A wet welcome to the growing season from Mother Nature. Weather this year in North Central Indiana has been characteristically dramatic. Recently, highs in the mid 80’s followed by lows in the mid 20’s not 48hrs apart. That with some warmer than average temperatures have landed us in a similarly jump-started spring as last year….Read more about Crop conditions[Read More]
Pome Fruits
We had six apple cider contest entries for the first year of the combined Indiana Horticulture & Small Farms Conference held at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds in Danville, IN March 3-5. Conference attendees had the opportunity to taste and cast their vote during lunch on the first day of the event. We are thrilled to announce…Read more about IHSFC cider contest winner[Read More]
February 13, 2026 This afternoon senior staff for Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called USApple to provide advance notice that they would be rolling out the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers Program. This is the program that was first announced in early December, providing $11 billion to growers of major crops and $1 billion to growers…Read more about USDA Announces Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers Program[Read More]
Harvest is in full swing. Watermelons are midway through their run, blackberries continue to ripen up, Pixie Crunches and Honeycrisp apples are beginning to ripen. Pawpaws have another week until maturity for most varieties. Many varieties of grapes are reaching full maturity. The cooler weather, although welcome for our comfort, has caused some crops to…Read more about Crop conditions[Read More]
I am hearing from apple growers and my entomology colleagues in neighboring states that the dogwood borer is becoming a more common insect pest to monitor and manage in apple orchards. So, in this issue of Facts for Fancy Fruit, I’ll share some general tips to help you stay ahead of this damaging fruit tree…Read more about Dogwood borer injury to apple trees[Read More]
Making the decision on when to harvest can be a very tricky and complicated issue. The longer you intend to store the fruit, the more precise your timing needs to be. For summer apples, most growers only intend to store fruit until their higher quality fall apples come on stream, so storage times beyond a…Read more about Determining apple maturity[Read More]
Recent cooler weather has provided relief from July. Despite optimum conditions for fungal and bacterial disease, fireblight pressure has fortunately waned as August progresses. Japanese Beetle numbers have also dropped off dramatically after a second insecticide applied in the second week of July. Blackberries continue to ripen, and will be joined by peaches, plums, early…Read more about Crop conditions[Read More]
Hi. As I’m sure most of you have noticed, the Japanese Beetles have arrived. We have been dealing with them in every fruit crop with the exception of our apples. The blackberries are currently being consumed by them despite a well-timed spray last week. Fire blight continues to show up in our orchard. We are…Read more about Crop conditions[Read More]
For those growing apples with organic or “softer” pesticide programs, you might spot signs and symptoms of a hungry caterpillar that prefers to attack apple leaves and fruit: the redbanded leafroller (Figure 1). This particular apple pest is more often a problem in orchards where conventional insecticide sprays are not used. This season, I have…Read more about Signs & symptoms of redbanded leafroller[Read More]
Hi! Small fruits are beginning to ripen here. Raspberries are in full swing, our earliest blackberries have 1 or 2 ripe fruit, and a few plums are ready. Pest wise, we have been seeing damage from moth larva on a few of our plums. Things are going well otherwise. We are continuing to remove trees…Read more about Crop conditions[Read More]