HORTICULTURE
Van Buren MSUE Home

These Web Pages are provided for Southwest Michigan fruit growers and others who are interested in current crop and pest conditions.  I have posted numerous fact sheets, essays and MSUE bulletins on pest control and general cultural practices for the fruit grown here in Michigan.  Some pages are also extensive links to other states sites.

  Southwest Michigan Hort Days
February 3-4 @ Lake Michigan College

The cold and snowy Winter is for Educational Meetings
Upcoming Fruit Meetings in SW Michigan.

For Weather and IPM information use the Enviroweather Site.
Frost/Freeze Files, all the information I have posted on spring and winter cold injury. 

I have posted a Review of 2009
Index of earlier postings fruit, insect and disease development.

MSU Fruit IPM Resources,  Michigan Fruit Web sites,  Other State's Fruit Resources.

MarketMarker - connecting agricultural producers with businesses and markets
The Northwest Station has posted a GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) Manual

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.  I also have pages of pictures of different fruit development as well as pests and diseases.

Fire Blight Files
links to information on a
significant disease of apples and pears.

Blueberry Pages.
Information and links
to the major fruit crop
in Van Buren County.

Grape Pages

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 16 years, I have learned a lot about the business of growing and marketing fruit. I have become at good financial management 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.  Growers interested in developing new markets should checkout MarketMarker a website connecting agricultural producers with businesses and markets.

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.

Comments on this web site are always welcome. These fruit web pages are constantly changing with new additions if you want to be notified of changes give me your Email address and I will add you to a mailing list and notify you when new pages are added. Email me at: longstr7@msu.edu

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First created: December 5, 1996
Last modified: December 30, 2009
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