Author Archives: stef

Joan Davenport – May 2016 visit

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This week, it was once again time to hear from one of our favorite visiting scientists, Dr. Joan Davenport! Joan, a former researcher for Ocean Spray, works with Pine Island Cranberry to provide guidance on fertilizer, water, and nutrients, as well as general PIICM management.

“This was an especially good visit, because there was a lot of education involved,” says manager Mike Haines. “We had a big group going out, with a mix of new and more experienced people, but everyone who was there really wanted to learn.” The team spent a day and a half with Joan walking through a variety of bogs on the property. “We looked at different varieties in different locations and looked at several factors,” Mike says. “One Stevens bed might need ten pounds of nitrogen, but we can’t assume the next bed needs the same. It depends on location, when the water comes off, is it an established bed or a young bed…all kinds of things.”

Tim Bourgeois and Matt Stiles both met Joan for the first time this year and say they really learned a lot. “Fertilizer applications and the specific requirements for cranberries are interesting to learn about,” Tim says. “The how, the what, the why. Cranberries are very different from other crops; they need less fertilizer than other crops do, and the water requirement is different, so you need a good, solid, accurate baseline for what stage they should be at by this point in the growing season. But Joan anticipated a lot of the questions I had in my head and answered as we went through everything, bog by bog.” He says it’s a work in progress: “I’m still trying to get a mental picture of what color plants should be during their normal growth stages so I can also know what problematic coloring looks like.” Matt agrees: “We seem to be on the right track with everything, and it was really informative; she showed us exactly what to look for.”

Things are a little different this year, as well. “We had to make some changes due to the cold wet spring,” says Jeremy Fenstermaker. “We also decided against doing a roughneck fertilizer application this year, so the nitrogen levels are going to be different; typically we’d start with ten pounds on the Stevens and Ben Lear beds but this year we’re going with five.” He attributes some of this to our sanding results. “You can see the difference in plant growth and vigor this year already; we’ll see how it affects insect pressure later on.”

“At this point in the growing season, we are evaluating the plants for fruit potential and trying to develop recommendations for applications between bloom and fruit set. To do this, I look at hook, the length and color of the new upright growth, and the amount and color of old leaves, including looking for leaves from two growing seasons ago,” Joan says.

Weather effects – update

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We talked a couple of weeks ago about the weather this spring and the issues that could come up as a result, and this week we spoke with other growers as well as researchers to learn what kind of effects they’ve been seeing.

On our own place, things are starting to catch up. “Stuff is really starting to grow,” says manager Mike Haines. “We’re starting to see hook stage out in the bogs, which is the growth stage right before bloom. So we’ve been getting busy already.” The drawback to plant growth, he says, is that the pests grow right along with it, and some of them can be very dangerous to a crop. “The blackheaded fireworm is particularly dangerous, because they reproduce so quickly,” he says. “So even if you only see a couple, it means you have to move fast.” To that end, his team has been working diligently to scout the entire farm for various pests as well as creating a plan for handling possible infestation.

The weather’s also been an issue for the operation next door. Steve Lee III, of Lee Brothers in Speedwell, is seeing the same effect. “We were running a good week, ten days behind,” he says. “Growth kind of exploded after it cleared up; I suspect the warm weather and warm nights are helping that now.” While he’s observed another 3/4 inches of growth once things warmed up, “I don’t think you ever catch entirely back up; once you’re behind stay a little behind. It’ll probably have an effect on yield, but how much, I don’t know.”

“New Jersey cranberry beds are, in general, way behind,” says Dan Schiffhauer, an ag scientist with Ocean Spray. “Normally by this time we would be seeing a lot of hook on early varieties such as Stevens, Ben Lear, Crimson Queen, and DeMoranville, and would expect bloom to begin by early June. This year there are quite a few beds that are just beginning to show hook and bloom will probably start [about] 7 days later than normal.” He has some concerns about yield, as well: “I worry that NJ will have the type of bloom that used to occur when everyone held the water until mid-May. The resulting growth was explosive (with lots of tipworm damage) and bloom tended to be compressed. The net result was lower yields. There is nothing anyone can do about this but hope that the current very hot weather doesn’t persist.” The good news: he has yet to see any tipworm damage.

Dan also suggests that growers should watch vines carefully when the weather suddenly transitions from wet and cool to hot. “Vines that have had little to no heat or water stress can wilt suddenly if beds become too dry,” he says. “It may seem counterintuitive to water more than normal after all the rain we have had this spring but it may be required until the vines ‘normalize’ to the more common temperatures encountered in New Jersey.”

Ditching 2016

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Every year after the winter flood comes off the bogs, our team begins cleaning ditches. Ditching is important for two reasons. First, it helps maintain the proper moisture level in the soil. Second, and most importantly, removing water from the bogs quickly is urgent in case of a big rain event. The process is simple–the machine moves along the water line, removing the debris that has accumulated over the winter and placing it along the dam–but in the past has been time-consuming.

We have, however, recently acquired some new equipment to help streamline the process. “We lost the engine in the excavator that had the big ditcher on it at kind of a critical time,” COO Bryan vonHahmann explains. “But just recently we bought another arm mower with a longer reach that can go down 25 feet rather than 20. So we were able to just purchase another attachment; now we just take the mower off and put the ditcher on that arm. That makes it a lot easier to get to everything.”

“Not only does it save us some time,” says Matt Giberson, “but since it’s narrower, it doesn’t tear up the vines as much. And that also means the operator can see obstacles such as irrigation lines and underdrain much more easily, which means it frees a team member to be elsewhere, since they don’t have to act as a guide.”

Long-time team member Rick Zapata is running the show again this year. “I’ve only been at it for about a week, but it moves fast,” he says. “It’s a little different this year; usually it goes in a particular order, but this year I’m skipping around to different sections.” He emphasizes the need to be careful of the irrigation systems. “You have to look at the pump house and figure out the layout. I know where most of them are by now, but a new guy will take a little longer. There’s a lot to keep track of: the pipes, the pole, the wires. But the machine works great. It gets a lot of the dirt and the obstruction and just keeps moving.”

“The only thing we have to do is come back around where the underdrain is and clear out those spots underneath,” Matt says. “We had to put off the project due to the weather, but now that we’re catching up, Rick is moving really fast.”

Around the farm

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The rain has let up a little, and our team is out there making things happen!

Bog renovation, of course, remains a top priority, with Junior Colon land-leveling and with the team putting in water lines.

Facilities and Equipment are working on refurbishing the pumps and putting up new pump houses:

In other sections of the farm, regular bog maintenance is ongoing, and the new monitors are going up:

And last but not least, our forestry management areas appear to be thriving!

Breaking bud

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When it comes to agriculture, too much rain can be just as bad as not enough. And there’s been quite a bit of rain in the area over the past couple of weeks.

“Getting too much rain is not conducive to growing cranberries,” says COO Bryan vonHahmann. “We’re in the growing season now, but heavy rains can delay that, a little.” It doesn’t just affect the cranberries: “All the work slows down: maintenance, renovation. . .everything else we need to do. So our team has other tasks to work on. We’re rebuilding sprinklers, cleaning up trees, repairing dams, doing anything we can do in poor weather. It all needs to be done; it just means we need to get more done later.”

“The rain and the colder temperatures mean the buds aren’t growing as quickly as they should,” says manager Mike Haines. “Right now in the established beds we should be seeing signs of bud break, so Vanessa, Tim, and I are scouting growth stages every day…but the rain slows that down for us.”

In addition to negatively affecting plant growth, many tasks normally undertaken during the growing season have been delayed as well. “It’s held up some fertilizer applications we want to put on the young beds,” Mike says. “The minute you take water off you want new plants to start growing like crazy throughout the whole season. But since it’s so wet, we can’t fertigate because the beds are saturated already. We can’t use the Gephardt because it’ll get stuck, and planes are a no-go. There’s not enough acreage ready to really justify bringing the planes in, anyway, so those applications are delayed.”

“Planting is stalled as well; we’re still not done planting the Haines variety in Warehouse #1, because it’s too wet for the planter,” he says. “Water is sitting on top of the new growth, so we’re also talking about putting underdrain in there.” There is, however, a bright side! “I can catch up on office work! Right now I’m making a bee map, which will help coordinate the beekeepers when the time comes. We’ll be pretty busy when it finally warms up!”

Bog renovation 2016 – planting update

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Bog renovation, as always, is an ongoing project at Pine Island, and our team is moving right along! Manager of Bog Renovations Steve Manning is pleased with the current progress. “Two weeks ago, we finished Osborne Spung,” he says. “It’s been all sub-graded, we’ve built the canals and the dams, and now it’s ready for sand. We’re continuing to put sand in over at Worth Tract; Jeremy [Fenstermaker] is designing the irrigation set-up, the pumps are going in, the structures are being built. Wilfredo [Pagan] has a crew putting gates in.”

Another current project is finishing the planting at Warehouse #1. While our team planted most of that acreage back in the fall, they were only able to finish about 3/4 of the portion alloted to the Haines variety. “There was a problem getting some of the material, but ultimately it won’t really be a big deal,” says manager Mike Haines. “There’s not going to be too much of a growth difference.” Tim [Bourgeois] and Jeremy have been working on getting the planter calibrated in order to keep as few people as possible walking behind it and fixing plants. “The wet weather means we need to keep the planter out of the newer beds, so in the meantime we also have a crew out at Old 11 Acre replanting some spots that died due to Phytophthora,” Mike says. (Phytophthora is a fungus that leads to rot.)

Eliminating fruit rot is a top priority of our team. “It’s usually caused by having too much water on for too long, especially during hot and humid weather conditions,” Mike says. “Last year on these beds, I tried to sub-irrigate by bringing ditches up instead of running sprinklers. But these have a heavier soil, which holds water longer, and I ended up watering more than needed. So we considered all that and decided to keep ditches down and just water as needed. Matt [Stiles] is incorporating that as part of his irrigation plan, as well as taking some other preventive measures. Jeremy did a lot of research and found we can switch nozzles on sprinklers so we can irrigate using 33% less water, which will be great for next year when these beds will be ready for frost protection.”

“Everyone’s doing a great job; it can be really tedious hand planting everything,” Mike says. “But things have been moving faster than I’ve ever seen before!”

Quail release – April 2016

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This month, New Jersey Audubon once again arrived at Pine Island Cranberry for the second scheduled release of the translocated bobwhite quail program! Eighty-one quail, captured in Georgia by project collaborator Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy, were successfully translocated and released at the study site. According to NJ Audubon: “After receiving health screening testing and attaching leg ID bands and radio-signal transmitting collars to each bird, a total of eighty-one birds, (37 females and 44 males) were released in groups at the Pine Island Cranberry study site by NJ Audubon and initiative partners, Pine Island Cranberry, the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and the University of Delaware.”

“We are very excited about this second release of wild Northern Bobwhite. These new quail were released into areas where Northern Bobwhite were released last year, supplementing the newly developing population,” says John Parke of NJ Audubon. “Having those birds from last year at the site only increases the likelihood of survival of these new birds in the wild since the new birds will integrate with them and thus be influenced in their cover and foraging choices, nesting area selection and predator avoidance response in their new surroundings. We did not have that luxury last year.”

The birds from the first stage of the release are doing very well! From the NJ Audubon update:

“Through the use of radio telemetry, University of Delaware graduate students…monitored the birds and were able to confirm 15 nests, 127 eggs laid; and 66 chicks hatched in 2015. The birds were tracked throughout the winter by the students and were confirmed to have over-wintered successfully at the study site. It was noted that the quail were utilizing the young pine regeneration growth areas for cover throughout the entire winter season. These young pine areas were the result of vegetation regeneration in areas that had been harvested previously as part of forest stewardship activities performed by Pine Island Cranberry to improve overall watershed and forest health.”

The newly released birds will be tracked the same way.

“We’re pleased with how this project has progressed; the first year went very well. We enjoy working with NJ Audubon and the other partners, and are looking forward to another great year,” says CEO Bill Haines.

*Photos courtesy of John Parke.

Automation 2016

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Last year saw the introduction of our new automation program, a process that will hopefully increase efficiency and reduce strain on our team.

This year, we’re scheduled to automate 37 pumps. “Our pilot program we did seven; all the new renovation as well as Rainbow Reservoir,” says Facilties manager Louis Cantafio. “This year, we’re doing all the pumps at the current reno project as well as some larger areas, starting with the pumps farthest out, especially out at Sim Place.”

Installation has definitely been a team effort. Fred Henschel has been busy fabricating the brackets for the sensor installation, and then Ernie Waszkiewicz takes them out to the targeted pumps to weld them on. Louis, in the meantime, has been sorting through supplies and ordering the ancillary items the team will need when they start installing the sensors next week. “We’ll have a lot more guys working on this next week when we really kick things into gear,” says Louis. “Joe Lord shipped everything out to us–minus some of the connectors, that kind of thing–but we’re going to do the installation ourselves and in about three weeks Joe will be out here to work on the programming.” Having Joe come out to work on the programming itself is crucial:

“Field data is sent wirelessly to a master controller in your home, shop or vehicle and your Joe Lord System continuously communicates with the network of devices, sending commands to turn on engines and pumps when needed, based on your congured schedules. Since no two locations are alike, customization is vital. Controls are programmed to the needs of each customer regardless of the number of sensors and probes.”

The team is looking forward to expanding the program. “It’s going to give us a lot more control,” Louis says. “The computer actually handles a lot of the start-up and shut-down process, which is what usually takes up a big chunk of the time an operator is out there running water, either during frost or heat.” It helps us reduce our fuel cost and wear and tear on vehicles as well as protecting that most crucial resource for a cranberry operation: water!

Pine Island Team Profiles: Matt Stiles

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This week, we chat with New Production supervisor Matt Stiles! We talked about Matt a bit when we covered the inaugural lunctime learning meeting, but he’s been keeping very busy! A former vineyard supervisor at a local winery, Matt came to us in October (“a challenging time to start at a cranberry farm,” says COO Bryan vonHahmann) and has been doing a little bit of everything ever since. But one of the places he’s been the busiest has been with new production.

“I’ve been doing a bit of everything since I started,” Matt says. “I filled several roles during the harvest, I’ve been running equipment, I’ve been doing some stuff in the office. But my main focus right now is the new plantings.”

He’s been having a good time, as well. “Everyone’s been nice and helpful,” he says. “I like being out doing what I do; it’s a lot of fun. It’s especially cool watching everything coming out of dormancy. You get to see all the changes occurring, how the different varieties are reacting in different areas on the property. And starting at harvest time means I get to see the entire cycle from start to finish.” While there are quite a few differences between growing cranberries and working in a vineyard, he says much of it is familiar, particularly how both operations manage their ICM programs.

Fellow team members are glad to have him on board. “He’s smart and inquisitive and an all-around good guy,” says Mike Haines. Everyone has had high praise for Matt’s idea of instituting a lunchtime brainstorming meeting, as well. “The first one [on weeds and erosion] was pretty well-received,” Matt says. “The second one was really good, too; everyone had a lot of ideas for how to streamline harvest to make it more smooth and efficient, with a lot of focus on the bogside cleaner.” Within the next week or so, the team will be meeting again to discuss irrigation.

“Matt’s got great experience and capability,” Bryan says. “We’re glad to have him on board.”

MFS Intensive Learning 2016

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Today, Pine Island Cranberry was once again happy to welcome some students from Moorestown Friends School for an overview and tour of our operation.

The group was here as part of an annual week-long “Intensive Learning” experience. As described on their website:

For one week each March, regular classes are suspended for “Intensive Learning,” when Middle and Upper School students and teachers engage in an in-depth study of a specific subject, often involving off-campus research. This long-standing MFS tradition. . .allows teachers and students to break out of the structure of formal class periods and traditional study by subject disciplines (math, English, history) for a time of experiential learning in out-of-classroom settings.

The students in our group have spent the week immersed in “A Unique Pine Barrens Experience”, where they “learn the unique history and culture of the nearby ‘Pinelands,’the first National Reserve created by Congress. The area has also been designated by the United Nations an International Biosphere Reserve, yet the area is little known, even to people who live nearby. We will spend time hiking and exploring the forest as well as learning about the intriguing history of the area, including the Jersey Devil and the indigenous ‘Piney’ population.” As you can see, they’ve had quite a busy week, and we were more than happy to be a part of their extensive program!

First, we subjected them to a PowerPoint presentation (and they were very good sports about it!) with an overview of our tasks throughout the year introduced by managers Mike Haines and Matt Giberson. The students raised some excellent questions; our personal favorite was “Are the Ocean Spray commercials filmed here?” (Answer: Not yet. . .but there’s always next year!) Matt and Mike then took the group out to see an established bed, a young bed, and finally, a quick trip over to part of our 2016 renovation.

As always, it was a pleasure to show people what we do here year-round, especially with such an attentive and interested group! We’re looking forward already to next year and the opportunity to show more of the next generation what we do and who we are.