Fruit and Vegetable News

Authors: Marissa Schuh Much of Minnesota got some rain in the last week -- from overwhelming barrages in Southeast Minnesota to the first rainfall in months in the Northwest. Much of the state needs the rain , but it is making harvest and storage of longer-season crops much more difficult. One issue we see when it is wet is an uptick in diseases. One we are particularly curious about the UMN right now is white mold . This disease has a wide host range -- it gets into most vegetables we grow, and can get into cut flowers as well. The most distinctive symptoms are what plant pathologists call sclerotia – these structures look like mouse dropping and act as bunkers for the pathogen, allowing it to lay in wait many years until the right conditions and host are available in the future. It can occur in the high tunnel and in the field, in a year like this it is most likely to show up in irrigated plantings. As you harvest brassicas and clean up high tunnels, let us know if you see white mo...

Authors: Natalie Hoidal, Madeline Wimmer, Katie Black, Ryan Harp The current El Niño is likely to be the strongest we've seen in our lifetimes. How can we prepare for it? El Niño events typically get stronger through the fall and peak in the winter and often result in a warmer cold season in Minnesota. For context, the warmest winter on record in MN (2023-2024) happened during a relatively moderate El Niño. A stronger event means that we expect some stretches of notably warmer winter weather. Although warmer conditions could mean less snow cover, it’s possible we won't actually see a drier winter, just precipitation in the form of rain; snow may not linger as long. If we look back to the last El Nino in 2023-2024, the winter was dry, but the following spring was very wet, meaning that we didn’t see lasting impacts of dry conditions in the following growing season. According to Kenny Blumenfeld, MN DNR climatologist, strong El Niño events can result in “active” weather in the fo...

Join a Climate Resilience Cohort for growers in your region this fall! Hosted by Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP), UMN Extension, University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership, and Land Stewardship Project, these two-day cohorts provide an opportunity to connect with fellow farmers in your area and develop an adaptive whole-farm management strategy that builds on your experience and expertise. Over the course of the cohort, you will: Learn more about the potential impacts of increasing climate variability and change on your agricultural operation. Evaluate climate risk management options that best support your farm and family goals by reducing risks and capturing new opportunities associated with changing climate conditions. Make a plan to implement selected climate resilience strategies and evaluate their effectiveness over time. Schedule Overview: Day 1 (9:30 am - 3:30 pm): Learning, discussion, and beginning your farm's resilience plan. Day 2 (8:30...

Article written by Madeline Wimmer, UMN Extension Fruit Production Educator. Kathleen Rhoades is a plant breeder who works for the Savanna Institute, a non-profit organization that focuses on sustainable food production systems. Their major emphasis is on agroforestry, which integrates trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming. Agroforestry can be the main focus of a farm, be combined with farm landscape needs such as windbreaks, and riparian buffers, or complement already-existing row cropping (alleycropping) or grazing settings (silvopasture)*. The use of a crop that can be incorporated into one of these systems or settings can include its leaves (used for fodder), seeds, or fruits, while lumber can also be used in some cases. One example fruit tree in their program is the American Persimmon ( Diospyros virginiana ), which has received little attention from other research organizations in past decades. This is one of two crops that Kathleen Rhoades is working on in her breeding p...

 Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator, food safety The Cyclospora outbreaks across the country are continuing to cause thousands of illnesses. The patient counts related to the outbreak in Michigan are at more than 14,700 currently, and nearly 20,000 total nationally. What is going on? The CDC and other public health entities are still not certain what the source of the contamination is. View these new resources to learn more about this parasite, how to keep it off your vegetables, and how to talk with your customers.  What the heck is Cyclospora? You my be getting questions from your customers about this foodborne parasite, since this outbreak is reacord-setting. To be clear - the investigation is still very much ongoing.  Iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms grown in Mexico is likely the source of some of the illnesses, though likely not all.  UMN Extension has created a short video that covers the key topics and messaging points for responding to customer concerns ...

Authors: Natalie Hoidal ,  Marissa Schuh , & Cindy Tong Updates are over, we’re still here! This will be our final update of the season. We know you still have a lot of farming to do this fall, but we generally find that there’s less to say in September as things start to wind down. It’s too late to make many management changes, and we start to shift our focus to winter programming. We’ll keep writing articles over the winter, we’re just shifting away from weekly crop by crop updates.  Some other places you can find us this fall /winter/spring: Email us any time! (general vegetable hoida016@umn.edu , pest management mschuh@umn.edu ) There are still field days this fall, including... Mechanical Weed Control Field Day - September 28th Delano, Minnesota (Wright County) . A full day focused on selecting, assembling, running, and calibrating all sizes of tools and equipment for mechanical weed control. Get hands-on experience with human and machine powered tools, from a variet...

Article written by Madeline Wimmer , UMN Extension Fruit Production Educator. Apples Apple scab cultural management: Encouraging leaf decomposition Article: Apple storage disorders and recommendations for four UMN varieties Did you see moldy core in your apples this year? Grapes Harvest efficiency: Another case for strategic canopy management Raspberries Article: Managing raspberry cane borers this fall This week’s update concludes the fruit update series for 2026. Each year comes with its challenges and 2026 was no exception with episodes of spring frost, continued drought conditions, and severe weather in various parts of the state. As you continue growing your fruit crops, it is with great hope that the content provided in this newsletter has provided you with some support.  As always, if there is any topic that you would like to see discussed more in the future, please reach out and let me know by email or by taking our annual survey. Based on demand, the newsletter has a large...

Article originally written by Annie Klodd, former UMN Extension Fruit Educator, updated in 2026 by Madeline Wimmer. Raspberry cane borer ( Oberea perspicillata, also cited as O. bimaculata ) is an occasional pest of raspberries in Minnesota. This borer causes the growing tips of raspberry canes to wilt and fall off as the adults chew two rings of holes, or punctures, in the canes during egg laying. Raspberry growers can scout for this damage in the fall and remove any canes with cane borer damage. Doing so is an effective management strategy to remove most or all of the larvae present. Images: Raspberry cane borer larvae tunnels seen directly below the puncture holes. Photo by Annie Klodd. Recognizing Cane Borers and their Damage Raspberry cane borer larvae are small, thin and light in color. They can be seen feeding their way down the inside of raspberry canes if you were to cut open an infested cane lengthwise. The adults are active from late June to early July. They are black beet...

Madeline Wimmer, UMN Extension educator and Cindy Tong, UMN Professor & Extension postharvest horticulturist Images: A collection of apple disorders caused by or worsened by storage conditions. This includes 1) soft scald ;  2) bitter pit , a physiological disorder related to calcium use in the apple fruit, which can start in the field, and worsen in storage; and 3)  diffuse flesh browning , which result from storage temperatures that are colder than an apple can tolerate .  Photo credit: Photos 1 and 3 under images are credited to Cindy Tong.  The Minnesota apple industry primarily sells apples through direct sales at farm stands, farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA), and on-site agritourism events like U-Pick and farm festivals. It’s not uncommon for elementary school classes to visit a local orchard in the fall to learn about apples, or for families to make a trip to an orchard on a Saturday afternoon to purchase apples, pumpkins, and ot...