1. Growing Fruit Organically in Northwest Arkansas
Guy K. Ames, Horticulture Specialist

2. In the beginning…
What are fruits and why are they so appealing? Botany of Desire!
Why perennials?
And why in the Ozarks?

3. So why is it so danged difficult???
Diseases and insects uncontrollable…and the heat—whew!
Organic controls expensive and too often ineffective
Some of our soils are poorly suited for fruit plants
Big-box stores offer wrong varieties on wrong roots
Cultural prejudices??? What should we be growing?
So why is it so danged difficult???
The photo shows an apple with one of the summer rots (probably black rot), a serious problem for organic growers.

4. Remedy: Try “unusual” species
Get the right varieties on the right roots
Shade; evaporative cooling; mulch; choose north slopes
Berm, ditch, fracture, amend
Optimize water retention
ACCEPT SOME DAMAGE—change our notions of beauty and health. Local & fresh trumps!
The top photo shows Juneberries (saskatoons). Bottom is a pawpaw.

5. Very difficult to grow organically in the Ozarks:
Most apple varieties
Most pear varieties
All peaches, plums unless…
Most bunch grapes, but…
Raspberries w/o shade
Cherries…except “tart”
Quince, cranberry, lingonberry, currant, etc.
Kiwifruit, pomegranates, guava… yet
The photo shows oozing from a peach tree, probably because of peachtree borer.
Peaches and plums can be grown organically at the garden/homestead level if 1)wild plums and untended peaches are eliminated, 2) early maturing varieties are planted, 3) excellent sanitation is practiced (mostly removal of brown rot mummies), 4) ground under tree is worked up by chickens or tillers to destroy curculio pupal cases.
Quince, etc. are cold-climate crops.
Kiwifruit, etc. are warm-climate crops…and might bear experimenting with.

6. Serious and Common Apple Problems in AR & OKLA:
Summer rots
Plum curculio
Fireblight
Cedar apple rust
Deer, squirrels
Borers!
Heat
Fly speck & sooty blotch
Poor soil
Top left: bitter rot of apples (on of the summer rots)
Lower left: sooty blotch & fly speck on apples
Lower center: roundhead apple tree borer larva
Lower right: Plum curculio adult

7. Serious and Common Pear Problems in the Ozarks: fireblight, fireblight, and fireblight…
Slide on left is blight-resistant pear budded onto a shoot from the (blight resistant) rootstock, but immediately adjacent to blight-susceptible stump: to illustrate the power of genetic resistance.

8. Serious & Common Peach Problems in the Ozarks
Brown rot!!!
Plum curculio!!
Peachtree borers!
Bacterial spot
Oriental fruit moth
June beetles
Bacterial canker
Root rots
Peach leaf curl
Photo is brown rot.

9. Serious and Common Grape Problems in the Ozarks
Black rot
Downy mildew
Powdery mildew
Grape root borer
Grape berry moth
Eutypa + phomopsis=dead arm
Birds
June and Japanese beetles
Photo: black rot

10. Do Grow: Persimmons Strawberries Blueberries if … Select Munson grapes
Elderberries
Select apple varieties on MM.111
Blight-resistant pears on calleryana or ??
Muscadines
Jujubes
Do Grow:
Photo: Yates American persimmon
Blueberries if you water through the season, even after harvest, and you take care to adjust pH.

11. Do Grow (cont.): Blackberries (U of A !!!) Pawpaws! Juneberries
Tart cherries (if soil…)
Raspberries w/shade …
Peaches and plums IF
Gooseberries
Experiment with: cold-hardy figs, zombie fruit and other heat-tolerant plants
Photo is Chinese melon tree, Cudrania tricuspidata.
Tart cherry rootstocks need well-drained soil to avoid root rots.

12. More specifically: PEARS Europeans: Magness & Blake’s Pride Maxine
Potomac
Pineapple
Tyson
Keiffer & Seckel*
Asians:
Shinko
Korean Giant
Koyama
Clear Moon*
Seuri*
Top photo is Magness. Bottom is Shinko.
Keiffer, Seckel, Clear Moon, and Seuri have only moderate resistance to fire blight—careful cutting out of blighted limbs necessary every year.

13. More specifically… Arkansas Black King David* Arkansaw Pristine
APPLES (on MM-111):
Arkansas Black
King David*
Arkansaw
Pristine
Williams Pride
Enterprise
Florina
Liberty *
Orleans*
Top photo: mix of Williams Pride and Pristine
Bottom photo: Arkansas Black
*King David, Liberty, and Orleans susceptible to summer rots.

14. More specifically (cont):
GRAPES:
Carman
Champanel
America (& other Munson varieties?)
Edelweiss & Swenson Red
Mars* & others w/organic copper
Photo: Carman

15. Pest and Disease Management
Right varieties
Right site or modify
Be watchful—direct action!
Be patient w/beneficials
Seldom intervene; right tool at the right time
Diversify and prevent
Accept some damage
Top: Assassin bug feeding on Jap beetle on blackberries
Bottom: Apple baits an electric deer fence.

16. Eco-logical Pest Management?
“Bringing knowledge to bear in a timely fashion.”
“Tolerance” vs. “resistance” – keep plants healthy …
But remember: “pests” have their own imperatives!
Healthy, organic plants can and will still get lots of damage—tolerance means they can bounce back.

17. Processing as Part of Pest Management
Photo: Pressing apples for cider.
Point is that processing fruit will allow for more pest damage than fresh fruit.
Processing as Part of Pest Management

18. Experiment?
Photo: Sweet cherries in high tunnel. Photo Gregory Lang, MSU

19. Soils and Fertility Heavy clay soils Rock Weathered
Low fertility (“ultisol”)
Low O.M.
Organic fertilizers expensive

20. Soils and Fertilizers (cont.)
Solutions:
Right plant/right roots
Fracture, ditch, & berm
Add O.M. but …
Mulch heavily
Source local fertilizers and mulch
Adjust pH as per soil test
Don’t add too much O.M. to planting hole or you’ll create the “potted plant” effect.

21. summary Get the right plant from the start!!!
Common sense pest control
Mix it up/diversify
Know your soil and adjust accordingly
Always mulch
Accept some damage

22. ATTRA publications on fruit:
Access: attra.ncat.org or
Tree Fruits: Organic Production Overview
Apples: Organic Production Guide
Blueberries: Organic Production
Grapes: Organic Production
Organic Culture of Bramble Fruits
Climate Change and Perennial Fruits and Nuts: Investing in Resilience
Pawpaw — A "Tropical" Fruit for Temperate Climates
Peaches: Organic and Low-Spray Production
Pears: Organic Production
Persimmons, Asian and American
Strawberries: Organic Production
Plums & Apricots: Organic Production
Community Orchards
Cherries: Organic Production

23. Thanks to DigIn! and NCAT
Photo: Arkansas Blacks in picking bag. Note minor imperfections.

24. The End