Welland Valley Wind-Down Session

After a hard weekend at the Welland Valley Beer Festival, what better way to wind down ahead of the return to work than tea, cake and a Gun Dog demonstration at the Wing Village Fete at Wing Hall in Rutland. Mind you, if by any chance you haven't had your fill of ale and cider, there's ale and cider available too, local cider at that. Rockingham Forest Red Kite, Welland Valley Festival Special, and Green Horse Perry to be precise.

Red Lion @ Welland Valley Beer Festival

The festival bar under construction

Cider & Perry @ Red Lion Middleton this weekend

Ciderhouse News - June

A busy day in the ciderhouse today. Barrels and boxes have now been filled ready for the next round of festivals and local deliveries. Barely a drop passed my lips... honest!

First up is a delivery to our friends at the Criterion Freehouse in Leicester, with a box of our new season Green Horse Perry. Like our other perries, this has finished with quite a high gravity of 1.014, giving a rich medium perry of 4.6% abv. Green Horse perry pears make a naturally opaque perry, with a pleasant citrusy sharpness, and just a hint of Ginger to my taste buds.

The cider and perry list for our village local the Red Lion has now been firmed up ready for this weekends Welland Valley Beer Festival:

Rockingham Forest Red Kite Cider (Med/Dry) 7%

Rockingham Forest Welland Valley Festival Special Cider (Medium) 7.5%

Rockingham Forest Green Horse Perry (Medium) 4.6%
Rockingham Forest Blakeney Red Perry (Med/Sweet) 4.2%
Torkard Floppy Tabs Cider (Medium) 6.0%
Ross Blakeney Red Perry (Med/Dry) 6.0%
Ross Browns Apple Cider (Med/Dry) 6.5%
Another local-ish cider (tbc)

This seasons Welland Valley Festival Special has emerged with a bit of soft tannin from the Russets we pressed, and a lovely orchard-fruits aroma. This cider will also be crossing the border to Rutland for the inaugural Rutland CAMRA Beer Festival later in the month, along with the very last barrel of this seasons Blakeney Red Perry.

The Rockingham Forest Cider Guide to Orchard Pests & Diseases

Orchardists of a nervous disposition, look away now....

This gruesome catalogue of orchard pests and diseases were found during a single morning inspection earlier this week. There could be much more to find, I haven't managed to inspect every tree yet! We've now got over 30 apple trees planted around the garden, varying in age from 2-5 years old. Some of the older trees have put on a good bit of growth since planting, so keeping on top of potential problems like the ones shown here has become more of a task. The good news is that many of the more common pests such as Aphid seem to be much less prevalent on the more mature trees, so I'm hoping we may see less of this kind of thing in the future.

Rosy Apple Aphid - Vile purple sap-sucking critters. Working in tandem with Ants, which deliver them onto the tree, they cause leaves and shoots to curl in a most unattractive way, and stunt fruit growth. Yes, that's right, these bastards are quite literally stealing our cider! Control: Squish between thumb and forefinger, again and again and again...



Brown Scale Insect - My thanks to good folk on the Cider Worshop for helping identify these nasties. The warty shells shown here are the remains of a once thriving colony of sap-sucking insects which have now moved out ready to begin sucking again this Summer. Control: Removed with thumbnail but likely to recur, so vigilance (and possibly an insecticide) necessary.



Woolly Aphid - Ooh! I really hate these. More sap-sucking action, this time concealed within a blanket of candyfloss (Note the drops of honeydew). The damage these critters do can sometimes lead to incidence of Canker, one of the most deadly fungal diseases known to apple trees. Control: Rub out, remove, destroy, attack with a toothbrush if neccesary. Show no mercy!

 

Powdery Mildew - One or two of our Harry Masters' trees are susceptible to this nasty disease. Long, dry spells (like the one we're having now) encourage Powdery Mildew. Some trees being overhung by our mature Bramley probably doesn't help either! Control: Nothing for it but pruning out. Burn prunings, clean secateurs thoroughly.



Green Aphid - Not a major pest for us, but really bad infestation can lead to reduced vigour or even stunted shoot growth. Control: Squish, and hey, if a few Ants get squished too, what of it!



Grubs - Ok, not very specific I know, but this could be one of many orchard pests. Totrix Moth, Apple Sawfly, or most likely given the black, sticky 'frass' shown on this picture, the dreaded Blastobasis Moth. Control: Err! Still working on this one...

Ladybirds - Not a pest, but not much bloody use it seems. Less shagging, more chomping please...