Hello Summer, bring on the fall! We are going to have to redefine HOT. We hope everyone is doing well and surviving the heat. We have forgotten whose idea it was to move the annual meeting to September for this year but they deserve an award with a big Handshake or Hug, whichever is appropriate. The Annual Meeting hosted by the Fontaine's with ocean side sleeping accommodations is a trip I am sure no one will want to miss. This meeting is the biggest thing on our minds for this newsletter.The program is included below and is also attached as a separate enclosure. Things that you need to remember before coming include:
- Send in your registration. It really helps our planning. If you want to wait to pay at the door, that is fine, but let us know if you are coming.
- Bring wreaths and Christmas Trees for the contest. Last year we saw what a difference it made to have these items. It looks good and it is a great education for our members.
- The Silent Auction is a lot of fun and it helps the Association make ends meet. Search your attic, basement, tool shed, for items you think might be of interest. Think of a minimum bid you would like to put on the item to get things started. Do not forget to bring your check book. Bid early and bid often.
- Finally, the theme of this years' program is to share and learn from fellow members. Bring slides, scrapbooks, chemicals, plants, marketing items, video tapes, flocking or wreath ideas, container trees or anything that has helped you in your business. It is also nice to share your mistakes. Don't be bashful. I know we have newsletters, pumpkins, trains, and other items people have worked into their business plans. People brought things to share last year and we ran out of time. This year, we have at least one hour dedicated to giving you a turn to share.
Betty, Ben and I wish all a happy and successful growing season. We always welcome your calls or e-mails at anytime. Ken Tilt's numbers are 334-887-6913 (H) 334-844-5484 (W) and e-mail ktilt@acesag.auburn.edu. Ben's number is 334-677-3365.
CHRISTMAS TREE MONTHLY SCHEDULE
THINGS TO DOAUGUST:
- Take soil samples of areas to be site-prepared
- Send in Annual meeting registration and make reservations at Quality Inn
- Look for Auction items for annual meeting
- Look for good tree to bring to the meeting
- What can you share at the meeting?
- Have you thanked your employees lately or your spouse?
- Mow and herbicide as needed
- Spray for tip moth as scheduled
- Check for scale insect crawlers
- Shear trees three years and older
- Final shearing (light; if needed) for trees to be sold this year
- Mow and herbicide as needed
- Order colorant spray (can be purchased at ACTA annual meeting from vendors to save shipping and a special rate)
- Initial inventory of marketable trees
- Look for new markets for trees
- Check for diseases and insects
SEPTEMBER:
- Spray for tip moth as schedule
- Harvest annual cover crop
- Order specialty items to be sold during tree sales
- Mow and herbicide as needed
- Spray three year and older trees for needlecast
- Continue looking for new markets
- Final mowing, you hope
- Lightly shear all trees to be sold this year
- Spray three year and older trees for needlecast
OCTOBER:
- Renew your membership with ACTA
- Check liability insurance, especially in choose & cut operations
- Site preparation for next year planting, subsoil etc.
- Mow and herbicide as needed
- Check for insects and diseases
- Grade and mark all trees to be sold
- Spray colorant on all trees to be sold this year (Before first frost)
- Spray three year and older trees for needlecast
Chamaecyparis thyoides,
White CedarWe learn from our failures as well as our successes. Chamaecyparis thyoides, white cedar, is gaining popularity as a landscape plant and a potential Christmas tree. It is a native plant found in bogs or on stream banks. Many of our plants that you bring out of situations like this often do well in more upland sites. Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and Swamp magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) are good examples of this. In an irrigation research project, we have been using this plant as a test species. In two separate projects, we have had an irrigation glich that has left the irrigation off for 3 days. Both Leyland Cypress and Arizona Cypress survived the ordeal with no apparent damage. White Cedar, however, flamed out. Soil scientists often speak of permanent wilting point in plants where water deprivation has been so great that Niagara Falls could not bring them back to life. Just as Leyland Cypress can not withstand prolonged saturation, white cedar needs to be pampered with water. I hope no one repeats our disaster. Automation does not eliminate the necessity to walk the rows each day scouting for pests and noting irrigation heads and the condition of each plant.
Some other sad news came from SNA Research Conference where it was reported that White Cedar is susceptible to the same Botryosphaeria and Seridium Cankers that threaten Leyland Cypress.
ACTA Annual Christmas Tree Meeting
1999SHARING OUR SUCESSES AND FAILURES:
THE PURPOSE OF OUR ASSOCIATION IS TO LEARN TOGETHERSeptember 17, 18 and 19 at the Quality Inn Beachside Resort Hotel, Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Sponsored by Alabama Christmas Tree Association in cooperation with: Alabama Cooperative Extension System And Fontaine's Choose and Cut Christmas Tree Farm
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
Early bird arrivals: Set up Christmas trees and wreaths for judging; set up exhibitions; meet at 6:30 p.m. at the registration table if you would like to go to dinner together.SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
7:30 A.M. - Registration begins. Visit exhibitions.8:30 A.M. - Opening bell and official welcome by BEN GRAVES, President
8:45-9:15 A.M. - KEN TILT, Auburn University, Growing Your Own Christmas Tree Seedlings
9:15-9:45 A.M. - NANCY ZEIGLER, Zeigler's Christmas Tree Farm, Sylacauga - Tis the Season for TV, Radio and Print Media
9:45-10:05 A.M. - CHAZZ HESSELEIN, Auburn University - Research Results for Use of Growth Regulators for Shaping Leyland Cypress
10:05-10:20 A.M. - Break
10:20-11:20 A.M. - Membership Sharing Time
11:20-12:15 P.M. - Business Meeting
12:15-12:45 P.M. - Travel to George and Jean Fontaine's Choose and Cut Farm, Silverhill, AL
12:45-1:45 P.M.- Lunch on the Farm sponsored by Alabama Farmers Federation.
1:45-5:00 P.M. - Farm Tour and Demonstrations
5:00 P.M. - Return to Quality Inn
6:30-7:30 P.M. - Pre-dinner get-together-and-talk-about-it. Silent auction continues.
7:30-8:30 P.M. - Down-Home-Alabama Get Together. Good people, good food (Seafood Buffet, with chicken for the non-seafood eaters), awards and door prizes.
8:30-UNTIL...Young folks and young-at-heart continue on. Old folks take an evening stroll along the beach.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
8:00 A.M. - Breakfast at the Quality Inn (additional time for sharing). Visit other Christmas Tree Farms on your own.
Christmas Tree info and newsletter on the WEB Questions: E-mail me: (Ken Tilt) at ktilt@acesag.auburn.edu. Alabama Christmas Tree information on the Web. You can see our landscape horticulture page now at : http://www.ag.auburn.edu/landscape/Send questions and comments to bfischma@acesag.auburn.edu.
