“best practices,” orchardist Gene
Kingsbury employs Integrated Pest
Management, a targeted approach
to addressing specific insects. Instead
of broadband pesticides, for
example, he chooses pheromone
traps and mating disrupters that
hang from his trees. Mating disrupters
don’t kill peach tree borers
that weaken crops, but inhibit
their ability to find a mate, reducing
their population and damage
to crops. Gene also limits spraying
pesticides during bloom season,
specifically to avoid hurting pollinators
because crops like sweet
cherries and apples are almost
entirely dependent on those pollinators.
And, while unable to go
completely organic, by using IPM,
Gene and other growers in the
Reserve make a concerted effort to
Joe Long of HoneyFX Apiaries teaches
children how to care for honeybees and
native wild bees.
mitigate specific insects without
hurting the pollinators.
The list of national and local
programs created to save pollinators
and their habitat is also vast,
but if you take anything away from
this article, know that even your
smallest environmentally related
choices really matter. In the case
of pollinators, it isn’t overly dramatic
to say our survival depends
on these choices. So, while there
are many good people out there
trying to fix our past ecological
mistakes, they need our assistance.
And most of all, remember this: if
we want butterflies in our garden,
don’t kill the caterpillars!
An avid outdoorswoman and third generation
gardener, popular local writer
Pamela Boe lives with her family among
the orchards in the heart of the Ag
Reserve. Her love of horticulture, cultivated
at an early age by her mastergardener
grandmother at their family
owned nursery, continues to this day.
OPEN Daily
10:00am - 6:00pm
Since 1888, Lewis Orchards
has been a treasured part
of Montgomery County life.
Fourth generation farmers
Robert and Linda Lewis own
and operate the farm market,
known for its fair prices and
beautiful high quality produce.
18901 Peach Tree Road at the intersection of Rte. 28 (Darnestown Road) and Peach Tree Road
25 plenty I autumn Dickerson, harvest MD 2019 20842 • 301-349-4101 • lewisorchardfarmmarket.com
plenty summer growing 2020 25
plenty I summer growing 2020 25
plenty I summer growing 2020 25