Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Julian apple pruning class

You can’t make money growing apples

Ray Meyer recommends a 12-inch chainsaw for cutting apple-tree branches
Ray Meyer recommends a 12-inch chainsaw for cutting apple-tree branches

The December 8 meeting at the Peacefield Orchard on Wynola Road was described by the Julian Apple Growers Association as a lesson in pruning trees. About 30 people showed up.

Ray Meyer, acknowledged as the dean of Julian fruit-tree cultivators, started the class by showing his 12-inch Echo chainsaw — “easier to hold and control,” he said. Meyer showed us how to start cutting on the underside of a branch. He began with an old tree that had a 12-inch-diameter trunk and some large dead branches.

There seemed to be a number of old trees at Peacefield, which opens up as a “u-pick-’em” in the fall. Peacefield sits in the oldest section of Julian apple fields, in the Wynola area. Around the corner on Highway 78 are the landmark Calico Ranch and the fruit stand still selling apples on weekends in December.

Sponsored
Sponsored

My friend, who moved from Carlsbad to Julian ten years ago and has become a Julian history enthusiast, told me after the class that these Wynola orchards were low enough that they didn’t require irrigation. “Those who live in these fields have trouble with septic tanks since the water table is only three feet down.”

Meyer said you want to get the thicker dead branches first, then the downward-hanging branches, which won’t be able to carry the apples’ weight; then the "shooters," pencil-width branches growing straight up.

We examined the dead branches. “Sunburn,” said Meyer. Another orchard worker told us you can sometimes save a dying branch by spreading cow manure on the damaged branch. “But it has to be really fresh manure.”

The buzz in the town of Julian this fall has been the importation of apples from Washington and Idaho to supplement a local crop hurt by late frost and ground squirrels.

Squirrels took over part of the chit-chat among the students at the class. A lady said her husband has kept the squirrels away from the fruit with upside-down wire cones put around the trunk.

Another dictum was repeated among the class attendees: “You can’t make money on apples in Julian, you can only spend it.”

One of the longtime locals who is replanting an old orchard recently went to a San Diego County Farm Bureau class in Escondido on agrotourism. The number of orchards open to tourists who want to pick their own fruit seems to have grown, including Peacefield and another one at the end of Farmer Road.

The longtime local was discouraged by the cost of insurance you need to allow city folk on your property. He said the best hope for agrotourism was to plant a vineyard and open a tasting room. The Escondido class was full of guys from Ramona who have planted grapes, he said.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Encanto girl who wouldn’t give up writing

From True Confessions to Oceanside massage parlor
Next Article

Egglet griddles up sweet Korean street toast

University City counter shop does breakfast sandwiches and eggy burgers
Ray Meyer recommends a 12-inch chainsaw for cutting apple-tree branches
Ray Meyer recommends a 12-inch chainsaw for cutting apple-tree branches

The December 8 meeting at the Peacefield Orchard on Wynola Road was described by the Julian Apple Growers Association as a lesson in pruning trees. About 30 people showed up.

Ray Meyer, acknowledged as the dean of Julian fruit-tree cultivators, started the class by showing his 12-inch Echo chainsaw — “easier to hold and control,” he said. Meyer showed us how to start cutting on the underside of a branch. He began with an old tree that had a 12-inch-diameter trunk and some large dead branches.

There seemed to be a number of old trees at Peacefield, which opens up as a “u-pick-’em” in the fall. Peacefield sits in the oldest section of Julian apple fields, in the Wynola area. Around the corner on Highway 78 are the landmark Calico Ranch and the fruit stand still selling apples on weekends in December.

Sponsored
Sponsored

My friend, who moved from Carlsbad to Julian ten years ago and has become a Julian history enthusiast, told me after the class that these Wynola orchards were low enough that they didn’t require irrigation. “Those who live in these fields have trouble with septic tanks since the water table is only three feet down.”

Meyer said you want to get the thicker dead branches first, then the downward-hanging branches, which won’t be able to carry the apples’ weight; then the "shooters," pencil-width branches growing straight up.

We examined the dead branches. “Sunburn,” said Meyer. Another orchard worker told us you can sometimes save a dying branch by spreading cow manure on the damaged branch. “But it has to be really fresh manure.”

The buzz in the town of Julian this fall has been the importation of apples from Washington and Idaho to supplement a local crop hurt by late frost and ground squirrels.

Squirrels took over part of the chit-chat among the students at the class. A lady said her husband has kept the squirrels away from the fruit with upside-down wire cones put around the trunk.

Another dictum was repeated among the class attendees: “You can’t make money on apples in Julian, you can only spend it.”

One of the longtime locals who is replanting an old orchard recently went to a San Diego County Farm Bureau class in Escondido on agrotourism. The number of orchards open to tourists who want to pick their own fruit seems to have grown, including Peacefield and another one at the end of Farmer Road.

The longtime local was discouraged by the cost of insurance you need to allow city folk on your property. He said the best hope for agrotourism was to plant a vineyard and open a tasting room. The Escondido class was full of guys from Ramona who have planted grapes, he said.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Frank Barish will keep running for president until he wins or dies

He believes in the American way, even if America has lost her way
Next Article

Hill Street Donuts makes life sweet

A little bit of local love for a longtime confectionary
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader