Tree Fruit Newsletter — December 19, 2025
In this newsletter:
- When to begin pruning
- Pesticide Applicator Training and Certification
- Maine Ag Trades Show
- Northeast Fruit Consortium Winter Webinar Series
- Other Announcements
When to Begin Pruning?
Fruit trees are fully dormant and should be able to tolerate temperatures that occur this time of year in southern Maine. Temperatures in northern Maine can be cold enough to cause winter injury to apple trees. Pruning causes some loss in cold hardiness and can make trees more vulnerable to winter injury. If you begin pruning this time of year, pay attention to minimum temperatures in the upcoming 10-day period, and hold off if they are expected to be severely cold (-10 ºF). If possible, postpone pruning more tender varieties such as Golden Delicious. McIntosh and Honeycrisp are among the most hardy varieties in midwinter, but we don’t know how their hardiness responds to pruning. Pears are less hardy. For the more tender fruits such as cherry and peach, it’s best to postpone pruning to late winter.
Agricultural Core Training & Certification Exam
January 14, 2026 from 8:00 a.m. — 1:00 p.m.
The Board of Pesticides Control is offering an Agricultural Core Training and Certification Exam during the Agricultural Trades Show. The training and exam will be held in Jewett Hall at 46 University Drive on the UMaine Augusta Campus between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. This is close to the Augusta Civic Center. Pre-registration for Agricultural Core Training is required to attend.
Space is limited to 50 people. Those who register after the limit is reached will be added to a wait list and notified if space becomes available.
Attendees must display a government issued photo identification to take the exam.
To prepare for the exam, purchase and study the Core Pesticide Education Manual from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Digital and hard copies may be purchased here. (Available in hard copy or digital format). Contact the BPC office with any questions at 207-287-2731 or pesticides@maine.gov.
Maine Agricultural Trades Show
The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) has announced the full slate of educational sessions and meetings for the 85th Maine Agricultural Trades Show, taking place January 13–15, 2026, at the Augusta Civic Center.
The three-day event brings together farmers, foresters, food producers, agri-business owners, students, and partners from across the state and region for hands-on training, policy discussions, business development workshops, industry meetings, and networking events focused on building a strong, resilient future for Maine agriculture.
More than 80 sessions are scheduled and offered in partnership with organizations including UMaine Cooperative Extension and Highmoor Farm, USDA Rural Development, Small Business Development Association, Maine Department of Labor, Maine WIC, Maine Farm & Sea to Institution Network, Maine Farm Bureau, Agricultural Council of Maine, Maine Maple Producers Association, Maine Pomological Society, Maine Vegetable and Small Fruit Growers, Maine Cheese Guild, Maine Dairy Industry Association, Maine Sheep Breeders, Maine FFA and 4-H, Maine Woodland Owners, SCORE Maine, CEI, ReVision Energy, Renoster, Maine Mobile Health, MOFGA and many others.
The tree fruit meeting will be Wednesday, January 14 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Arnold room.
Preliminary agenda:
- Annual meeting of the Maine State Pomological Society
- Apple Rootstock Research for Growers, Renae Moran
- Panel Discussion on Growing and Marketing Peaches
- IPM Update, Glen Koehler
More details will follow.
Northeast Fruit Consortium Winter Webinar
Registration is open for the 2026 Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium Winter Webinar Series.
A detailed schedule may be found at the Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium : Fruit : Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) at UMass Amherst page.
Hosted by UVM Fruit Program, UMass Extension, and Cornell Cooperative Extension and supported by URI, UNH, UMaine, UConn Extension. Registration and pesticide applicator credits are handled by the UVM Fruit Program; after registering, you will receive a link to the Zoom session hosted by UMass Extension. Be sure to save the confirmation email which contains the links to your webinars. We are charging $10 per webinar to register, with discounts for registering for multiple webinars. Webinar registration fees support the annual meeting of the Northeast Tree Fruit IPM Working Group which facilitates shared programming and collaborative research and Extension projects among IPM professionals across the region. Extension activities are available to all growers regardless of ability or interest to pay. If you would like a discount code for free registration, please email madeline.baughman@uvm.edu.
Pesticide credit(s) will be available for indicated sessions. Pre-registration is required. Please be advised, those seeking pesticide recertification credits must register and log in to the session individually so that we can show proof of attendance to the certifying agencies. When logging in, be sure your screen name matches the name on your license.
Registration link: 2026 Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium Winter Webinar Series – New Registration
February 4, noon -1:00pm
Title: Management of Up and Coming Strawberry Diseases in the Northeastern United States (credits pending)
Dr. Nathanial Westrick is a plant pathologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station whose research focuses on the biology and management of fungal plant pathogens on a range of specialty and field crops. Increases in plant movement across state lines and warming climates have led to the introduction of new invasive plant diseases to our region, with Anthracnose, Neopestalotiopsis, and Black Root Rot being particularly devastating examples. This talk will discuss the current IPM strategies which can be used to limit the spread of these diseases and novel research into varietal resistance and chemical control of the pathogens.
February 11, noon – 1:00pm
Kiwiberry Production in the Northeast (no pesticide credits)
William Hastings, MSc, is a Food and Agriculture Field Specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension based in Coös County. He is the author of Growing Kiwiberries in New England: A Guide for Regional Producers. This talk provides an overview of kiwiberry production in the Northeast, from establishment to post-harvest considerations, along with a discussion of economic potential and marketing considerations.
February 18, noon – 1:00pm
Heat Mitigation: Sunburn and Fruit Coloring (no pesticide credits)
Dr. Lee Kalcsits, Associate Professor of tree fruit physiology at the Washington State University.
Dr. Lailiang Cheng, Cornell University. He works on tree mineral nutrition in relation to rootstock and nutrient supply for effective orchard nutrient management to improve tree productivity and fruit quality and reduce fruit physiological disorders.
Hot temperatures can reduce fruit quality and orchard profitability. In this webinar, we will discuss the physiology behind sunburn, how heat contributes to poor fruit coloring, and best management strategies to mitigate these issues to maximize fruit coloring in hot years.
February 25, noon – 1:00pm
The Dating Game; Updates in Lepidopteran Mating Disruption (credits pending)
Dr. Tracy Leskey, Research Entomologist at the USDA-ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, WV. Her research has focused on development of behaviorally-based management tools for invasive and native pests of fruit crops.
Mating disruption is becoming an essential tool for managing key orchard pests in the Northeast. This session will highlight practical guidance from recent USDA-ARS Leskey Lab research on using pheromone-based disruption for codling moth, oriental fruit moth, and major borers. Growers will learn the basics of how disruption works, how to choose and deploy dispensers effectively, and how to integrate the approach into existing monitoring and spray programs.
March 4, noon – 1:00pm
US EPA Endangered Species Act Strategies and Pesticide Use (credits pending)
Steve Dwinell has more than 30 years of experience in agricultural and environmental policy, with a background in pesticide and pest-control regulation and agricultural water policy at both state and national levels. Steve now serves as Director of the Division of Public Health and Agricultural Resource Management at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.
An overview of the US EPA strategies for protecting threatened and endangered species from pesticides announced in 2022 and being implemented through addition of requirements for runoff mitigation and drift buffer to pesticide labels. The talk will discuss the components of the EPA strategies, what the new requirements are, how applicators can comply with these requirements, and which pesticides registered in Vermont have these additional requirements.
March 11, 2026 noon – 1:00pm
Practical Drought Management for Fruit Growers (no pesticide credits)
Manuel Diaz Gonzalez is a licensed Professional Engineer with 16+ years of NRCS and agricultural water-resources engineering experience across the Northeast, Rocky Mountain, and Northwest regions, specializing in irrigation systems, drainage, flood mitigation, and other resilient farm infrastructure.
As drought stress becomes an increasingly common challenge across the Northeast, fruit growers need reliable, cost-effective strategies to optimize limited water supplies while protecting crop health and yield. This session will provide a practical, engineering-based approach to drought management, with a focus on planned deficit irrigation, soil moisture monitoring, and automated irrigation tools suitable for diversified orchards and fruit operation.
The session will cover how to select, install, and interpret data from soil moisture sensors, and how to integrate these sensors with automated or semi-automated irrigation systems to ensure timely, precise water delivery. Growers will also be guided through the process of developing a farm water budget, including estimating crop water demand, evaluating existing water supplies, and identifying system bottlenecks during dry periods. The session will conclude with a framework for creating a property-level water plan, outlining how to assess opportunities to expand or diversify water sources—such as ponds, wells, storage tanks, and captured runoff—to improve long-term drought resilience.
Preseason Tree Fruit IPM Meeting, March 18 Lewiston-Auburn College
This is a full-day educational meeting for apple and other tree fruits, hosted by Glen Koehler. More info will be available later.
The Supplemental Disaster Relief Program
Stage 2 Applications opened November 24, 2025
The Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) is a new program that provides disaster relief payments to eligible producers who suffered revenue, quality, or production losses to crops, trees, bushes, or vines due to qualifying disaster events in calendar years 2023 and 2024.
The program is operating in two stages. Producers can receive payments for both stages 1 and 2, if applicable, and for one or both years (2023, 2024, and/or 2025), depending on losses.
Stage 1 Program – Provides an additional crop insurance or NAP payment to growers for a loss that was covered. Basically, it increases your coverage beyond what you had purchased.
Stage 1 is for producers who received a USDA RMA crop insurance or USDA FSA NAP payment for a loss in 2023 or 2024. It uses existing Federal Crop Insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) data as the basis for calculating payments. The program started enrolling producers in August and it closes April 30, 2026. Because the program targets growers who received a payment USDA FSA has been reaching out directly to those producers to apply. Pre-filled applications for SDRP Stage 1 were mailed to producers on July 9, 2025.
If you received the application from USDA FSA, you need to apply in order to receive a payment. The payment is not automatic. If you lost the application or did not receive one, contact your local USDA FSA office and they can get you one. Here is a link to the factsheet from USDA on Stage 1: Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) – Stage 1 | Farm Service Agency
Stage 2 Program – Covers losses that were not insured or where the level of coverage purchased wasn’t high enough to provide a payment for the loss. Stage 2 is for producers with non-indemnified (including shallow losses), uncovered (uninsured), and quality losses in 2023 or 2024. Quality discounts will be addressed by adjusting production to count using a producer certified quality loss percentage. Verifiable evidence of quality factors must be provided to support the claimed quality loss percentage. The enrollment period for Stage 2 opens Nov. 24, 2025, and closes April 30, 2026. This is a link to the USDA fact sheet for Stage 2: Fact Sheet: SDRP Stage 2 | Farm Service Agency.
Renae Moran
University of Maine Cooperative Extension: Tree Fruits
PO Box 179
Monmouth, ME 04259
(207) 933-2100
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