Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/654468
8 MARCH 15, 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com cherries and stone fruit, said Karen Lewis, a Washing- ton State University Extension educator in Moses Lake, Washington. Royal Slope grower Mike Robinson, who is also gen- eral manager of Double Diamond Fruit in Quincy, Wash- ington, was one of the early adopters about five years ago. He wanted more control in his apricots than is offered by the tractor-mounted systems, but hand-thinning costs thousands of dollars per acre in labor. Robinson liked the string thinners so much he began using them on apples about two years ago, determining through trials that one worker holding a string thinner can knock down 50 percent of the blossoms at the same pace as 10 hand thinners. He now owns about 15 string thinners and is still fine-tuning his practice. String thinners are not perfect, Robinson cautioned. He still sends employees to clean up blossoms by hand in places, while sometimes the thinners tangle with trellis twine. Also, some studies have shown that string thin- ning can spread fire blight, though he has had no such trouble so far himself. "It's like every new idea," he said. "It takes time to make it work correctly." • IFTA presents awards at national conference T he International Fruit Tree Association presented its 2016 award winners at the annual conference awards banquet in February in Grand Rapids, Michigan. —Researcher of the Year: Dr. Randy Beaudry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. Beaudry has several research programs that deal with postharvest preservation of fruit, including modeling respiration of apple slices in packages, inhibiting fungal activities in sliced apples and studying changes in chloro- phyll fluorescence in apple ripening. —Extension Award: Amy Irish-Brown, a tree fruit exten- sion educator from Michigan State University in Grand Rapids. —Grower Award: Ed Wit- tenbach, Belding, Michigan. Wittenbach, with more than 45 years in the fruit business, is a former member of the U.S. Apple Association Board of Trustees and a former member of the IFTA Board of Directors. He and his family replace about 10 percent of their orchard each year to keep pace with changing consumer and market demands, according to Michigan Apple Committee. —Industry Service Award: Ken Hall, former IFTA pres- ident, Poplar Grove, Illinois. Hall also was the first president of the IFTA Research Founda- tion, a fundraising nonprofit designed to help fund research. —Hall of Fame Award: Harold Thome, grower, Grand Rapids. Thome Orchards has been one of the early adopters of precision orchard systems and techniques, such as mechanical hedging and high-density plantings. —Ross Courtney Randy Beaudry Amy Irish-Brown Ed Wittenbach Ken Hall Harold Thome Orchard Proven, University Tested 610 Central Avenue Billings, MT 59102 (406) 248-5856 1-800-735-5323 www.scentry.com Bee-Scent research data obtained from Dr. Dan Mayer, Washington State University For more information, call 1-800-735-5323 or visit www.scentry.com. Bee-Scent's natural, non-toxic pheromone ingredient induces the foraging behavior in honey bees, increasing the number of bee-to-blossom visits at each tree. The result is a higher percentage of blossom set and increased fruit yields. • Increase Fruit Set on Pears, Cherries and Braeburn Apples! • Increase Size Potential of Gala Apples by Increasing the Seed Complement! • Conforms to National Organic Program Standards • WSDA Organic Certi ed ReflexSun Reflective Film Increases Profitability! Fruit Color Crop Quality Earlier and Homogeneous Harvest Affordability Contact us to learn more about our ReflexSun products or to place an order: info@chamberlinag.com 509.663.7151 www.chamberlinag.com Reflective Film for Orchards Reflective Mulch for Vegetables Pest Control Weed Control Very Impermeable Film (can reduce amount of fumigant) Moisture Retention