I was invited to speak at the Virginia Vineyard’s Association’s annual meeting in Charlottesville this past week and on the way back to the airport, Tony Wolf, Viticultural Specialist with Virginia Tech offered to give us a brief tour of a local vineyard. In this photo, Carl Tillam, vineyard manager, Tony Wolf and Hans Walter … […]

Well, forget everything I said about having a good chilling season.  Our warm spell for the past ten days has certainly not been good for perennial fruit crops.  These high temperatures roll back the chilling accumulation, although we cannot really say how much.  We are stuck at about 550 hours of winter chilling in Fredericksburg, … […]

After over ten years of applied research across the state and over a year of publication preparation, we are happy to release a practical overview and management guide on Pierce’s disease.  During the late 1990’s, this bacterial pathogen was devastating vineyards in the Texas Hill Country and was moving into production areas north and west … […]

Its the middle of January and at this point, growers are starting to wonder how the year is shaping up for winter chilling.  Commercial growers can apply growth regulators to overcome insufficient chilling, but they need to know and make the application in early February if it is needed.  For most, they may wonder, or … […]

Not sure about others, but slowing down and enjoying domestic life has always been an important part of enjoying the Christmas holidays for me.  With a bountiful pecan crop this year, I have been buying sacks of five to ten pounds of natives or improved seeding pecans from Weinheimer’s General Store in Stonewall, and shelling … […]

Now that plants are finaly in rest, its time to take cuttings from those we most easily propagate from dormant woody cuttings.  Figs are among the most easily propagated of all fruit crops.  We don’t use rootstocks with figs, so just own rooted cuttings do fine.  Fig trees themselves do better if they are tip … […]

After a pretty slow start to the winter(ish) season, a good hard freeze the past couple of mornings have taken us to full dormancy.   20°F on the morning of December 11th and 23° on the 12th appear to have taken care of what leaves were retained after mild freezes in mid-November.  Below are some of … […]

Its a great time of the year to be out in the orchards, the brutal heat of summer has passed, we have had some wonderful early fall soaking rains and some of my favorite fruit are ripening.  At our Fredericksburg Sustainable Fruit Plots, we have or are in the process of evaluating 26 varieties of … […]

After a number of years’ rest, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Specialists are once again sponsoring a two day conference for prospective, new and seasoned fruit growers alike. The renewed interest in locally grown produce and a heightened interest in high quality food not available at most stores has given rise to a new generation of … […]

We always look forward to the end of August and September for the maturity of one of my favorite fruit, and really one of the easiest to grow sustainably, pears.  Across Texas, and indeed all of the south, the variety of pears we can grow is limited by fire blight, a bacterial pathogen that will … […]