HORTICULTURE HORTICULTURE
These Web Pages are provided for Southwest Michigan fruit growers and others who are interested in current crop and pest conditions. I have also posted numerous fact sheets, essays and MSUE bulletins on pest control and general cultural practices for the fruit grown here in Michigan.
The 2008 Michigan Fruit Management
Guide E-154 ($19) is now available.
E-154 has the WRONG phone numbers for Mark Longstroth on the
inside cover !
My office number is (269) 657-8213 x 3
My Fruit Code-A-Phone is (269) 657-8217,
Berrien County Fruit Hotline (269) 944-4126 ext 1
The Code-A-Phone has a 5 minute recording of the current fruit conditions.
Current report for May 6, 2008
Report on the April 30, 2008 Freeze
Index of earlier postings fruit, insect and disease development.
For Weather
and IPM information use the Enviroweather Site.
Frost/Freeze Files, all the information I have posted
on spring and winter cold injury.
Upcoming Fruit Meetings in SW Michigan.
Articles of General Interest, a listing fruit
related articles posted at this site.
There are a wide variety of subjects; horticulture, insect pests and plant diseases.
I also have information for specific crops. Click on the crop you are interested in below.
I also have some pages for home fruit growers.
Links to MSU and other Fruit Web sites.
Fire Blight Files information on a significant disease of apples and pears.
Mark Longstroth, Extension District Horticulture and Marketing Agent for Southwest Michigan, is based in Paw Paw and provides extension programming to commercial fruit growers in 13 counties of Southwest Michigan. The major fruit growing counties in this region, Berrien, Van Buren, Allegan, Cass and Kalamazoo are all located near the Lake Michigan shore. The presence of the lake moderates winter temperatures and winter cold injury; delays spring growth (reducing spring frost damage) and lengthens the growing season in the fall. The major fruit crops are apples, grapes (mostly 'Concord', juice grapes), blueberries, tart cherries and peaches. There are also plantings of pears, plums, brambles, strawberries and even cranberries. Southwest Michigan fruit is used for both processed fruit products (two thirds) and fresh (about one third of the total production). The wide variety of fruits grown support a vigorous processing industry and the large processing industry in turn provides a market for Michigan Fruit.
In the last 13 years, I have learned a lot about the business of growing and marketing fruit. I have become a good financial management agent because it quickly became apparent to me that to survive in the fruit industry a grower had to be a good business man as well as a good horticulturist. These are Tough Times in the Fruit Industry. We had a series of Meetings in the Spring of 2004 to allow fruit growers to assess the health of their fruit farm business and determine the best course of action for their individual farm.
Michigan's fruit extension effort is directed by the Fruit AoE Team composed of fruit researchers and extension specialists on campus at MSU as well as field extension agents working together to solve problems facing the Michigan Fruit Industry. The major thrusts of the fruit extension education effort are increasing the productivity of fruit growers with improved cultural practices and improving insect and disease control while reducing pesticide use. One focus is the adoption of improved IPM (Integrated Pest Management) and ICM (Integrated Crop Management) practices. Most of my calls deal with pest and disease control.Mark Longstroth's main extension education efforts are in blueberries, grapes, apples and cranberries. Other extension workers covering fruit in the Southwest Region are Bill Shane, District Fruit Agent, based at SWMREC, focusing on apples, peaches, cherries and other tree fruit and The Berrien County Horticultural Agent covers Berrien County fruit production.
Other District Horticultural Agents in the Southwest Region are Ron Goldy, who covers vegetables and is based at SWMREC, and Jeanne Himmelien, the District Horticultural Agent for greenhouses and ornamental nurseries, based in Kalamazoo County.
Blueberry Pages
