Fruit and Vegetable News

  Honeygold apple tree at petal fall on a rainy day, 5/25/22 Author: Annie Klodd, Extension Educator - Fruit and Vegetable Production . kloddann@umn.edu Weather was cool the past week, so we accumulated relatively few growing degree days above 50. Therefore, some of this content will sound eerily similar to last week.  Apples Bloom status was checked in Minnetrista, MN on Wednesday, May 25. SweeTango is still in bloom, joined now by Honeycrisp and Macoun. At this particular site, Haralson, Zestar!, and Honeygold were all between late bloom to petal fall.  Honeycrisp apple trees in full bloom on 5/25/22 Apple scab: Today's prolonged rainfall paired with an estimated 92% ascospore maturity mean that apple scab infection is extremely likely. More rain is possible in some places over the weekend. Growers should apply a protectant fungicide (i.e. mancozeb) prior to rainfall, or a kickback (curative) application of an effective systemic fungicide as soon as possible followin...

Polydrusus weevils are a very common genus of beetles that start showing up on all sorts of plants and trees this time of year. While there are some native species of these beetles, two invasive species from Europe are most prevalent in Minnesota. The weevils can occur in large numbers on a wide variety of fruit and nut crops, but are generally benign as they feed on leaves and not flowers or fruit. Click the link below to read more about these weevils and what crops they could show up in. Polydrusus weevils - UMN FruitEdge   Author: Hailey Shanovich - Department of Entomology Graduate Student 

Author: Natalie Hoidal, UMN Extension educator, local foods and vegetable crops This was a rough week. Many of you sustained damage to your farms, including damage to high tunnels and other infrastructure, as well as damaged trees. Heavy rains delayed planting and bed prep yet again, and the cooler weather sustained many of the issues we've been having with humidity in greenhouses. Looking forward, the week ahead looks more calm, though temperatures will remain cool. Crop updates  Crops continue to be delayed due to cool weather and wet fields.   Sweet corn: Growers in Southern MN can probably begin direct seeding sweet corn this week, especially if you have varieties suited to cooler soils. Transplanted corn seems to be doing well so far. The seedcorn maggot forecast predicts that the first generation has emerged already in the southern half of the state. R ead more about it here.     Asparagus: Asparagus harvest is now underway, and asparagus beetles are ...