Northeastern Christmas Tree Association holds
Spring Field Day
On Saturday, May 1 the Northeastern held their annual spring
field day at the Lochiel Lot on the Number 7 Highway in Guysborough
County. There were three sessions. Daryl Lingley of the
Canada East Soil Food Web explained to growers how important the living
component of soils are to plant (tree) health, and how we can add
organisms like protozoa, bacteria and beneficial fungi to the soil to
assit in the nutritional supply available to plants from soil material,
as well as the protection from diseases that beneficial soil organisms
can add to a site. Duncan MacDonald and Norman MacIsaac led an
entertaining session on shearing, where growers had toactually grade and
score trees, plus use the new taper gauge for shearing that Norman has
developed. Keith Moore, an insect specialist with the Nova Scotia
Department of Natural Resources , and Matthew Wright, the grower
representative to the Workshop in Ottawa that helps pick priorties for
pest control research, led a session on disease and insect pests, with
the conversation naturally being dominated by the balsam gall midge,
currently so devastating in Atlantic Canada.
Darryl Lingley explaining soil nutrition
and the importance of the living component of soils.
Darryl addresses one of the stops at the Lochiel Spring Field day.
Growers were asked to actuall grade and score trees as part of the
Spring Field Day for the Northeastern Christmas Tree Association.
Lunenburg Association Spring
Shearing Demonstration and Workday
On Saturday, April 24
the Lunenburg County Christmas Tree Producers' Association held their
Annual Spring Work Day at the Seffernsville Experimental Lot operated by
the Association. At 8:00 AM a shearing demonstration and
instruction was coordinated by Western Christmas Tree Specialist Ross
Pentz and LCCTPA Lot Chairman Jeff Reeves. Instructors included
Ross, Norman MacIsaac of the Northeastern Association, and exporter Jim
DeLong of DeLong Farms, New Germany. Of course, there was
excellent dialogue, questions, occasional disagreement, and a generally
good time. The group then acted as volunteers to help finish
shearing the Lot. At noon a barbecue was held, followed by Harris
Hiltz demonstrating his motorized sickle bar shearing machine.
Unfortunately your webmaster, Matthew Wright, had to leave early to pick
up seedlings for research and make an IPM meeting in the valley so I
missed getting photos of Harris.
Norman explains shearing
Jim DeLong hard at it!
Norman could not quite agree with how this
one was sheared, the active dialogue part of what made the day such an
excellent growth experience.
Jeff Reeves chairs the Seffernsville Lot and Safety and Training
Committee for the
LCCTPA. Can you pick Jeff out in the photo below, already an active
tree producer.
Jeff, Tommy and Glendon Reeves loading up the wagon.
