Fruit and Vegetable News

  Article written by Madeline Wimmer , UMN Extension Fruit Production Educator. Apples  Apple sales are starting at the farmers market in southern Minnesota Variety highlight: First Kiss, and dealing with fruit drop Article: How to Determine Apple Ripeness: Starch, Firmness, and Brix Testing Grapes Table grape harvesting tips Variety highlights: Reliance and Mars Help us grow the Fruit Update series! What’s working? What do YOU want more of? This is our annual request for your support of the UMN Fruit Update series and other articles by taking our short evaluation to let us know what you’ve enjoyed and what you want to see more of in the future!  Take our quick survey: UMN Fruit and Veg News Annual Eval You can also take the survey directly through our newsletter article: Share you thoughts on this newsletter  Our newsletter is only a success because of readers like you, and we greatly appreciate your feedback!  Apples  Apple sales are starting at the farme...

Photo: Emily Hoover The rootstock of an apple tree has a lot of impact on how an apple tree will grow and produce over its lifetime. While the scion dictates the variety of apple that the tree will produce, among other things, the rootstock influences many other factors such as the size of the tree, productivity, stress tolerance, and precocity (ability to produce fruit earlier in the tree's lifespan). Rootstocks are constantly being evaluated for performance under different environmental conditions and with different varieties. Emily Hoover recently wrote an article that breaks down differences in rootstocks, and discusses how her fruit research lab is continually working to evaluate rootstock performance in Minnesota. Click here to read the full article on the UMN Horticulture Fruit Research website.