This is the page to access terms for holistic fruit production.

JEB: My first question is is this really needed or am I just spinning my wheels? When I research different subjects I find that some terms are used interchangably or downright wrong. Example Compost Tea. I can reference many articles that tell the good and bad points of compost tea but do not define what it is. What I hope we could do with this page is post Terms with definitions so we all speak the same language as we report findings and orchard trial results.

I think one or two rules would help keep this in order:

1. When inserting a term make sure it is in the proper place alphabetically.
2. Cite works when appropriate (give credit where credit is due) as this helps when others are researching a topic.
3. If there is one term already defined and you have another definition, please number your definition. This way we can "debate" until such time as such definitions get woven together.
4. If you find a term in your research but no definition, post it here (maybe someone will know the definition)

I would really like some feedback from all you smart people on ways to make this relevant and easy to use. Here are some terms to get this started ( ALSO DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THE SPELL CHECK IS ON THIS THING)

• Michael: Good framework to begin with, pictures on "some terms" will liven up certain aspects. I think embolden the actual term being defined but not the definition itself.  We don't need to keep the letters in the list once a term fills that niche. Spell check doesn't exist here (type in Word for that, then cut'n'paste). Eventually Jeb's initial message should become more of a solid intro... but I'll let stand (beyond the opening line, now revised) while this gets going. I'll add a few terms for others to define to help this page's momentum. And obviously, these colored comments are going to disappear once the format here takes form.
• Claude: let us try to keep a common format, with the name in bold characters and the definition in italics, this makes it more easily readable.
• Michael: I am adding a period after the defined word... as this is what the editors are having me do for a new book.
• Michael: we have two definitions for pH, which is part of this process. I just want to challenge others to edit / merge all points into one when anyone feels compelled to that task.
  
 

Arboreal Food Web.  The fascinating interaction and nutual dependency between fungi, bacteria, nematodes, protozoa, arthropods, and more on the surface of plants. Holistic disease management is based on supporting competitive colonization of plant surfaces and the stimulation provided by microorganisms to tree tree reistance mechanisms to disease. We have too long overlooked the arboreal food web!

Beneficial Accumulator.  Flowering plant species that provide adult habitat for beneficial insects and thus build populations of "good bugs" in the orchard ecosystem.

Brix.  A scale indicating the sugar concentration, often used for fresh juice. Early season apples are usually low in sugar with a Brix around 10. Fall apples often have a Brix of 13 while late apples rich in sugar may reach Brix 15 to 17. In general, the higher the Brix number, the more suitable for cider. Roughly, dividing the Brix number by 2 gives the potential alcohol of a cider (i.e. apple juice at Brix 16 would give a cider of about 8% alcohol if all the sugars are fermented). May be measured with a hydrometer quite economically, but requiring a reasonable amount of juice (see specific gravity below); or with use of a refractometer which is pricier but immediate for the field and requires only a drop by comparison.

Cider.   Alcoholic beverage obtained from the fermentation of apple juice.

Compost Tea (Fungal Dominated).     Maybe look at Dr. Ingham's definitions?

Compost Tea ( Bacteria Dominated).

Dynamic Accumulator.     ...

E.

EM (Effective Microbes).    A combination of probiotic microorganisms to populate leaf surfaces and soil and compost. Composed of an aerobic and complementary anaerobic bacteria, a yeast strain, and fungus strain. Developed by a Japanese Horticulture professor in Southern Japan. Used widely in Asia. Promoted by Sustainable Community Development in the USA. Buy some and then brew it from the mother batch with molasses and water.

Fish Hydrosylate.     Unpasteurized liquid fish, biologically active with fatty acid chains intact.

G.

Hygiene. Cultural practices which diminish disease vectors in an orchard over time.

I.

J.

K.

L.

Mycorrhizal Accumulator.   ...

Mycorrhizal Fungi.    ...

N.

Orchard Compost.     ...

pH.   The measure of Potental Hydrogen,on a scale rangeing from 0-14 This is a logarithmic scale  I.E. There is a 10X increase between 4 to 5 and a 100X increase between 4 to 6. A pH of 7 is considered neutral. According to Michael Phillips in "The Apple Grower" (p. 42)  fertile orchard soils are between 6.3 and 6.8 pH.

pH.   Hydronium ion concentration. Hydronium ions are cations formed and are written H+ and the concentration is inversely proportional to the Hydroxide ion OH-. Another useful point about pH is the buffering capacity of soils whereby soils with large amounts of organic matter and with non soluable mineral sources become more pH forgiving.

Q.

Ramial Wood Chips.    ... 

Sanitation. (See Hygiene) ...

Specific Gravity (S.G.).   Weight of a liquid relative to pure water at 60 F (S.G. of such water is 1.000). Often used to measure the sugar concentration of apple juice, see also Brix. Apple juice with a S.G. of 1.050 is equivalent to Brix 12.5.

T.

Understory.    ...

V.

W.

X.

Y.

Z.

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