June 2022 - 19

NOTES FROM THE FARM
Pecan sprayers, fruit rot and increasing health issues
JERRY MILLS
Mills Apple Farm
jerry@millsapplefarm.com
planted them, but not 100 years ago.
They produce wormy, tasty nuts.
I tried to spray them with our AgTec
It is mid-May as I write this, and corn
is just being planted. Beans still in the
bags. Spring trees to plant, still in pots,
thank goodness. First time I ever used
pots instead of bare roots, and glad I did.
Reason: mostly too wet!
Combating late-season fruit rots:
Late rots never used to be a problem for
us, but summer diseases like fly spec
and sooty blotch were. So was scab. Now
things are backwards. We have little scab
but ever-increasing amounts of fruit rots.
The problem, I learned this year,
was that I was not applying enough
fungicides during bloom and fruitlets
were being infected by fungus spores at
that time. The infections stay dormant
until starches turn to sugars and then
they take off. This happened the last
two years.
War in Ukraine may affect
commodity prices: Ukraine is - or
was - a major contributor to the world's
food supply, especially Asia.
Google Maps shows why. The
Ukrainian countryside is nothing but
large orderly farms.
YouTube shows large-scale mechanical
agriculture, well ahead of many
competitive ag areas. It is sad to hear that
Russians steal Ukrainian farmer's grain
and their equipment. I can sympathize
with that.
You may have seen where the Russians
took everything from a John Deere
dealership and shipped it 700 miles into
Russia, including two big combines and
all the tractors.
Tool of the month: A pecan sprayer.
Not the same as air-blast fruit tree
sprayers for sure. Pecan trees can live
for a hundred years and get 100 feet
high. I have three already that high and I
sprayer. Totally inadequate. When
considering there are another 50 pecan
trees just coming into production with
large, beautiful nuts, we needed a sprayer
just for them. Pecan sprayers can shoot
a blast 100 feet straight up, so I'm told.
We'll find out. I think it will be useful for
early season fruit spraying too. Imagine
a blast of spray covering everything in a
swath 100 feet wide.
The newer pecan planting covers a
5-acre parking lot. I put it in originally to
provide shade for parked cars and nuts
for pick-up-your-own customers.
Then I noted that shelled pecans
sell for $10 a pound and healthy trees
produce 100 pounds each. It is easy to
get carried away by the math, and I did.
Stay tuned.
Medical challenges brought on by
age: People, like complex machines,
wear out. An aortic valve was my first,
at age 67. There were no options. It had
to be replaced. There have been a whole
series of incidents since, each addressed
promptly. I do not believe in fooling
around, and I am still functioning.
Solutions, in no particular order:
leaking aortic heart valve at age 67 - new,
fabricated ones. (Two times.)
Irregular heartbeats, age 70-80 -
medication and an implanted heart
defibrillator, plus an electric jolt if
heartbeat stops. (A comfort knowing it
is there.)
Legs swelling and weight gain, age
80s to present. By varying Lasix-type
medication rates, I regulate water
retention and keep weight within limits
while working with my doctor. Never
wait until the next appointment if weight
begins to vary.
Sleep apnea, late 80s - CPAP machine
obtained by doctor's prescription.
Essential if congestive heart failure is
a threat.
Parkinson's ailments: Burning feet
in bed at night, a complication from
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This pecan sprayer is Jerry's tool of the
month. Photo: Jerry Mills
peripheral atrophy, continuously, until
recently - two 5-milligram melatonin
pills at bedtime stopped it. Body
weakness, mostly legs and back, which
limits physical work; physical therapy/
exercises help the body, but self-propelled
machines get work done on the farm.
Constipation. A cap full of an osmotic
laxative, such as ClearLax. Unlike
conventional laxatives, dissolved in
orange juice in the morning or milk at
bedtime. I use it daily.
Body tremors started nine years
ago - nicotine patches initially,
carbidopa-levodopa pills later.
Important to get care from a
" movement specialist, " a neurologist
with special training.
Heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux
disease (GERD) - cimetidine. Doctor says
it is the least harmful for long-term use.
Prostate, 15 years ago - find a urologist
whose patients never have dribbles. He is
no good if they do. Find a better one.
Question for the folks in tornado
areas: Where should heavy farm
equipment be parked during tornadoes
or bad windstorms? In studying storm
area pictures, it occurred to me that
equipment heavy enough to stay put in
high winds might be better off parked
in open fields away from flying debris.
Maybe even large planters or tillers, etc.,
instead of in sheds. But not combines,
wagons or semi-trailers? I assume empty
grain bins go and full ones stay. How full
should they be to stay?
If anyone wants to report your
experience or observations, I'd like to write
about them (jerry@millsapplefarm.com).
Help wanted, correction: If anyone
responded to my request last month and
did not get a response, the telephone
number was wrong. My number is 618910-2108.
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FGN | JUNE 2022 | 19
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June 2022

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