Fruit Growers News

Guthion Use Set To End Sept. 30, 2012

The decision by EPA in mid-November to phase out all remaining uses of azinphos methyl (Guthion) by Sept. 30, 2012, will hit various sectors of the fruit industry differently. Three Michigan State University entomologists, speaking at three different sessions during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO in Grand Rapids, Mich., last month, summed up the implications for “their” fruit crops. The most dire assessment came from Mark Whalon, speaking about cherries. “We don’t have the tools today to allow you to survive,” he told growers. Larry Gut, speaking about the situation in apples and noting that Guthion is used nationwide by more than three-fourths of apple growers every year, also noted its declining effectiveness as a control for codling moth. Codling moth resistance to Guthion has been increasing, so the life of the insecticide will be limited by its effectiveness as well as EPA’s decision,…  » Read more

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Illinois Orchard Draws from Chicago Suburbs

The “Jonamac” in Jonamac Orchard doesn’t just stand for the apple variety, even though the orchard grows plenty of them. It also stands for Johnson-McArtor, the last names of the two families that have owned the business. Jonamac Orchard is near Malta, Ill., about 70 miles west of downtown Chicago. Stan and Katie Johnson planted the first apple trees in 1974. Ten years later, they sold the orchard to Jerry and Mary Lynn McArtor, who changed its name to Jonamac, according to http://www.jonamacorchard.com. “I thought he was crazy,” Kevin McArtor said about his father’s decision to buy the orchard. At the time, Jerry was a full-time builder, and growing fruit trees was just a hobby. Not anymore. Kevin and his wife, Denice, joined the business in 1993 as partners. A few years later, they bought the farmhouse from the senior McArtors and moved in with their two sons,…  » Read more

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Research Station Will Likely Lose Its Peach and Plum Fruit Trees

While no official quarantine had been announced, one was expected soon. And when it comes, Michigan State University’s (MSU) Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center (SWMREC) near Benton Harbor, where plum pox was found in one plum tree last summer, will likely be called on to follow the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) protocol and remove all susceptible prunus trees within a 500-meter radius of the infected tree. That will take out about 12,000 trees – all the plum, peach, apricot and nectarine trees at the station, including the plums and peaches in Bill Shane’s rootstock and variety trials. Cherries are not affected by this strain (D) of the virus. “Some plant material will be lost,” Shane said during a session on plum pox during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO in Grand Rapids. “We’ll take our lumps.” Shane is district Extension…  » Read more

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