Fruit and Vegetable News

Madeline Wimmer- UMN Fruit Production Extension Educator This fruit update contains information about… Apples Seasonal fruit ripening updates: Fruit color development, pre-harvest drop, and russeting. Grapes Problems with late season insects: Multicolored Asian lady beetle (MALB), social wasps, and fruit flies + a note about sour rot. Blackberries Cultivars suitable for the Upper Midwest. Management practices and harvest updates. June-bearing strawberries Floral buds are setting now for next year’s crop. 2024 Fruit and Veg Updates survey: We want to hear from you! Apples Images: Various early-season apple varieties are beginning to show up at the farmer's market in Rochester, MN (Zone 5a). This year, growers have reported noticeable increases in color development, which could related to the occurrence of cooler night temperatures followed by warm, sunny days in SE MN. Seasonal ripening updates: fruit color development, pre-harvest drop, and russeting Apples have been going for a ri

Authors: Marissa Schuh and Natalie Hoidal Growers are bringing a gorgeous variety of vegetables to markets and CSA boxes around the state. Parts of the state received some extreme winds that damaged crops earlier this week. Looking ahead, the NOAA 8-14 day forecast is calling for above normal temperatures and below average precipitation . Read on for information on aster yellows and late blight, as well as other crop considerations at this point in the growing season. Late Blight found in Madison, WI area This morning (8/28), late blight was confirmed on tomatoes in Dane County, Wisconsin (think Madison). While we are approaching the final month of the growing season, this disease can still kill tomato and potato plants quickly. This disease is easiest to spot when humidity is high, and leaves in the center of a dense canopy are often the first to get infected. Leaf spots are a brown-gray, sometimes described as greasy. You may see white spores on the underside of the leaf. As spo

The University of Minnesota will be hosting the 2024 Grape Breeding and Enology Field Day on September 14th at the UMN Horticulture Research Center (HRC) this year!  Information related to growing grapes, building trellises, and UMN grape-related research will be showcased during this event. Plus, we’ll have nearly 50 varieties of grapes available to sample (while supplies last)! If you’re a backyard gardener, hobby grower, wine grape industry professional, or simply interested in learning more about grapes, please join us! Date : Saturday, September 14th Time : 10:00am-12:00pm Location : The Horticultural Research Center, 600 Arboretum Blvd., Excelsior, MN 55331 No registration required. Field day events will take place around the main HRC building (2).  Check out this short video to check out what our UMN field day was last year! The Annual Grape Extension Field Day is hosted by the UMN Grape Breeding and Enology Program, in partnership with the UMN Landscape Arboretum. 

Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator, Food Safety           If you use well or surface water in the production of your fresh fruits and vegetables,   E. coli can be present in water and contaminate your produce or equipment. You might assume your well water is safe, but without testing it, you cannot tell if the well is failing or surface water is getting in. But what do you tell the water lab when you call? Follow this script to help navigate that conversation. What to test for? For bacterial contamination, you will want to test for the presence of generic  E. coli  since this is the best indicator of the presence of fecal contamination in your water. You might add things like lead, arsenic or nitrates/nitrites. Where to find a lab near you Laboratories that test water quality may be private or public, such as county-operated. A complete list of certified labs is available from the  Minnesota Department of Health here.   The tests average about $30 - $50 per sample. Script - how to

Madeline Wimmer- UMN Fruit Production Extension Educator This fruit update contains information about… Determining fruit ripeness Apples Starch-iodine testing for ripeness. Grapes Testing grapes for ripeness. Aronia About aronia berries. Viking, an aronia hybrid cultivar. Harvest indicators. Finding a market for aronia berries Image: High-density trained apple trees are nearly ready for harvest at Apples R Us, as the orchard anticipates beginning to harvest Minneiska (SweeTango®) and Zestar! within the next week or two. Apples R Us primarily distills their apples into specialty spirits (Olmsted County; Zone 5a). It’s nearing the end of August and—while many harvest dates have come and gone for fruit crops like honey berries, June-bearing strawberries, currants, and blueberries in many Minnesotan regions—some crops like grapes, apples, aronia berries, and others are tip-toeing into harvest season. Determining fruit ripeness As fruits begin to ripen and approach their anticipated harves

Authors: Marissa Schuh and Natalie Hoidal Seasonable weather continues, NOAA is calling for below normal temperatures through the start of September. Read on for information on managing asparagus for maximum yields, updates on tomato ripening, and vine crop pests. Soil Health Funding Opportunity Through MDA Applications close the 30th for a unique granting program aimed at helping growers purchase or retrofit equipment to help implement soil health measures. See the MDA’s website for more information : https://www.mda.state.mn.us/soil-health-grant Crop Updates Asparagus: Asparagus plants still have another month or so of growth before they go totally dormant for the winter. Towards the end of the season we often see foliar diseases starting to build up. This is important, because disease pressure in the fall can cause early dieback, which translates to less energy stored in the roots for spring. These diseases include rust, purple spot, cercospora leaf spot, and Fusarium. Scout fo

How can growers maintain soil health in high tunnels and access funding to implement conservation practices on their farms? Extension is hosting two on-farm field days in September to showcase vegetable farmers that have used Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) funding to construct high tunnels and implement other conservation practices on their farms. Both field days are free to attend. Monday, Sept 9 | 4-6 pm | California Street Farm, Northeast Minneapolis John Brezinka from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Elyssa Eull, farm manager at California Street Farm, will lead attendees on a walk-through of the farm’s existing conservation practices and their eligibility for NRCS cost-share programs. Some of the conservation practices Elyssa uses on her farm include crop rotation, cover crops, no-till, and buffer strips. She also grows in a high tunnel, funded by the NRCS’ EQIP program. Hosted by the Twin Cities Metro Growers Network, a collaboration betw

Madeline Wimmer, Extension Educator and Soon Li Teh, Extension Specialist Grapes are a fruit crop with distinct, measurable ways to determine fruit ripeness. With knowledge of their natural development process and the right tools and method to track berry ripening, a vineyard can be confident in its ability to harvest a quality crop. In this article, we’ll talk about fruit ripening, what it means to collect a representative sample of berries, and how to measure fruit sugar levels, pH, and titratable acidity. Grape berries generally go through three developmental stages for ripening: Stage I : Cells within the berry begin to divide and multiply, which leads to an increase in berry size. Stage II : A lot of energy is focused on embryo development within the grape seeds during this phase. Stage II ends when berries begin to change color at veraison. Stage III : At veraison, stage III is characterized in the fruit by a loss of chlorophyll, increase in sugar levels, reduction in acid levels

Author: Natalie Hoidal, Reviewed by: Cindy Tong & Charlie Rohwer Melons are one of the trickiest plants to grow, because the guidelines around harvest are confusing and often contradictory. I often hear growers express frustration because their melons seem ripe but don’t have much flavor, or because they spoil faster than they should. This article presents an overview of ripening, as well as harvest and storage tips for melons, watermelons, squash, and pumpkins. Some ripening basics Fruit and vegetables are typically assigned to two categories that define their ripening behaviors: Climacteric: Climacteric fruits and vegetables continue to ripen off the vine. They experience a rapid increase in respiration during ripening. They also often produce a hormone called ethylene after harvest, which can speed up ripening and senescence. If eaten at an immature stage, these fruits and vegetables taste bland, and the texture is often not as soft as it is meant to be. If left at room tempera