Fruit and Vegetable News

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.  ...

Madeline Wimmer- UMN Fruit Production Extension Educator Images: Historical drawings of the apple curculio (Anthonomus quadrigibbus) that were incorporated into a 1928 article in the Journal of Agricultural Research, “The apple curculio and its control by hogs.” The left drawing was labeled, “Adult apple curculio,” showing adults feeding and ovipositing, or laying eggs during the spring; and the second image is labeled, “Fallen apple from which an adult apple curculio has escaped, and cut apple showing pupa,” because apple curculios pupate within apple fruits. When thinking about curculios, the first pest that might come to mind is the plum curculio ( Conotrachelus nenuphar ). However, there is a second curculio pest that is lesser known and less commonly experienced as an orchard pest: the apple curculio ( Anthonomus quadrigibbus ). Apple curculios and plum curculios are both in the curculionidae family. While they share some similar characteristics and habits, the two pests are very ...