Category: Apples
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VT Apple IPM: Fire blight alert
With welcome, warm, sunny weather, we are seeing epiphytic infection potential rise in virtually all orchards around the state. We are expecting by Thursday or Friday to have high enough populations of bacteria to cause fire blight infections on trees with open blossoms. That will include most orchards in the state which may either be…
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Vermont Apple IPM: Extended apple scab infection event edition
As I write this just after noon on Saturday, May 10, it looks like this long stretch of rain we have been experiencing for the past week is wrapping up a bit earlier than expected. Over the past seven to ten days around the state we have seen rainfall totals from less than two to…
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VT Apple IPM: Twilight meetings this week and Prebloom pest management
Reminder: TREE FRUIT TWILIGHT MEETINGS Thursday and Friday, May 8 and 9, 4:00-6:00 pm Join the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association and UVM Extension on May 8 at Yates Family Orchard, 1074 Davis Road, Hinesburg, VT or May 9 at Wellwood Orchard at 529 Wellwood Orchards Road, Springfield, VT. Topics discussed include tree fruit management…
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VT Apple IPM- Tight cluster
Vermont orchards are generally at green tip bud stage for the coolest locations in the state to tight cluster in warmer locations. Apple scab continues to be the primary pest management consideration of concern. I recommend maintaining a protectant fungicide and, given the off and on wetting of the last few days that has likely…
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Vermont Apple IPM: Apple scab risk is increasing
The recent warm weather has advanced apple bud stages significantly — we are at the half-inch green stage at UVM HREC and continued warm weather should keep things moving. I recorded a video at the orchard yesterday showing the bud development at the farm and discussing the need for disease management this week. Thankfully, there…
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2025 UVM Extension Spring Orchard Twilight Meetings May 8 and 9
Join the University of Vermont Extension and Vermont Tree Fruit Grower’s Association at these hands-on field meetings at Yates Family Orchard in Monkton on May 8th and Wellwood Orchard in Springfield on May 9th from 4:30-6 p.m. We will discuss commercial tree fruit management practices, value added products, marketing, pest and disease updates, pollinators, and…
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VT Apple IPM- Starting the 2025 season
I am trying out some 21st-century technology this week. First, I dictated my message while on my commute (with light editing), so the ‘writing’ style and length may be a bit different than folks are used to. Second, I recorded an update from the UVM orchard and placed on our YouTube channel. I intend to…
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Important reading: UMASS March Message
Good morning: The growing season just keeps getting closer, I am calling today as the start of silver tip in McIntosh trees at the UVM Horticulture Research and Education Center. That means that the need for regular pest management is right on our doorstep. For decades, the UMASS Fruit IPM program published the ‘March Message’…
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Starting the 2025 growing season
My longtime colleague and predecessor in this Extension role, Lorraine Berkett, always used to stress that “the growing season starts April 1”. By that she didn’t mean that we should be firing up sprayers by April Fools’ Day— although in one year I did make my first copper application to the orchard on March 30—…
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Vermont Apple Industry Survey
My graduate student, Eli Wilson, is conducting a survey to assess the status of orchard planting systems and farm diversification among Vermont apple producers. This is the same survey that was done in real-time at the 2/21 Middlebury meeting. If you took it there, please ignore. -TB https://go.uvm.edu/25orchardsurvey Good afternoon. The UVM Fruit Program is…