Evento

Orcharding on the Westside Parts 1 & 2

Western Washington's weather always gets a bad rap when it comes to growing healthy tree fruit like apples, pears, peaches, and cherries.

Westside growers are fortunate that the many years of WSU Extension research into variety and growing technique improvements are coming to fruition.

New, disease resistant cultivars combined with updated methods of pruning, pest, and fertility management are helping westside growers establish healthy tree fruit orchards.

During this two-part series, you'll learn about the basics of tree fruit production including variety and rootstock selection for each different fruit type, nutrient and pest management planning for organic and conventional orchards, irrigation, orchard layout, planting, pruning, and harvest indices.

Part 1 is Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013 from 6-9pm and Part 2 will be Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013 from 6-9pm. Both sessions will be held at WSU Snohomish County Extension's Cougar Auditorium, 600 128th St SE, Everett.

Our instructor is Gary Moulton, now retired after leading the Fruit Horticulture program at the Washintgon State University Research Station in Mt. Vernon since 1991.

He holds a master's from WSU in plant pathology specializing in fruit diseases, and a bachelor's in pomology/fruit science from Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo.

Currently a consultant to the Western Washington tree fruit and wine grape industries, Gary is known as the 'go-to' guy on raising high-quality fruit and wine grapes on the "wetside" of Washington state.