HORTICULTURE
2009 Southwest Michigan Horticulture Days
Sponsored by the
Michigan Grape Society &
Michigan Horticultural Society
Michigan State University Extension
Current Agenda updated Jan 19, 2009
SW Michigan Horticulture Days, a two day educational session for fruit and vegetable growers in Southwest Michigan will be February 4 and 5. The two-day trade show and educational meeting is held every year at Lake Michigan Community College’s Mendel Center. The educational sessions begin with a general session on Wednesday morning focused on farming during an economic crisis and specialty crops programs in the new Farm Bill. The Wednesday afternoon sessions will focus on vegetables and fruit. There will also be a wine evaluation session concurrent with the educational sessions on Wednesday. A hospitality session at SWMREC immediately follows the Wednesday education sessions. On Thursday, there will concurrent sessions for grapes, blueberries and tree fruit. There should be RUP credits available for both the Wednesday Fruit session and the grape, blueberry and tree fruit sessions on Thursday.
The Wednesday Vegetable session will focus on nutrient management. The afternoon Fruit session will focus on Honeycrisp apple management, apple disease and weed control.
There are 3 concurrent sessions on Thursday for grapes, tree fruit and blueberries. The grape session will focus on disease and insect control, current viticulture research and state of the Grape Juice industry. The afternoon talks will be on viticulture research and development of a sustainable viticulture model in Michigan. The Thursday tree fruit session will focus on fruit pest management, cherry production and updates by the Michigan Apple Association and the Cherry Industry. . The afternoon session will focus on the web based Enviroweather System using its insect and plant disease prediction models to improve pest control. The Blueberry session will feature updates on nematodes and viruses and insect control and talks on blueberry industries in China and South America.
Admission, which includes lunch both days, is $20 for those preregistering by January 29 or $25 at the door. For more information contact Mark Longstroth or Melissa Franklin at the Van Buren County MSU Extension Office (269) 657-8213 or visit their webpage at http://web1.msue.msu.edu/vanburen/disthort.htm
