LEXINGTON, Ky. — The harvest is in, apple supplies are dwindling, many markets have shut down for the season and growers are thinking about a little R and R. It has been a very cool (August) and slightly warmer than normal (September and October) and slightly wetter than normal fall which produced excellent fruit coloration (See masthead, Melrouge a higher coloring strain of Melrose). Many weekends were dry and farm market attendance and sales were good.
In August the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released the U.S. apple crop forecast for 2017 as being 248.7 million bushels. This is the 11th largest crop and down 7 percent from the 268.4 million bushel 2016 crop. This is the year for the USDA to conduct its Census of Agriculture and growers should begin receiving Ag Census forms in December. The census may be completed online or mailed in.
The harvest may be over, but your trees are still at risk. Vole populations need to be monitored and controlled. Vole populations have the potential to build rapidly and after a heavy freeze, tree rootstock bark begins to look pretty good to them. Apple trees are the most susceptible to vole damage, but voles also feed on other fruit tree types as well as occasionally blueberries and brambles. Vole damage will weaken or may kill the plant, so it is important to watch your populations. The 2017 Midwest Fruit Pest Management Guide https://ag.purdue.edu/hla/Hort/ Pages/sfg_sprayguide.aspx discusses commercial fruit vole control options on page 72.
If you have a problem getting pre-emergence herbicides down early enough in the spring because of a labor shortage and tree prunings blocking the drive rows, you might want to consider putting down a preemergence herbicide this fall. Very little herbicide is lost over the winter because of colder temperatures. It is also time to winterize your sprayer and blow water out of drip irrigation lines.
Matt in the U.K Ag Weather Center indicates that the NOAA three-month long-range winter weather forecast is for slightly above normal temperatures and normal rainfall and this reflects the beginning of a La Nina development.
This will be the last Fruit Facts issue for 2017.
— John Strang, U.K. Extension Horticulturist and Matt Dixon, U.K. Ag Meteorologist
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