Tree Fruit Research and Extension
WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension develops and applies research-based information for sustainable tree fruit production in Washington and the world.
Recent News
Honeycrisp Virutal Meetups Takeaways
In this article, we review the key questions answered by experts about managing crop load, nutrition, rootstocks, and harvest for Honeycrisp.
Plan for Multiple Fire Blight Conditions, Be Agile
Make a plan now to be ready to prevent fire blight in your orchard this year.
Decision Support Tools for Frost Mitigation
This article summarizes some of the available and emerging decision-support tools that can be used in tandem to mitigate frost effectively.
Pre-bloom pear psylla management program, 2023
Good timing and selection of sprays will kill pear psylla and other pests, reduce unnecessary spray costs, and set up your summer management for success.
Effect of multi-leader training systems and Prohexadione-Ca applications on apple cultivar ‘WA 38’
In a grafted WA38 trial Prohexadione-Calcium significantly reduced excessive tree vigor and resulted in larger and more uniform fruit size compared to the control.
2023 is looking like one of the worst years for honey bees in nearly two decades
Honey bees are the primary pollinator for many fruit and seed crops in the State of Washington. Since 2005 much has been written about the…
Upcoming Events
3
Apr
Apr
Storage Wars: How Exploring the Pear Microbiome Can Help Improve Food Safety and Quality Outcomes During Storage
WSU Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center, Overley Bld. Room 102
Featured Videos
Biopesticides: Efficacy and Use
With increasing organic acreage and scrutiny of antibiotics use, alternatives to antibiotics for the control of fire blight are necessary. Dr. Ken Johnson, Oregon State University, talked about biopesticide efficacy and their use for the…
Managing Fire Blight Infections: Pruning, Sanitation
Is it important to quickly prune out fire blight infected materials soon after an infection occurs? How we remove them effectively? And what about sanitizing or not our tools? Tianna DuPont, Washington State University Extension,…
PACMAN Briefings Session 4: 3D Imaging and Digital Twin for Specialty Crops
PACMAN Briefings Session 4: Crop Load Adjustment Based on Early Flower Bud Detection
PACMAN Briefings Session 4: Improving Apple Harvest with the Latest in AI Yield Estimation for Specialty Crops
Recent Publications
Investigations of Multiple Approaches to Reduce Green Spot Incidence in ‘WA 38’ Apple
A pre-harvest apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) disorder named “green spot” (GS) was recently identified on ‘WA 38’ apples. Previous work indicated a tentative association between GS and fruit mineral imbalance, and an influence of…
Soil Health Indicators for Central Washington Orchards
To help growers in Central Washington orchards, Washington State University scientists demonstrated that all soil health indicators should include measurements of water availability and root health in addition to standard fertility indicators to meet stakeholder…
Field scale application of Brassica seed meal and anaerobic soil disinfestation for the control of apple replant disease.
Study published June 2021 in Applied Soil Ecology shows potential of anaerobic soil disinfestation and biorenovation with mustard meals for mitigation of replant disease.
Towards rapid detection and mapping of powdery mildew in apple orchards
Chandel, Khot, Sallato Dec 2020. Powdery mildew (PM) in apples is a critical fungal disease that adversely affects yield and fruit quality. Conventional PM identification techniques are laborious. This study evaluated the suitability of non-destructive…
Photoselective Protective Netting Improves “Honeycrisp” Fruit Quality
Sara Serra et al. Dec 2020. High temperatures, wind, and excessive sunlight can negatively impact yield and fruit quality in semi-arid apple production regions. Netting was originally designed for hail protection, but it can modify…
