Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/705612
www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower AUGUST 2016 17 Early Robins bloom like crazy, but the ovules have a short window of viability that leads to a low rate of fruit set, Whiting warned. All those blooms set growers up for frustration when yields turn out low. "These things have copious amounts of blooms and they're popping flowers for a week, even on a year like this," Hayden said. He applies ReTain (ami- noethoxyvinylglycine) at 10 percent to 20 percent bloom to try to extend the polli- nation window and augments honeybee pollination with dusters. Early Robins also struggle with myste- rious spots of blind wood, especially close to the trunk on his V-trellis trees, Hayden said. He tried cutting way down on his growth regulator Promalin (gibberellins and benzyladenine) rates to no avail. "It's an odd phenomenon," he said. Compared to other varieties, the Early Robin tends to throw a high percent of floral buds at the base of new shoots, Whiting said. The next year, those end up as blind wood. Overhead cooling for bloom? Kennewick grower Tod Wilmoth, the tour's second stop, also struggled with blind wood but was more frustrated with inconsistent fruit set, especially in warm weather during bloom. "I can't figure out why it doesn't set," Wilmoth said. He said he might try over- head cooling at bloom time. That could backfire because water on the flowers may reduce the viability of pollen. Whiting also advised against under-canopy cooling because increas- ing the humidity around the tree will reduce its natural cooling through tran- spiration, Whiting said. "This is a serious issue," Whiting said of fruit set problems due to heat during bloom. Whiting warned growers pollinating with dusters to use fully compatible pol- len in which both alleles of the flowers on the pollinizer and crop plant match, not just semi-compatible pollen, in which only one allele works. Avoid competing with Rainiers Former nursery owner Dena Perleberg Ybarra recommended growing Early Robin trees in areas where they won't compete directly with Rainiers. The idea, after all, behind the Early Robin is to extend the blush season. Perleberg Ybarra formerly owned Willow Drive Nursery, the first nursery to have a license to sell Early Robin. She warned growers that Early Robin has problems. The trees are not very pro- ductive, though they perform better on Gisela rootstocks over Mazzard. The fruit is prone to heat-induced doubling and rain cracking. "Early Robins are definitely farmed differently," she said. Gary Snyder, co-owner of C&O Nursery in Wenatchee, warned growers and shippers to make sure they are con- nected to a sales team that knows how to sell Early Robins and move fruit during the early market. "As an industry overall, if you are going to be in the market for a blonde that is early, then you want that in your portfolio," Snyder said. • Some Early Robin growers have noticed spots of blind wood, such as here at Denny Hayden's orchard in Pasco, Washington. Early Robin