Fruits
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Study Charts How Orchards Can Leverage Mechanical Thinning and Pruning without Spreading Fire Blight
Apple fire blight is a devastating disease that causes an estimated $100 million of damage in U.S. orchards annually. Pruning an apple orchard comes with many rewards for commercial apple growers including optimal crop load, ripeness and sugar levels. Mechanical pruning and thinning is an effective alternative to long and laborious hand pruning, but commercial orchards have…
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A new bloom thinning model, developed by Virginia Tech researchers, might offer New York apple growers more precision and increased yields. In eastern New York, there has recently been increasing interest in thinning apples earlier at bloom to improve return bloom in biennial varieties like Honeycrisp, and to begin the thinning process earlier in hard…
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This article is a follow up to “On-Farm Plant Breeding Pt. I: Getting Started with Diversity”, published in the Summer 2019 SFQ. Starting there will provide more context to understand the following information. What is Selection? Selection is the basis of planting breeding. When we talk about selection as plant breeders, we are referring to…
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Apples will be bigger and better this harvest season, according to Cornell University experts. Largely in part to the weather working in favor for farmers this year, apple color, quality, and size should all be superlative this fall. “2019 should be an excellent year for apple quality,” Cornell University professor Susan Brown, an apple breeder…
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By Guy Ames, ATTRA Organic certification verifies that fruit is produced according to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic standards. See www.ams.usda.gov/nop for details of the standards. In general, the regulations make several requirements of certified organic fruit: Produced without genetic engineering, ionizing radiation, or sewage sludge Managed in a manner that conserves natural resources and biodiversity …
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