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Fruit Program News

  • International Fruit Tree Association 2019 Conference

    December 28, 2018
    Welcome to 2019 IFTA Annual Conference and Tours. February 25-29, 2019. Holiday Inn, Rochester, NY. We are excited to bring you a top notch program featuring leaders in the Fruit Tree Industry and informative orchard tours.  Your 2019 registration includes: Two Full Days of speakers/presentations        Two Full Days of Orchard Tours with 14 stops   
  • Apple Maggot Fly on watch

    November 12, 2018
    Stockbridge School of Agriculture and Extension Asscoiate Professor Dr. Jaime Piñero awarded two grants to study noxious and invasive insect pests affecting tree fruit.
  • Apple (and other tree fruit) crop insurance deadline is November 20

    November 1, 2018

    A reminder that the deadline for getting apple (or other tree fruit) crop insurance for the 2019 crop year is November 20, 2018. For more information, see the information sheet "November 20th Deadline Nears for Fruit Producers" provided by the UMass Risk Management Education team of Tom Smiarowski and Paul Russell.

    November 20th Deadline Nears for Fruit Producers

  • UMass Summer Scholar Nicole Foley presents results at poster session

    September 12, 2018

    At a poster session for UMass CAFE Summer Scholars on September 12, 2018 at the UMass Amherst Campus Center, Nicole Foley presented the results of her study "Evaluation of plant-based materials for attractiveness to the invasive spotted wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii " UMass Extension Fruit Entomologist Jaime Pinero was Nicole's advisor. Here is the poster...Poster-Evaluation of plant-based materials for attractiveness to the invasive spotted wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii

  • Brown Marmorated Stink Bug on the uptick in Massachusetts orchard

    September 11, 2018

    According to a recent (September 11, 2018) Healthy Fruit Pest Update, "UMass Extension has been tracking the invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys, since 2012. For the past six years, the number of BMSB captured in pheromone-baited traps had remained relatively low, until now. Trap-capture data for 2018 have shown that, this year, BMSB populations are greater than any of the six previous years. Suspected feeding injury by stink bugs (allegedly BMSB) has been reported in a couple of orchards. However, the actual levels of damage have not been quantified yet." Growers are encouraged to monitor/scout their situation and only use control measures where damage by BMSB is documented or trap catches exceed threshold. For more information, see Brown Marmorated Stink Bug.

  • 2018 apple maturity report updated

    September 11, 2018

    2018 apple maturity report updated, 11-September

    http://ag.umass.edu/fruit/2018-apple-maturity-report

    All observations from UMass Orchard, Belchertown, MA unless otherwise noted

  • Annual Summer Meeting of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association

    July 4, 2018

    Annual Summer Meeting of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers’ Association

    and UMass Orchard tour, in cooperation with University of Massachusetts Fruit Team

    TUESDAY, July 10, 2018
    UMass Cold Spring Orchard
    391 Sabin St., Belchertown, Massachusetts

    For more information and to pre-register on-line using a credit card...

    Or to mail in your registration...MFGA Summer Meeting Info and Mail-in Registration

    To request Accessibility accomodations for this event, please visit the UMass disability services website and fill out a brief request form.  https://www.umass.edu/disability/events

  • Lady beetle on apple leaf petiole

    What was your UMass Extension Fruit Team up to last year? (FY 2017, which runs 1-October, 2016 to 30-September, 2017)

    July 3, 2018
  • Brown rot in tart cherry...

    June 18, 2018

    Danube cherry shoot afflicted with brown rot, 12-June, 2018. Photo by J. Clements, UMass. A particularly nasty case of brown rot has afflicted shoots of Danube and Balaton tart cherry at the UMass Orchard in Belchertown. It was confirmed as brown rot by Dan Cooley's lab, there was the thought it might bacterial canker, but that has been ruled out. Many shoots are afflicted and will have to be pruned out. Interestingly, we wonder if it is a case of European brown rot, which appears to be quite more virulent than the garden variety American brown rot. This outbreak emphasized the importance of timely bloom fungicide sprays, as this is when the brown rot infection got started. Fruits will have to be protected with fungicides when ripening too. For more information on European vs. American brown rot, see this article in Good Fruit Grower. And for timely fungicide application choices, see see the Cherries Spray Table in New England Tree Fruit Management Guide.

  • Potato leafhopper have arrived...

    June 16, 2018

    Potato leafhopper on apple foliage, 16-June, 2018. Photo by E. Garofal, UMass Potato leafhopper (PLH) have arrived in Massachusetts, and pose a pest threat to young apple trees in particular. Scout for the presence of PLH in young apple planting and treat with an effective insecticide before they damage and stunt apple foliage on newly planted trees. PLH on older, bearing orchards do not present as much a threat.

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