimoviclab/

· RIMPro decision support service for the management of pests in apple: https://rimpro.cloud

· In this podcast, Perennia representatives and episode guests mention the RIMPro service but it is neither an endorsement of the service nor a suggestion that similar services are ineffective.

· On Twitter @SAcimovic_Vtech

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

On today’s episode of the Orchard Outlook podcast, we’re chillin’. Temperatures are dropping… and it might not be the most wonderful time of the year if you’re a recently pruned tree. How cold, how quickly, and when are all questions that are up in the air. Today’s guest Dr. Richard Marini is a horticulturist extraordinaire bringing us his wisdom on cold tolerance.

Biography:

Dr. Richard Marini is a Professor of Horticulture at PennState University. His areas of expertise are tree and small fruit physiology, fruit production systems, and data analysis. He has also been closely involved in apple rootstock evaluations. In recognition of his work, Dr. Marini has received many honours and awards in horticultural science.

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

Welcome to the start of season 3 of the Orchard Outlook podcast! On today’s episode, we’re germinating a wealth of information about troublesome weeds. Perennial weeds in particular are like the unwanted gift that keeps on giving, as their underground root systems proliferate. Today’s guest, Dr. Lynn Sosnoskie, helps us creep into weed biology to understand how to manage these prolific plants.

Biography: Dr. Lynn Sosnoskie is an assistant professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science Horticulture at Cornell AgriTech. Her extension and research focus is on weed biology and management in specialty crops. She takes on understanding the life cycles of really pesky weeds!

Show notes:

Twitter @LynnSosnoskie

Cornell: https://cals.cornell.edu/lynn-m-sosnoskie

War Against Weeds guest episode with Dr. Lynn Sosnoskie “Building a Crop Rotation for Specialty Crops”: https://waragainstweeds.libsyn.com/building-a-crop-rotation-for-specialty-crops (or anywhere you get your podcasts)

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

Today’s episode of the Orchard Outlook podcast is all about the annoying and persistent disease powdery mildew, folks. It’s there flagging shoots and curling leaves leading to some ghostly-looking Honeycrisp and Cortland trees. Today’s guests Dr. Kerik Cox and graduate student David Strickland are like ghost busters researching management strategies for tree fruit diseases like powdery mildew to bust away those white and fuzzy symptoms.

Guest: Dr. Kerik Cox is an associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section at Cornell AgriTech. To address pain points for growers, he wields his pathology expertise to focus on antimicrobial resistance and very applied disease management. In his extension appointment, he also focuses on pesticide education and disease forecasting.

David Strickland is a Ph.D. candidate in Kerik’s program and his focus is apple powdery mildew. He’s investigating applied solutions for the management of this disease including field trials to explore efficacy and optimize fungicide applications and work on disease resistance.

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

In today’s episode, we find out juicy information about local food. We check in with our guest Patrick Kelly about the buy local program, how local food is defined, in-store signage, and some pandemic response. Nova Scotians want to buy local and our guest explains how buy local promotion is helping customers identify and purchase local food products in retail stores.

Guest: Patrick Kelly is the Buy Local Development Officer for Perennia and the NS Department of Agriculture. His work on the Buy Local marketing team has contributed to the development of effective marketing initiatives, aimed at creating a recognizable brand for Nova Scotians to feel confident in their decisions when purchasing high quality, locally grown and produced, Nova Scotia food and beverages.

Show notes: A directory of food and beverage businesses in Nova Scotia: https://buylocal.novascotia.ca

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]

As I was driving to a farm this month, I listened to our very first episode from 2019 about fire blight. Not only is it our most popular episode but it’s also timely. So I’ve decided to release this episode to revisit my conversation with Dr. George Sundin. This episode is oozing with information about bacterial growth on flowers and in trees, misconceptions, trauma blight, and why antibiotics need to be timely.

Guest: Dr. Sundin is a Professor of Plant Pathology and runs the Tree Fruit Pathology Lab at Michigan State University.  He performs extension and research in tree fruit disease control including management of fire blight, fungicide resistance, and the evaluation of new bactericides and fungicides.

Website: www.perennia.ca

Host: Michelle Cortens, Tree Fruit Specialist

Follow us on Twitter: @nsperennia @nstreefruit

Connect with us on: Instagram: @nsperennia Facebook: @nsperennia

Music: A Sunny Day by J. Tones

Logo Created by: Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.

Email us at: [email protected]