Urban Forestry Radio

 Yael Hickok is a volunteer who cares for Boyer's Orchard in Alaska. Each year she has an apple tasting party or gathering in which she and other volunteers are able to taste over 120 different varieties of apples planted on the site. But how do you evaluate the taste of an apple? Join us for this live apple tasting party to learn some key apple tasting skills.   To prepare for the show, buy these three apples which we will taste during the show to fine tune our tasting skills.  * Gala * Granny Smith* HoneycrispClick here to watch a video excerpt from the show. Click here to read an article about the many apple varieties you can grow and taste! SHOW GUESTS:   * Yael Hickok, a volunteer who cares for Boyer's Orchard in Anchorage, Alaska where passionate fruit tree growing hobbyist Bob Boyer planted over 120 varieties of apple trees, many of them rare or heirloom trees. * Dr. Amy Bowen, Director, Consumer Insights Group at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Ontario. Amy has expertise in sensory and con

Old fruit trees may be hollow but they can still produce fantastic fruit and they provide invaluable habitat to wildlife. In this radio show learn how to prune old apple trees and how to care for them with UK-based orchard educator Bob Lever. The prize for this month's contest to win Deerproofing Your Yard And Garden by Rhonda Massingham Hart valued at $14.95 USD. For lots more detail about how to prune old apple trees, including a video version of this podcast, visit this page. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

Growing fruit trees can be very difficult in extreme climates and no one would understand that better than Greg Peterson of UrbanFarm.org, who grows his fruit trees in Phoenix, Arizona. There, the summer temperatures can soar above 100 degrees F.  Greg also sells over 5,000 fruit trees a year to residents of the Greater Phoenix Area and he educates the public about fruit tree care to ensure that their fruit tree growing experiences will be a success. The prize for this month's was Tom Robert's book "100% Natural Organic Pest Control for Home and Garden" valued at $12.95. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

In this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast, host Susan Poizner interviews Lewis McNeill of The Orchard Project about how they help nurture and support groups that want to start community orchards in the UK and the lessons learned can be applied to community orchard projects in North America and other countries as well. The prize for this month's contest was  a copy of Susan Poizner's award-winning book Growing Urban Orchards valued at $19.95. Watch a video excerpt from this podcast here. In the full interview, Lewis covered many of then ten steps to establishing a community orchard in the UK in more detail. Click here for an eBook summary of those points. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for Orchard

Lorraine Johnson, co-author of the free eBook: "A Flower Patch for The Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee" explains how to use native plants to create a pollinator or bee garden.  The prize for this month's episode was Keeping Bees with a Smile: Principles and Practice of Natural Beekeeping valued at $25.99 USD. podcast below. Click here to download a copy of the free eBook "A Flower Patch for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee" by Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla. Illustrations by Anne Sanderson. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

In this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast we speak to Dr. Glynn Percival, Manager of Bartlett's Tree Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Reading, UK who has been using vertical mulching techniques to improve soil texture. His strategy is to drill holes into the soil that are 12 inches deep and 3 inches wide. He then fills the holes with a mixture of topsoil, compost, biochar. And he also puts worms into the holes and in various spots on the site and lets them do the rest of the work. The prize for this month's contest is a Silky Sugoi 360 Pruning Saw valued at $105 donated by Bartlett Tree Experts. You can download Glynn's PowerPoint presentation referred to in the show by clicking here. Learn more about mulching fruit trees in this article. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesd

In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about how biochar can help boost the carbon levels in your soil. But what is biochar and how is it made? How is biochar different than other types of soil amendments? And is it effective when it comes to to growing fruit trees and perennial plants?  That's what we learn in this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast with guests Mark and Laurie Mann of the American Biochar Company. The prize for this month's contest was VITAL Blend Soil Amendment, a granular blend of activated BioChar and freshwater-sourced Humate. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

What are the benefits and the disadvantages of planting cover crops around fruit trees? Can cover crops on an orchard floor help prevent fruit trees from climate change? Those are just a few of the questions discussed in this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast with expert guest Christina Curell, Cover Crop and Soil Health Educator at Michigan State University.   Christina also talks about how to choose a cover crop that will suit your unique fruit tree growing conditions and how to use cover crops to prepare the soil for planting. She outlines the possible disadvantages of choosing the wrong cover crops for your fruit trees as some can attract insect pests and divert energy away from your trees.Learn all about cover crops in this article. The prize for this month's contest was the book Natural Gardening for Birds. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show

IPM specialist Kristy Grigg-McGuffin of the Ontario Ministry of Food and Rural Affairs talks about fruit tree traps - some monitor fruit tree pests while others help to control pest populations.    Click here to watch a video of this Episode on Fruit Tree Traps You can find a wide range of recommended IPM tools in Orchard People's online shop. But below are a couple of products mentioned in this program including the  Appscope Quick Attach Microscope (affiliate links). The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/.   

 Forget mangos and bananas. If you're interested in an exciting taste adventure in tropical fruit, check out the Native American pawpaw fruit. Now pawpaw fruit may be juicy, silky soft and tropical tasting, but this fruit grows on trees across North America from the eastern edges of Texas, to Florida, and all the way up to southern Ontario. Like any new craze, folks are turning this fruit into pawpaw beer, gelato and other goodies. But the truth is pawpaws are not new. In fact, these trees were here long before Europeans settlers came to North America. So in this episode of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast we'll explore the history of pawpaws, tracing it back to to the First Nations. Show guests include;   * Self confessed "pawpaw propagandist" Paul DeCampo, who is one of the first people in the city of Toronto to start promoting the planting and harvesting of these beautiful fruit trees.  * And Issac Crosby, Lead Hand in Urban Agriculture at Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto and a member of Ojibwe Nat

If you’re growing your fruit trees organically, it’s important to protect them from pests and diseases and having a fruit tree spray schedule can make that much easier. In this episode we speak to orchard consultant Mike Biltonen from Trumansburg, N.Y, about organic fruit tree sprays that you can use throughout the year.  Mike has farmed his entire professional career. He has horticulture degrees from Virginia Tech (BS ’86) and Cornell (MS ’92), as well as over 35 years of practical farming experience. He has a passion for sustainable orcharding and helps orchardists transition from conventional to organic practices with Know Your Roots, a small holistic company he owns and operates with his wife Debbie. Watch a video excerpt from this podcast here. Read more about this interview here: Download more information about spray schedules from Mike here. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestr

Jesuit pear trees also known as Mission pears. French Jesuit missionaries brought these productive trees to North America in the 1700s. Learn more about this heirloom fruit tree from Jesuit Pear enthusiast Paul Spence.Click here to read an article about Jesuit Pear Trees. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

In this episode we explore the story of plant breeder Luther Burbank and we'll see how his discoveries still live on in our edible gardens today. Our guest is Rachel Spaeth, the garden curator of the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens in Santa Rosa, California. Rachel also serves as the Secretary for  the Redwood Empire Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers, is adjunct faculty at Santa Rosa Junior College in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department, and is currently working on a PhD in Historical Plant Breeding and Genetics from UC Davis.  In her spare time, she enjoys multi-grafting fruit trees and identifying insect specimens. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online cou

In this episode, certified crop advisor Simon Neufeld talks about soil biology. Why is it important to have a lot of good organisms in your soil? What services do they provide? And if you do have "dead soil", is it possible to use so-called "biofertilizers" to bring it back to life? Simon is the Chief Agronomist at Earth Alive Clean Technologies, a company that develops environmentally sustainable microbial products which they say can replace many of the damaging chemicals that farmers use today.Read an article about the importance of soil bacteria when growing fruit trees and other plants here. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

Ben Caesar of Fiddlehead Nursery in Ontario who will share his top perennial vegetables to grow and create a fantastic dinner menu featuring many of his favourite edible perennial plants. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

Nikki Rothwell of Michigan State University's Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Centre talks about spotted wing drosophila (SWD). Unlike other fruit flies that target mostly rotting or fermenting fruit, SWD targets fruit right on the tree, laying their eggs in the young fruit and eventually turning it into a wormy mess. SWD targets a wide range of crops including cherries, apricots, plums raspberries, currants, and elderberries. The bad news is that spotted wing drosophila is spreading across North America, benefiting from our warming climate. Nikki has found that there are ways to make our orchards less hospitable for SWD. Simple tools like pruning and orchard floor maintenance are a large part of the equation. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic

Learn from organic grower Terry Durham of riverhillsharvest.com about how to grow elderberries, what cultivars to choose, and to discover if growing these lovely plants can be a business opportunity for you too! The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

Fred Beaulieu, Ph.D., a mite expert and Research Scientist from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada talks about mites - the good, the bad and the ones you'll find in your fruit trees. Learn more about mites in this article. During the live show, listeners submitted questions to Fred and were eligible to win a copy of The Xerces Society Guide  Farming with Native Beneficial Insects: Ecological Pest Control Solutions valued at $24.95.  The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/. 

 Kari Peter, Ph.D of Penn State Fruit Research and Extension Centre, talks about Sudden Apple Decline (SAD) or Rapid Apple Decline, which has devastated orchards in Ontario, New York State, Washington and Pennsylvania.  Apple trees die for many reasons and diseases like fireblight can also spread quite rapidly. But this problem, which is called Sudden Apple Decline (SAD) or Rapid Apple Decline can be identified when the dying apple tree seems to be infected around its graft union. You might see the bark at the graft union peeling off. Then the problem moves up the tree, killing the tree, but the root stock will still be alive and well and unaffected by the disease. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.co

Lee Reich, PhD. author of Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden, shares some of the interesting fruits he grows on what he calls his "farmden" (which he says is more than a garden, and less than a farm) in New York state. The host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast is Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care education website www.orchardpeople.com.  Tune into The Urban Forestry Radio Show LIVE by going to RealityRadio101.com on the last Tuesday of every month at 1.00 pm Eastern Time.Learn to grow organic fruit trees successfully. Sign up for OrchardPeople.com's premium online courses at https://learn.orchardpeople.com/.