As yet the gentleman still goes to Tescos for his olives.

Each of the three passages have some new information, from my point of view, which has not been covered in the discussion. It is a shame that they are not published together in one of Harry Baker’s books, not least because they demonstrate greater flexibility than N. B. Bagenal’s position, I cited previously. Frankly any fruit grower who is unaware of the scope of Baker’s insights on the matter is at a disadvantage.

For the benefit of those who followed the exchange concerning the English adoption of the practice of selecting king fruits for thinning, and, who may not be in possession of the relevant books I set out below quotes from works authored by Harry Baker.

‘Thin dessert apples to about four to six inches apart, and culinary fruits, where a larger size is wanted, to six to nine inches. Obviously remove the worst and leave the best. The king fruit, i.e. the one in the centre of the truss, is usually the largest and can be left, but check that it is not malformed at the stalk end. Weak trees should be tinned more drastically than the strong ones.’
Quoted from a longer passage on thinning contributed by Harry Baker to ‘The English Apple’ by Rosanne Sanders (1988) p140.

‘Thin as soon as possible after the June drop and finish by mid-July. In addition to blemished and misshapen fruits, remove the weakest in the cluster, leaving the strongest and best shaped. Often, but not always, the king or crown apple produced from the central flower is malformed and should be removed. Certain cultivars, typically long-stalked, such as Golden Delicious, produce normal shaped king fruits which may be left.’
Quoted from much longer passage on thinning in ‘The Fruit Garden Displayed’ by Harry Baker, (1951 edition).

‘With apples, sometimes the “king” or “crown” fruit produced in the centre of a cluster is virtually stalkless and malformed. If this is the case, remove it, but if the apple is well shaped, leave it because the king fruit can be the best in the cluster.’
Quoted from a longer passage on thinning in ‘Fruit’ by Harry Baker (1980 edition).

Taken together these quotes represent a more flexible approach to the question of selecting king fruit for thinning, than that recommended by Bagenal. All this though, still leaves unsaid, just when the practise of selecting the king fruit for removal was first adopted in England. And did this practise spread to other countries and with what results?

On the matter of when to thin I would be inclined to agree with Brian Self where he recommends thinning ‘early’ before the June drop. I found this approach produces better results with many varieties of tree fruits, not just apples. But of course local conditions need to be taken into account – here on the south coast James Grieve gets too big and the winds rip the fruits off the tree – there are also matters such as rootstocks, soil type and rainfall/irrigation to be reckoned with in the course of experience.

I grow peaches in a 45 ft by 18 ft poly tunnel and have been doing so for around 25 years. I found out very early on that the population of red spider mite exploded in July most years, very often earlier if there was a prolonged spell of hot weather. I can remember one year a crop of broad beans being wiped out by red spider mite.

One answer to delay the onslaught was to leave the tunnel end off, in my case to forget the two 8 ft wide by 6ft high doors. This only puts off the inevitable, however, because most years the peach foliage is decimated in July. Fortunately the peaches are well advanced by then.

Several years ago I carried out a spray programme of seaweed foliar feed (Maxicrop), beginning in late spring and finishing in July, when the peaches were starting to ripen. I thought that foliar feeds only gloss and darken the foliage and do little else; my opinion proved incorrect. The much expected red spider mite explosion in July did not happen, in fact it happened during late August and has done so this year without further sprays.

This year one of my open days was a visit by a Belgium fruit society (NBS) and I wanted to have pristine foliage in the poly tunnel so I once again decided on a foliar feed, not to gloss up the leaves but to stave off red spider mite attack. According to my diary the first spray was on the 5 July and once a week thereafter until the middle of August (by this time some peaches had run off stain). The result was amazing, the red spider mite explosion, if indeed you could call it that, was delayed until mid-October. One tree was unaffected and the rest only partially so. One could assume that a weekly spray programme throughout the season should obviate the problem entirely.

In 2010, I may go back to growing melons and aubergines which had become impossible, but a slightly more frequent spraying may be required. One major advantage to seaweed is that it is an organic remedy.

And has anyone a remedy for brown scale on peaches?

For me it was all summed up by the sight of bunches of grapes forced to occupy too small a space as though they were an afterthought. I have seen many costermongers who took greater pride on their stalls than was evidenced in the planning of this Show! I know that the RHS is capable of much better than this, what went wrong?

The emphasis was clearly on shopping opportunities with the sale of plants and products from nurseries and manufacturers taking pride of place.

Please will the relevant departments in the RHS get together, consult with exhibitors and the Fruit and Vegetable Committee with the aim of restoring standards. But more than that we need to integrate exhibition and showing with education. The RHS judges, the Lindley Library should provide supportive exhibitions on the history and culture of growing fruits and vegetables. Why not an exhibit of the history of fruit and vegetable growing in London? Why not an exhibition on the history of illustrations of fruit and vegetables from the most ancient times to the modern? The Lindley Library is only yards away from the halls and houses remarkable archives of woodblock engravings, water colours, drawings etc.

The cultivation of foods has been at the centre of life in London even before there was a place with that name. Plough marks discovered by archaeologists in what is now Bermondsey on the south bank of the Thames, attest to the presence of permanent settlements in the pre-Roman era, and the importance of food production!

The exhibition of fruits and vegetables in London this year gave the impression that they were no longer really relevant to life in London!

Claire

To add flavour to a Chaenomeles jelly, why not try adding some guavas (usually available in most Asian grocers, in season) which have a lovely fragrant flavour, similar to true quince.

I have in the past successfully made jelly from the true quinces together with apples. But the tree did not have any fruit this year hence the plan with the Japanese quinces, but in light of your comment perhaps I’ll give it a miss.