WSU Tree Fruit Days webinar, Jan 18-20

General Fruit Growing
#1

This event, Jan 18-20, should be a good one! One day for apples, one day for pears, one day for stone fruit. Held in Wenatchee Washington, prime fruit growing location. Free registration for webinar.

As an oldster, I’m amazed that I figured out how to zoom. But for you youngsters…is there a way to capture/keep/record the webinar for future viewing or do you have to watch as it happens?

Link for info:
tree fruit.wsu.edu

Stone Fruit Day – North Central Washington Tree Fruit Days

January 19 @ 8:30 am - 3:30 pm

Wenatchee Convention Center, Wenatchee, 98801

Join WSU Extension for the latest research-based information on little cherry disease, cherry powdery mildew, bacterial canker, heat stress in cherries, orchard profitability and more.

Pear Day – North Central Washington Tree Fruit Days

January 20 @ 8:30 am - 3:30 pm

Wenatchee Convention Center, Wenatchee, 98801

Join WSU Extension for the latest research-based information on preventing post harvest rots, trechnites biological control, season long integrated pest management, increasing pear production in new and existing blocks, high density pears.

Apple Day – North Central Washington Tree Fruit Days

JANUARY 18 @ 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM

Apple Day Topics

Session 1: Codling Moth and Mites

  • Preventing and Trouble Shooting Codling Moth Problems
  • Insights from the Codling Moth Survey – Where are We?
  • Adding Alternative Controls to your Codling Moth Toolbox – SIR, Nematodes, and Netting
  • Mite Management: New Information on Pesticide Non-Target Effects

Session 2: Healthy Roots for High Quality Crops

  • Potential to Use Soil Health Assessments to Avoid Replant and Vigor Issues in New Plantings
  • Root Health, Fertility, Water, and Cropload Effects on Bitter Pit

Session 3: Managing Heat Stress

  • Outlook on Climate and Washington Tree Fruit Production
  • BMPs for Mitigating Heat Stress and Sunburn
  • Designing an Effective Cooling System
  • Managing Heat Stress: Lessons Learned at 118

Session 4: Technology and Engineering

5 Likes
#2

I’ve been watching a bit of this webinar today. It’s really fascinating! The session I watched this afternoon was about heat stress, specifically the WA/OR losses from last June’s heat stress. One interesting fact: The threshold for apple sunburn/ reduced fruit size is 115F on fruit surface. BUT an air temperature of 115F is equal to 156F at surface of fruit! So no wonder the fruit cooked! Orchards that used netting plus evaporative cooling were able to keep the fruit surface temperatures at 115F or below.
Tomorrow’s session is stone fruit and Thursday is pears.

3 Likes
#3

Today was another interesting session re: best practices for post-harvest pear rot.

Each year I have the experience of opening my fruit-dedicated refer to find, at first, 10% of the pears with varying degrees of post-harvest rot. As the months go by, eventually all I see is pear mush!!

According to the presenter, 75% of post-harvest rot is due to pathogens acquired pre-harvest e.g., alternaria pre-harvest becomes alternaria rot, botrytis pre-harvest becomes grey mold. Most of these infections start in the spring and increase as fruit matures. Even if they are found on surface only, any wound will allow entry into fruit.

A few common sense recommendations that I gleaned were: 1) fruit picked late i.e. more ripe, is more susceptible to decay, 2) rain 2 weeks before harvest promotes decay, and 3) post-harvest sanitation reduces decay.

But because the emphasis of today’s presentation was on pre-harvest non-organic fungicides (e.g. pristine, captan, ziram, etc.) there wasn’t much info that I would use.
However, on March 9 there is an Organic Decay Management session that I think would be valuable for organic growers.

2 Likes
#4

This is interesting info at least for me. Always wondered why some of my pears turned to mush. I really don’t yet have enough pears to justify spraying maybe when my other 6-7 trees start production.
Anything from the stone fruit of interest?

3 Likes
#5

The stone fruit session emphasized cherry diseases - X disease, Little Cherry disease, and bacterial canker.
For bacterial canker the recommendations were:

  1. prune in late spring and summer - not early spring or autumn
  2. choose resistant Mazzard rootstock
  3. avoid susceptible varieties like Bing and Royal Ann
  4. apply several applications of Surround

I loved this tidbit… pseudomonas syringae (that causes bacterial canker) is used to make snow in snow machines (!) because it promotes ice nucleation. In cherry trees, however, the ice nucleation effect encourages blossom blast in the presence of freezing temperatures.

2 Likes