News & Events

Tree Fruit Newsletter — August 22, 2025

In this newsletter: ReTain Reminders Fruit Maturity ReTain Reminders To extend the harvest, ReTain can be applied 28 to 7 days before anticipated first pick. For orchards in southern Maine, we are about about 21 days from first pick on Macs and Honeycrisp. ReTain can extend the harvest window by preventing preharvest fruit drop. I […]

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Spotted Wing Drosophila Alert — August 22, 2025

David Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist; James Dill, Pest Management Specialist; Phil Fanning, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology; Christina Howard, Maine New Farmers Project Manager Spotted wing drosophila fruit fly numbers are rising at most of our trapping sites this week, although the increases are relatively moderate for this point in the season (see […]

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Spotted Wing Drosophila Alert — August 15, 2025

David Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist; James Dill, Pest Management Specialist; Phil Fanning, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology; Christina Howard, Maine New Farmers Project Manager Spotted wing drosophila fruit fly numbers remained relatively stable at our trapping sites this week with no big increases or decreases (see table below). Continued hot, dry conditions and […]

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Tree Fruit Newsletter — August 15, 2025

In this newsletter: Predicted Harvest Dates ReTain Timing Price Survey Results Peel Sap Calcium Results Fruit Maturity   Predicted Dates for McIntosh Harvest Based on temperature after full bloom, the predicted date for the beginning of harvest for long-term storage of McIntosh is September 10 in the Augusta area. The predicted date for the end […]

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Spotted Wing Drosophila Alert — August 8, 2025

David Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist; James Dill, Pest Management Specialist; Phil Fanning, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology; Christina Howard, Maine New Farmers Project Manager Spotted wing drosophila fruit fly numbers continue to increase at our trapping sites this week (see table below). Populations are over the recommended spray threshold (4/trap/week) at all sites. […]

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Spotted Wing Drosophila Alert — August 1, 2025

David Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist; James Dill, Pest Management Specialist; Phil Fanning, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology; Christina Howard, Maine New Farmers Project Manager Spotted wing drosophila fruit fly numbers have increased at most our trapping sites in Southern Maine this week (see table below). Populations are over the recommended spray threshold (4/ […]

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