By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan fruit growers are hoping that a good start to this year’s growing season will carry through the summer and deliver a big crop. “We did not have a good apple crop last year, but pretty much everybody has a real good flower bloom this spring,” said Terry Anderson, owner of Anderson & Girls Orchard in Stanton.

“We have not had any cold weather at all this year. Last year by this time we had watered strawberries about 20 nights for frost, and this year we’ve only watered three times,” he said.

Although Anderson said it’s too early in the season to make any predictions about potential yields, “right now everything looks really nice – strawberries, peaches, apples. There’s potential for a real nice crop.

“The outlook for growers in Michigan is very good,” Anderson said. “Some growers are already worried about having enough storage space this fall. But, there’s a lot of time for the crop to go to pieces.”

According to the latest agricultural summary published by the Michigan Field Office of the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, fruit development is about two weeks behind normal throughout the state. Early varieties of strawberries are in bloom and the first of the crop is expected by mid-June instead of at the beginning of the month. Flower buds in raspberries are just beginning and a very late season is expected. Throughout the state, apples ranged from king bloom to early petal fall and insect activity remained light.
Continual rains, wet soils and winds have hampered growers from keeping current with fungicide and bactericide spraying. Throughout the state, Michigan State University Extension educators are reporting that frequent and heavy rains are facilitating apple scab, cherry leaf spot and fire blight infections.

In west central Michigan, MSU Extension Educator Mirjana Bulatovic-Danilovich reported that “high temperatures, high winds and rain were a perfect mix for fire blight infections on Sunday (May 22) and Monday in both apples and pears.” With current and much cooler temperatures predicted through the end of the week, “the threat of potential fire blight infections has gone down.”
Nikki Rothwell, MSU Extension educator in Northwest Michigan, reported that with many orchards in some stage of bloom, “it will be important to keep an eye on the fire blight model. Based on the weather and crop development, many area growers have already made at least one antibiotic application.”
“Growers have been particularly busy this spring with the wet conditions and already this season many sprays have been applied to all crops. There have been some challenges for growers to keep ahead of the rain events to provide adequate coverage,” according to Rothwell.

“It’s been windy and we’ve had very few days of sunshine,” Anderson said. “With a lot of wind and rain, spraying has been kind of tough to get done.”
In other fruit crops, tart cherries are in early bloom in the northwest and in full bloom in the west central region and growers are reporting that they are spraying for leaf spot control.

Sweet cherries ranged from full bloom in the northwest to petal fall in the west central region. Grape shoots were four inches long in the southwest and northwest wine grapes were at early bud swell. Blueberries were at late pink to early bloom in the Grand Rapids area and in early bloom to full bloom in the southwest. Peaches were at petal fall in the west central, and shoots were 4 inches long in the southwest, where crop potential was excellent, according to the agricultural summary report.

“Everybody is talking about doing a lot of thinning in apples and peaches to be sure we get good size,” Anderson said. “This is the best outlook we’ve had in a few years.”