Tree Fruit News – Fruit Matters, April 2023

How can we determine if additional nitrogen is needed?

In this article, we review the key questions answered by experts about managing crop load, nutrition, rootstocks, and harvest for Honeycrisp.

In perennial fruit trees, most nutrient uptake occurs between bloom and rapid vegetative growth. Sweet cherry root growth starts when soil temperatures reach approximately 59 F during spring, usually after bloom in Washington soils. In…

Written by Bernardita Sallato C., Gary Grove and Alexandra Johnson, Washington State University, August 2021. Reviewed by Dr. Frank Zhao, January 2022. Bacterial canker in sweet cherries is caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv….

Releases of purchased natural enemies can be an effective way to organically manage arthropod pests. Find out how to optimize your investment in this management tactic.

Schmidt-Jeffris taught a group of 68 growers and consultants about Trechnites a key parasitoid of pears at a recent November workshop. Trechnites insidiosus is the main parasitoid of pear psylla often reducing pear psylla numbers…

Make a plan now to be ready to prevent fire blight in your orchard this year.

With increased awareness comes pressure and incentive to measure soil health on farms, which is great! Researchers and farmers alike want to know where the soil stands in terms of soil health. But soil health…

Written by Marcella Galeni, Washington State University–Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center and Carolina Torres, Washington State University–Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, Wenatchee. Organic apple production in Washington represented 13% of the total harvest…

Stay up-to-date on pear pest monitoring data, decision support resources, and upcoming projects.

The WA Tree Fruit Research Commission approved $121,457 to help fund five (5) new Apple Crop Protection projects for 2023.

The Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission approved $562,722 to help fund seven (7) new Apple Horticulture and Postharvest projects for 2023.

PACMAN Briefings recordings are now available.

The International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) has established a new ISHS Horticulture Debate series called “Hort Forum”. According to the organizers, the idea is to have webinars followed by panel discussions and open questions…

Honeycrisp Meetup: Crop Load Part 1. Introduction to the Honeycrisp Meetup Series developed in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension, Michigan State University Extension and Washington State University Extension. Part 1. Terence Robinson, Cornell University talks…

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…