Fruit and Vegetable News

The ability to back up with already established free-standing apples trees can be challenging. Good pruning and training practices, year by year, can guide a tree into having a strong structure and canopy microclimate conducive to good fruit quality. The University of Minnesota (UMN) wants to support your efforts to learn how to prune dormant, woody fruit crops!  Recent posts on UMN Fruit and Veg News have highlighted upcoming events to deepen your knowledge about pruning either cold climate grapes or apples (feel welcome to join us for both if you grow both crops!) Links to information about 2025 pruning events: In-person pruning workshops  (Dates: various dates and times in March) Noon pruning webinars   (Dates: February 14th and 28th at noon) The following resources were previously created by UMN and provide information to assist pruning practices. Keep in mind that recordings of both upcoming pruning webinars will also be available on the UMN Small Farms YouTube ...

 Are you looking to have more in-person, hands-on experience learning how to prune either cold climate grapes or apples? This year, UMN Extension is offering a selection of winter pruning workshops, instructed by Madeline Wimmer, UMN Extension fruit production educator and UMN Extension local educators.  Semi-dwarf, free-standing apple trees are commonly trained and pruned to maintain a pyramidal shape known as "central leader" training. This allows for good sunlight and airflow that encourage quality fruit production. Apple pruning workshop registration links, dates, and times: 1. Grand Marais (Cook County); March 5th from 10am-12pm 2. Barnum (Carlton County); March 6th from 1-3pm 3. Hinckley (Pine County); March 7th from 1-3pm 4. Moorhead (Clay County); March 21st from 1-3pm  Grape pruning workshop registration link, date, and time: 1. Rochester (Olmsted County); March 23rd from 1-3pm  Cold climate grapevines can be trained in a number of ways, and require yearly p...

Marissa Schuh, IPM Extension Educator  If you have a commercial (applying pesticides for hire), noncommercial (using RUPs on property owned or controlled by your employer), or private pesticide applicator license  (apply RUPs to land or sites you own, rent, or manage for the production of an ag commodity), UMN Extension is offering an online recertification training on February 19th focused on fruit and vegetable pest updates and pesticide information. Photo by Pixabay When: February 19; 7:45-11:45 (private applicators) or 7:45-3:35 (Commercial/Noncommercial applicators) Where: Zoom (will need working microphone, camera, and sound on a laptop, desktop, or tablet) Workshop fee:  $100 for private, $145 for CNC  What:  Agenda here Registration deadline: February 12th CNC registration Private applicator registration For information on this and other recertification courses, as well as registration information, see the Pesticide Safety and Environmental Educatio...

Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator, food safety   We are happy to share a number of on-farm food safety training opportunities open to all fruit and vegetable farmers from UMN Extension this winter. These trainings are intended for fruit and vegetable farmers of all sizes who are interested in learning how to improve food safety and product quality. If you are selling or interested in selling to buyers such as farm to school programs, food shelves or food hubs these courses are strongly encouraged, but food safety is good business for all farms. Topics: Best practices to improve safety in growing, harvesting, washing and handling of fresh fruits and vegetables Compost/manure use, water testing, safely washing vegetables, coolers, packing area designs and ideas, wildlife and pets, low-cost handwashing stands, and more Creating written procedures to improve safety and efficiency on your farm and meet requirements for a GAP audit and the FSMA Produce Safety Rule Online Half-Da...

Authors: Madeline Wimmer, Soon Li Teh, John Thull When working with spur-pruned grapevines in cold climates, the spurs—the regions where fruit-bearing shoots emerge—are originally created by shortening canes originating from a young cordon (i.e., the arm(s) of a grapevine). Overtime, these original spurs support newer spurs that stack on top of the older spur region year after year, and this can lead to what is known as spur creep, when a spur becomes long, old, and less productive. Why is spur creep a problem? As spurs continue to age, they can accumulate damage from cold temperatures, similar to cordons, and become less productive over time. Additionally, the longer they grow, the less room there is for the current season’s canopy, which is especially true for Vertical Shoot Positioned (VSP) grapevines that have less canopy area, overall. Spur creep can leave portions of the cordon blank, as they become unproductive, and can be worsened if growers heavily thin away all the non-cou...

The Farm to School Roadshow is on the move again for 2025!  The Roadshow is an opportunity to make new connections and learn how to build successful Farm to School relationships.  These in-person events will bring together Minnesota school nutrition professionals, early care providers, producers and farmers for networking and training opportunities.    Photo: Cory Ryan, UMN Extension For 2025, the Roadshow is a full day event with  options to attend for the full day or half day.     Growing for Schools - Vegetable Production and Planning (9:00a.m. - 12:00 p.m.)    Vegetable Farmer Focused     The morning session will take an in-depth look at vegetable crop planning and management for production to the wholesale market, specifically schools. We will deep dive into topics such as crop planning for wholesale markets, pest management, and safe harvest and storage with UMN Extension Educators. Growers will leave the morning with cus...

Are you new to growing in high tunnels? Join us for a nine week course to learn about the fundamentals of high tunnel vegetable production. The goal of this course is to help develop a plan for managing your high tunnel that includes: choosing crops to grow, designing an irrigation system, managing soil fertility and soil health, managing weeds, insects, and diseases, planning for pruning and trellising, special considerations for harvest and postharvest handling, and keeping up with basic maintenance. By the end of our nine weeks together, you should have an actionable high tunnel plan that you can use to guide you through the season. Who is this course for? The ideal participant in this class is someone who is actively farming, and either planning to build a high tunnel this year, or in their first couple of years of high tunnel growing. If you are considering a high tunnel, but still a couple of years away from building one, the course may be more detailed than what you are looking ...