I want to remind everyone that the summer meeting will be held Wednesday July 9 at Chandler’s Orchard and Country Market: https://www.chandlersorchard.com The orchard and market are located in Fillmore, IN, just a little west of Indianapolis All are welcome to join us for an orchard tour and discussion of all things fruit, from growing[Read More…]
Peter M Hirst
Facts for Fancy Fruit Editor & Professor of Horticulture
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Area(s) of Interest: Commercial Tree Fruit Production
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Area(s) of Interest: Commercial Tree Fruit Production
The window for chemical thinning is rapidly closing in many parts of the state. Carbaryl can be effective up to 20 mm fruit diameter. After this stage, options become limited and we’re in a “rescue thinning” approach. Below is some information from Penn State University on rescue thinning options: Rescue Thinning Options – 20mm and[Read More…]
I’ve been plotting growing degree days for Lafayette for the last 15 years or so. This year we continue to track earlier than usual. This is a trend that seems to be continuing each year. See Figure 1. If you want to look at data more closely related to your location, the Indiana State Climate[Read More…]
The summer field day of the Indiana Horticultural Society will be held July 9 at Chandler Orchard in Fillmore, IN just west of Indianapolis. More detail about the farm is on their website: https://www.chandlersorchard.com We’ll have more information on the field day later but for now put the date on your calendar and plan to[Read More…]
Once flowers open in the spring, we’re hoping for warmer weather so the bees will transfer pollen and for rapid pollen tube growth. As we all know, apples require cross pollination, so for example Golden Delicious pollen will not fertilize Golden Delicious flowers. We rely on bees and other insects to transfer pollen from one[Read More…]
The earlier and warmer spring temperatures we have been seeing the last few years in Indiana are continuing this year. See Figure 1. What we see is that for each year in the past 15 years temperatures have warmed up earlier than the long term average. Luckily only one year over this period was extremely[Read More…]
We’re getting close to the time when growers need to make chemical thinning decisions – for many the most perplexing and risky decision they will make all year. This is usually a tricky call to make, even more so when we have had spring frosts. Luckily in most places the spring frosts have not been[Read More…]
Agricultural Producers Have Until April 15 to Enroll in USDA’s Key Commodity Safety Net Programs for the 2025 Crop Year In an effort to remind agricultural producers about USDA Farm Service Agency’s Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) enrollment deadline for the 2025 crop year. I am sharing a toolkit that includes[Read More…]
IFTA Summer Tour – California The 2024 International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) Summer Study Tour will be three full days (July 16-18) in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley, where current plans are for participants to visit the state’s largest apple packer just as Gala harvest will be starting, as well as new low-chill apples, some of[Read More…]
June 25 Tuttle Orchards 5717 North 300 West, Greenfield, IN We are pleased to announce that the fruit and vegetable growers will be joining together for a summer field tour being hosted by Tuttle Orchards in Greenfield, IN on June 25. Topics to be covered include fruit production, vegetable production, farm marketing, and agritourism. There’s[Read More…]