Category: Latest Issue

What Keeps a Farmer Up at Night?

Usually that answer would be simple, grow a safe high-quality product for your vendors, while fulfilling all of your contracts at a fair price. This has become far from simple with the advent of Covid-19. Life as we have known it has changed over the last few months. As a cold March gave way to spring, I speculated how Covid-19 would affect the crop of 280,000 Bushels of apples we had set out to grow. This led to the question, how will the virus affect the industry as a whole?

Brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys, Stal) (BMSB) is an invasive species which causes economically significant damage to tree fruit, vegetable, ornamental and field crops. This pest was first discovered in the US in eastern Pennsylvania in the late 1990s but has subsequently spread to over 40 states including many where fruit production is widespread (citation for BMSB first detection (Hoebeke and Carter 2003)“StopBMSB.org” 2020). Initially, stink bugs were primarily a nuisance pest for homeowners who ombatted populations invading their homes each fall (Nielsen and Hamilton 2009). However, damage from
BMSB feeding was soon observed in commercial orchards and by the late 2000s, this pest was a growing concern for fruit growers in the Mid-Atlantic states. Currently, BMSB is considered a serious pest of tree fruit within the US, causing major damage to apples, pears and especially peaches (Holtz and Kamminga 2010).

Confirming the breakdown of apple scab resistance in Malus floribunda 821, the most important source for scab resistance breeding, in North America | Hummingbirds Can Reduce Spotted Wing
Drosophila (SWD) Fruit Infestation | Strategies for Sunburn Prevention on ‘Honeycrisp’ and Management of the Apple Insect Complex Employing Complete Exclusion Protective Netting in the Hudson Valley of  NY State | Prohexadione-calcium at Pink: A strategy for managing fire blight in apple orchards | Improvements to the Cornell Apple Carbohydrate Thinning Model – MaluSim | Drape Net Field Netting Investigation & Results

Spring 2020 Issue

– Picking the Right Rootstock for Fresh and Processing Apple Orchards  – Investigating the Behavior and Biology of Locally Overwintered Spotted-wing Drosophila Disease in Michigan – Establishment, Persistence and Impact of Native NY Entomopathogenic Nematodes on Plum Curculio In Apples Management in Apple Orchards – MSU Apple Replant Field Trial at the Clarksville Research Center

Winter 2019 Issue

– The Evolution of Planar Canopy Architectures  – Unraveling the Mysteries of Apple Replant
Disease in Michigan – Pathogen Detection Assays for Fire Blight
Management in Apple Orchards – The New and Changing Berry Variety Landscape for Northern Growers

Fall 2019  Issue

– Factors Contributing to the Death and Decline of Young Apple Trees  -Rapid Decline of Apple Trees: Looking into Potential Causes – Field Scale Evaluation of an Ozone Airblast Sprayer for Management of Apple Insect and
Disease Pests – Fruit Replant Problem with a Special Emphasis on Nematodes

Summer 2019  Issue

– Precision Pruning of Gala Apples  – Role for Flies in the Disease Cycle of Fire Blight – Effects of Training System and Rootstock on Bosc Pears – Evaluation of SDHI and DMI Fungicides in Mix w/ Surfactants

Spring 2019  Issue

1. RIMpro Apple Scab Prediction Model on Commercial Apple Farms
2. Distribution of Viruses in New York Apple Orchards
3. Implementing the Pollen Tube Growth Model on NEWA
4. Apple Cultivars Mechanisms in Response to Fire Blight Infection
5. RIMpro and Apple Scab in New England: Accuracy and Adoption

Winter 2018-19  Issue

1. Economic Case Studies of Cider Apple Orchards in NYS
2. Mite-Flaring Impact of New Insecticides on European Red Mites in Apples
3. Understanding Strawberry Root Problems that Impact Berry Farm Profitability
4. Bitter Pit Mitigation & the ‘Honeycrisp’ Apple
5. Orchard Automation & Genes Relevant to Apple Tree Architecture
6. Editorial – Cleaning Up Our Act: Thoughts on Sustainability

Fall 2018 Issue