Fruits

Breeding better blueberries at North Carolina State University

It’s blueberry season in North Carolina, a time when the market for the fresh, locally grown fruit surges. At NC State University, Hamid Ashrafi is busy breeding better blueberries for that market. When Ashrafi joined... more »

CAWG seeks winegrape exemption from FDA’s Produce Safety Rule

The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) has requested the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) exempt winegrapes from its produce safety rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and place them on a... more »

Rockit apple wins supreme export award

Miniature apple grower and exporter Rockit Global has been crowned ExportNZ, Hawke’s Bay ASB Exporter of the Year. Rockit Global has the international license for the Rockit Apple variety. The product positioning in the snack... more »

Plan to change when dealing with spotted wing drosophila

In 2017, we are seeing an early start to spotted wing Drosophila(SWD) and there is a good crop of berries on host plants in the woods. To me, this means SWD will arrive earlier than... more »

South Jersey blueberry crop appears to be the best in years

Anthony DiMeo III of DiMeo Farms in Hammonton, New Jersey, a fourth-generation blueberry farmer, predicts this year to be the best one locally since 2011. “We had a nice cool spring, so the fruit had... more »

Protect grape clusters from disease during early fruit development

Young fruit clusters are highly susceptible to all major diseases, including downy mildew, powdery mildew, black rot, Phomopsis and anthracnose. If prolonged cool wet weather prevails during bloom, Botrytis can also gain a foothold in clusters of susceptible cultivars by promoting... more »

Treating peaches with edge damage from oriental fruit moth

Growers in west central Michigan diligently applied mating disruption to most peach orchards in response to heavy oriental fruit moth damage to the crop in 2016. Oriental fruit moth captures in traps at many sites this... more »

Growers seek best way to supply fruit to cidery market

Hard cider production is up nationwide, and it seems like you can’t turn anywhere without running into another story about the demand for apples to fill all of those bottles. Growers should think very carefully... more »