Fruit and Vegetable News

Veraison on Marquette grapes. Photo: Annie Klodd   Annie Klodd, Extension Educator - Fruit and Vegetable Production. kloddann@umn.edu In this week's fruit update: Upcoming webinars Grapes Raspberries Blueberries Strawberries Honeyberries Upcoming webinars: August 4 @ 1:00pm: What to Do Now in the Vineyard: Preparing for Harvest Season. Register here. August 5 @ 1:00pm:  Alternative Berry and Bush Crops to Boost Your Bank Account. Register here.   Apples Attend next week's Minnesota Apple Growers Association Summer Tour. Friday, August 6th at 9:00am at Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake. Registration includes lunch. Register here. Grapes Veraison came incredibly early this year. We have a webinar next Wednesday, Aug. 4 to talk about preparing for harvest (see link above). It will also include an update on what the UMN Grape Breeding Program does during harvest. An abbreviated list of veraison considerations: Finish any remaining foliar nutrient sampling, as it shou...

Author: Natalie Hoidal, UMN Extension educator, local foods and vegetable crops   We've made it through another hot, humid week, and much better farming weather is on the horizon (though we still aren't getting rain). Summer crops are more consistently providing fruit this week, and the final successions of certain fall vegetables are going in the ground. Crop updates   Potatoes: This is a good time to talk about potato irrigation. Most of you are likely in either the stage between bloom and senescence, or between senescence and harvest. The 6 weeks or so following flowering are the period of development where potatoes have the greatest demand for water. Consistent irrigation during this period will result in larger potatoes, and is critical for avoiding issues like hollow heart and some common potato diseases like scab. After about 6 weeks, the vines will naturally begin to die off as the tubers mature. Slowly reduce your watering over a period of a few weeks. Read ...

Photo: Kiwiberries ready for market. Seth Wannamuehler   Graduate research assistant Seth Wannamuehler receives a lot of questions about kiwiberries. That is because for the last several years, he has been researching kiwiberry production and breeding in Minnesota as part of Dr. Jim Luby's fruit breeding research group. Through this work, he has become one of the most knowledgeable Minnesotans when it comes to this interesting new crop. Growers and gardeners wonder which kiwiberry varieties are available that will have a chance of bearing fruit in Minnesota's climate. He recently published an article in the Minnesota Fruit Research website comparing kiwiberry varieties based on his research observations so far. Since research is very much still ongoing, I have been asked to state that these are not formal recommendations but are still based on strong anecdotal observations. The article also lists places to source plants.  Click here to read "Choosing Kiwiberry Varieties...

UMN Extension Educators toured Country Blossom Farm and Berry Ridge Farm on Wednesday, July 21 as part of a professional development program funded by SARE. Here, Colleen Carlson walks rows of SweeTango apples at CBF. Photo: Annie Klodd.   Author: Annie Klodd, Extension Educator - Fruit and Vegetable Production. kloddann@umn.edu In this week's fruit update: Apples: Irrigation & return bloom, insect pests and diseases to watch for Raspberries: Between harvest periods, spider mite leaf symptoms Spotted wing drosophila - when to spray and when not to spray Grapes: Veraison, foliar nutrient testing, and diseases Herbicide drift injury Apples Irrigation continues to be very important in this dry season, not only for 2021 fruit development but also for return bloom. Next year's fruiting buds are developing in June and July of the current year, and excessively dry conditions can impact return bloom and the success of return bloom sprays. Irrigation is important even if the trees d...

Annalisa Hultberg Extension Educator, food safety  While not all produce should be washed during postharvest handling, many items need to be washed to remove soil or to hydrocool to remove field heat from product. It is a best practice use a sanitizer in bulk tanks of wash water to reduce the potential to spread contamination via the water. But can sanitizer also improve the shelf life of produce? We are conducting trials this summer to see. Many farmers note that their produce lasts longer when it is rinsed in water with a sanitizer, but we don't have documentation about the impact of sanitizers on shelf life. The food safety outreach team is conducting trials to see if leafy greens last longer when rinsed in two types of sanitizers vs a rinse in plain water. We know that sanitizers are very effective at inactivating bacteria such as  Salmonella  and  Escherichia coli  O157:H7 that may be present in the water and brought in from the field, hands, compost or oth...

Author: Natalie Hoidal, UMN Extension educator, local foods and vegetable crops   The drought continues across most of the state with no obvious end in sight. It seems like many people are really starting to feel burnout this season, with continual weather-related discouragement, and overall exhaustion. But, as summer crops start to come in more consistently, there's some encouragement on the horizon.   Crop updates Garlic: Garlic harvest continues across the state, with most peoples' garlic crop looking very good. You have a few options for curing garlic. With the hot dry weather, field curing might actually be a good option this year if you have limited tunnel or rafter space. Read more about curing options on our postharvest handling page .   Tomatoes: High tunnel tomatoes are beginning their peak production period, and field tomatoes will be soon. Despite the drought we have started to get a few more reports of common foliar diseases, but these are mostly fro...

Photo: 50 apple growers and cider makers attended the Cider Apple Production Farm Tour on July 9, co-hosted by UMN Extension and Milk & Honey Ciders. Extension Educator Annie Klodd, author of the weekly fruit updates, is away this week (July 11-16th) and will return next week on July 20th. Please see the great resources below for fruit growing information.  We will be back with the next fruit update the week of July 20th. In the meantime, there are many resources available to assist fruit growers with timely mid-season questions. Here are a few: For time-sensitive questions: For fruit pest management info, refer to the Midwest Fruit Pest Management Guide Find numerous relevant UMN articles by using the Search bar in our UMN Extension Fruit and Vegetable News blog . We have published recommendations on many timely topics here. For updates on spotted wing drosophila (SWD) and Japanese beetle activity in the state, visit fruitedge.umn.edu .  Cold Climate Fruit Webinar Series ...

Author: Natalie Hoidal, UMN Extension educator, local foods and vegetable crops   I could probably start every single one of these with something like "What a week!". This week was no exception. We had plenty of excitement: summer crops beginning to mature, some rain, and lots of farm tours and events. We also had some weird weather: Cotton and Hibbing got down to 33 and 34 degrees just a week or so after reaching nearly 100 degrees. We also learned that the best way to bring rain to a farm that's had almost none all year is to host a field day - it down poured during the entirety of our field day last night at Shepherd Moon and Big River Farms. But, folks made the best of it and had a great time regardless. Crop updates Garlic: Garlic harvest is here! Despite some spotty aster yellows symptoms popping up around the state over the last couple of weeks, most people's garlic is looking healthy, and yields have been relatively high. Some of you may still be a week or s...

Author: Kate Fessler ,  Graduate student, Applied Plant Sciences Day neutral strawberries introduce new opportunities for Minnesota specialty crop growers. Researchers at UMN are collaborating with Minnesota farmers to make this high value crop more accessible, by growing them on tabletop gutter systems.  Photo: UMN researchers are testing two day-neutral varieties on two different growing media in a tabletop strawberry study. A research refresher As this summer’s horticultural production season hits its stride, it’s a great moment to highlight some of the new research developments happening on the St. Paul campus.  Strawberry production across the country has begun moving toward the use of day-neutral varieties. While the June-bearing strawberry season typically lasts from mid-June to early-July, these day-neutral types can produce from July well into October, depending on growing conditions.  Due to this lengthened production window, there are some con...

Author: Natalie Hoidal, UMN Extension educator, local foods and vegetable crops   We are entering a new phase of the season where warmer season crops are starting to mature. It's also the part of the season where growers are doing everything at once - planting, harvesting, tending and weeding - and farming can start to feel extra exhausting. While most growers did not get a full inch of rain this week, many people got at least a bit, which feels like a lot after so many weeks of no rain at all. We have a very pleasant week ahead of us weather-wise, just in time for a busy week of planting and weeding. Crop updates Cucurbits: Field grown cucumbers are starting to mature and will be in full production mode in the next few days. Winter squash are starting to form on the vines. Start scouting for powdery mildew on a regular basis, as preventative treatments are much more effective, and this is the time of year we start to see symptoms. Fruit set in melons and winter squash. Photo:...