October 6, 2017
CapitalPress.com
5
Court
Growers get latest Cosmic Crisp horticultural tips
reverses
expanded
insecticide
label in
California
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The expanded use of a
controversial pesticide in Cal-
ifornia has been reversed by
a state appeals court due to
insufficient review by state
regulators.
A three-judge panel of the
California Court of Appeal
has agreed with an environ-
mental group that the Califor-
nia Department of Pesticide
Regulation didn’t adequately
scrutinize the effects of di-
notefuran before approving
increased usage in 2014.
Dinotefuran is a type of
neonicotoid, a class of pes-
ticides that are considered
less harmful to humans,
mammals and birds than tra-
ditional organophosphate in-
sect killers.
In recent years, though,
neonicotinoids have been
blamed for the health prob-
lems of honeybees and other
pollinators.
Two types of dinotefuran
— Venom Insecticide and Di-
notefuran 20SG — were ap-
proved by the agency in 2014
to be applied in larger quan-
tities and on additional types
of crops.
The Pesticide Action Net-
work North America, or PAN-
NA, sought an injunction
against the decision but a state
judge denied the environmen-
tal group’s motion.
The Court of Appeal
has now reversed that rul-
ing, ordering the California
Department of Pesticide
Regulation to rescind the
pesticide label amendments
permitting expanded use of
dinotefuran.
The agency didn’t live up
to the review requirements of
the California Environmental
Quality Act because it didn’t
explore alternatives to ex-
panding the use of dinotefu-
ran, the ruling said.
The agency argued that
such an alternatives analysis
wasn’t necessary because the
approval didn’t have signif-
icant environmental effects.
However, the court said it
was “perplexed” as to how
the department could reach
such a conclusion, since neon-
icotoids in general are being
re-evaluated by the agency in
response to data showing the
chemicals can build up to tox-
ic levels in bees.
The department also ne-
glected to study the cumula-
tive effects of the expanded
usage and did not establish a
“baseline” of ongoing neon-
icotinoid use in California,
which is necessary to measure
the environmental impacts,
the ruling said.
ROCK ISLAND, Wash. — Me-
chanical pruning works well on Cos-
mic Crisp apple trees by the fourth
year and cutting the tips of one-year-
old limbs controls growth better than
limb bending.
Those were main points growers
learned at a Washington State Univer-
sity field day at Sunrise Research Or-
chard south of Rock Island, Sept. 27.
Cosmic Crisp is the new WSU-
bred apple tree the industry is starting
to plant in a big way with plans for
the first apples to hit grocery stores in
the fall of 2019 and quickly ramp up
thereafter.
Promoters say Cosmic Crisp is a
great eating apple with great flavor
and good crispness and firmness that
consumers will love more than Hon-
eycrisp, one of its parents. It stores
well without storage disorders such
as water core, internal browning and
superficial scald that hampers other
varieties.
Perhaps its only negative is vigor-
ous growth causing too much spac-
ing between fruit, called blind wood,
resulting in fruit on the outer edges
rather than closer to tree trunks where
desired.
Stefano Musacchi, WSU tree fruit
physiologist, “now believes that’s
better controlled by cutting the tips of
one-year-old limbs and cutting tips in
subsequent years rather than by bend-
ing limbs down,” said Karen Lewis,
WSU Extension tree fruit special-
ist. Musacchi calls it click pruning.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Stefano Mussachi, WSU tree fruit physiologist, shows growers a Cosmic Crisp apple tree in spindle tree style at the WSU
Sunrise Research Orchard near Rock Island, Wash., in spring of 2016. Growers are keen on learning horticultural aspects of
what the industry hopes will be a great new variety.
Bending limbs down actually creates
more blind wood, according to a tip
sheet the scientists wrote for growers.
Apple trees produce the plant
growth regulator auxin in their stems
and shoot tips, inhibiting bud forma-
tion. Cutting limb tips or girdling or
notching every foot of a trunk on two-
year-old trees interrupts auxin flow
allowing more buds to form where
desired.
The tip sheet gave equal credence
to spindle and biaxial (two trunks
off one) tree structure for good fruit
coloring and automation and mecha-
nization of pruning and harvest while
European V is more problematic for
mechanized pruning and harvest.
“At the end of the day, Cosmic
Crisp responds well whether vertical
or angle (V),” Lewis said. “Growers
need to put the math to it (what’s
profitable) and their ability. They’ll
do what they know.”
Musacchi is now experimenting
with a fourth tree structure, what he
calls top grafting which is grafting
Cosmic Crisp onto stumps of other
varieties above their rootstocks to de-
velop three trunks, she said.
Lewis has focused a lot on me-
chanical pruning, also called hedging.
Mechanical pruning in June elimi-
nates blind wood by producing buds
closer to stems and produces higher
quality fruit, she said.
“We’ve also noticed that in the
first couple of years when hedging
the tree responds vigorously (more
growth), but in the fourth year it
settles down and gives you the tight
narrow canopy you’re looking for,”
she said. But it can result in smaller
fruit, which is something to consider,
she said.
LEGAL
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT
OF THE STATE OF OREGON
COUNTY OF MARION
Probate Department
IN THE MATTER OF THE
ESTATE OF
Katina Elizabeth
Hatzantonis, Deceased
No. 17PB06169
NOTICE TO
INTERESTED PERSONS
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN
that
Rocco
Faren
has
been appointed Personal
Representative of the above
entitled estate. All persons
having claims against the
estate are required to pre-
sent them to the Personal
Representative in care of the
below
named
attorney
within four months after the
date of the first publication
of this notice as stated
below, or such claims may be
barred.
All persons whose rights
may be affected by the
proceedings in this estate
may
obtain
additional
information from the records
of the Court, the Personal
Representative,
or
the
attorney for the Personal
Representative.
Attorney:
L. E. ASHCROFT
510 SW Fiftth Ave, 6th Flr
Portland, OR 97204
legal-40-4-1/999
DATED and first published
this 6th day of October, 2017.
Personal Representative:
ROCCO FAREN
ROP-40-2-1/102