Northwest Michigan fruit regional report – April 30, 2013

Nikki Rothwell<rothwel3@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension - April 30, 2013

As warm weather moves in, trees are greening up and growers are preparing to cover green tissue.

The region experienced a warm and pleasant weekend where the daytime temperatures reached into the low 70s on both Saturday and Sunday (April 27-28). Trees seemed to respond quickly to these warm conditions; according to Michigan State University Extension educators in the region, green is evident on cherries and most varieties of apples. Growers have also responded to this warm up and sprayers were heard in apples that have green tissue showing.

Here at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center we have accumulated 100 GDD base 42 and 37 base 50. Prior to the rainfall that started on Monday afternoon (April 29), conditions were surprisingly dry given that we still have spots of snow on the ground on north facing slopes. Rain is predicted into today (April 30) and the daytime high is forecasted to reach into the mid-70s.

Growers with green tissue showing were eager to put on a spray in apples to be covered up prior to the rain. According to Enviro-weather, we only had 0.08 inches of rain on Monday here at the station, but Tuesday’s forecast is predicting heavy rains today.

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