Sorting Apples, Grafting Apple Trees & Pruning

   We still have many harvested apples and cracked pecans for sale.  On rainy days like today, I spend all day sorting and packing apples in the sales building.  So we now have several 20-lb. boxes of 'GoldRush' apples ready to sell, replacing the ones that customers bought over the past few days.  Bill just cracked another batch of pecans a few days ago, since most of the pecan bags from his last cracking had sold.

Today I sorted 'GoldRush' apples, harvested in Nov. 2019 into the big green bin at center. I packed them into green trays of #1 apples (front) and blue trays of #2 apples (rear).

   We also have #2 apples, with small cracks or other surface damage, which are fine for making apple butter, apple pecan pancakes, applesauce, apple pecan topping for waffles, apple pie filling, etc.  We have many #2 'Enterprise' apples, and they're excellent for making apple pie filling, apple butter or other apple products.  We also have some #2 'GoldRush' apples with rain cracks, and some #2 apples of some selections from my apple breeding program, excellent for blending in applesauce or apple butter.
   Small amounts of harvested #1 apples cost $1.30 per pound + tax.  You save $1.00 if you buy a 20-lb. box of apples for $25.00 + tax.
   Our harvested #2 (2nds) apples sell for just $0.93 per pound + tax, so a 20-lb. box costs $18.60 + tax, which is $7.00 less than a box of #1 apples, including tax.  If you get 40 lbs. or more of #2 apples, the price goes down to just $0.88 per pound + tax, so each 20-lb. box costs $17.59 + tax, and 40 lb. of #2 apples costs just $35.18 + tax. 
   We sell mixed selections from Bill's pecan breeding program in 4-pound bags.  Each bag of cracked pecans has the equivalent of 6 pounds of in-shell pecans, and when you pick them out, you get at least 3 pounds of nutmeats.  These are all large pecans with thin shells and great taste.  Each 4-lb. bag costs $16.67 + tax.
   We also sell smaller, 1-pound bags of cracked 'Kanza' pecans.  You get at least 3/4 pound of nutmeats when you pick out these pecans.  Each 1-lb. 'Kanza' bag costs $4.63 + tax.
   When the weather's good, we're very busy with field work all over the farm.  On Mon. April 20, Bill and I finally finished pruning all our pear trees, and Bill sprayed a plant growth regulator on the pears to thin excess fruit.  We still need to prune all the peach trees and most of the apple trees, and later we'll have to do a lot of fruit thinning of peaches and apples.
   Yesterday, Bill began grafting apple rootstocks to selections from my apple breeding program.  We planted M7 dwarfing apple rootstocks a year ago, and let them grow for a year to establish their root systems.  Now Bill's propagating some popular apple selections that resulted from controlled pollinations I made between apple varieties, all immune to apple scab disease.

Yesterday Bill topworked these apple trees to a new variety, 'Jonasun', a selection from my apple breeding program. These trees were 'Crimson Crisp', which proved very susceptible to fire blight disease. 'Jonasun' resists fire blight and apple scab and has better fruit quality.

   Yesterday, our workers and I finally finished the delayed-dormant pruning of our thornless blackberries.  Now we're pruning and tying up the raspberry canes.
   Last Sat. morning we had a 30 F frost that didn't hurt the developing fruit crops, but did kill the tips of emerging asparagus.  It takes about a week for many new asparagus spears to start growing after a frost like that, so I've harvested very little asparagus in the last few days.
   We'll start harvesting more asparagus next week, and will keep harvesting and selling it until early June.  We grow 'Jersey Knight' asparagus, an all-male variety that produces high yields of thicker spears since there are no female plants that spend energy producing berries.  I snap the spears where they break easily, so almost the entire harvested spear is tender and usable.
   Asparagus is sold harvested, still for $2.78 per pound + tax, and is limited.  So you do need to phone 620-597-2450 a day or two ahead and leave a message on our answering machine to order it, saying about how many pounds you want to get, and the day and time you'll come get it.
   We're still open by appointment until May 31, so you also need to phone 620-597-2450 a day or two ahead and leave a message on our answering machine to order apples and/or pecans.  I return calls after dark to confirm your appointment.