When is green tip? Glad you asked, and we have the answer. (Well maybe?) When you reach app. 120 degree days, Base 43 BE. For McIntosh. I like to use March 1 as a start date for this unless February is abnormally warm. (It was not.) How do you know when you are there? Well, you could go look at the orchard and see green tip :-) But that would be no fun. NEWA actually has a pretty nifty little degree day calculator here: http://newa.cornell.edu/index.php?page=degree-day-calculator. Choose you closest NEWA station, choose Base 43, choose start of March 1, and then you can use an end date about one week out. Right now, for Belchertown, with an end date of April 7 (next Sunday) it says 46. Nope, no green tip for at least another week (of pruning)!
OR, you can go look at these nifty little maps courtesy of the Northeast Regional Climate Center: http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/industry/apple/apple.html Nope, not green tip in Belchertown (as of March 31). BUT, looks like immediate Boston area might have some green tip? Anyone care to verify that? Not sure I believe it...
