August 9 column

This is what an apple "footie" looks like.

Here is a link to my column in today's edition of The Spokesman-Review: Traps, sprays help keep fruit free of pests. It's about a topic that is near and dear to my heart: growing tree fruits organically.

Since the most challenging tree fruits to grow are cherries, apples and pears, those are the ones I focused on. I also pointed out how my husband, Bill, and I have been fine-tuning our methods over the years. Each year, we learn a little more and have a little more success!

I hope you'll enjoy reading today's column.

I also promised in my column that I'd include links to previous posts about organic orchard practices, so here they are:

Fruits - Apple Barriers
Fruits - Organic Apple Report
It's Apple Harvest Time!
Cherries and Birds
Insect Alert: Spotted Wing Drosophila
Keeping the Birds Out of the Cherries

And here are two columns I wrote about Cole's Organic Orchard up on Green Bluff, which explains the methods orchardist Steve Cole uses:
1. Organic orchard (4/11/10)
2. Organic methods help trees thrive (9/12/08)