{"id":13253,"date":"2026-05-14T10:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/highmoor\/?p=13253"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:10:12","slug":"tree-fruit-newsletter-may-13-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/highmoor\/2026\/05\/14\/tree-fruit-newsletter-may-13-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Tree Fruit Newsletter &#8212; May 13, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this newsletter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bloom Stages<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stone Fruit Diseases<\/li>\n<li>USDA Request for Crop Damage<\/li>\n<li>Announcements<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Bloom Stage at Highmoor Farm<\/h3>\n<h4>Apples<\/h4>\n<p>Zestar! trees are at the pink stage, and most of the other apple varieties are at early pink.<\/p>\n<h4>Peaches<\/h4>\n<p>Peaches are at the balloon stage. The more tender varieties such as Desiree have a fair amount of bud mortality and will not likely need much fruit thinning later. Varieties that have excellent flower bud survival will need fruit thinning if pollination goes well. Peaches can be hand thinned during bloom to save time since flowers are much easier to remove than fruit. We are going to wait until late bloom or petal fall since frost could still occur. A mild freeze of 27 to 28 \u00b0F during full bloom will kill 50% or fewer of the flowers, but the long-range forecast for the area does not indicate any freezing temperatures.<\/p>\n<h4>Cherries and Plums<\/h4>\n<p>Cherries and plums are in full bloom. Apricots are at petal fall.<\/p>\n<h3>Stone Fruit Diseases<\/h3>\n<p>Peach, cherry and apricot flowers are susceptible to brown rot infection. A fungicide application near bloom time will prevent blossom blight and hopefully reduce the risk for fruit infections in summer. Refer to the <a href=\"https:\/\/netreefruit.org\/stone-fruit\/peaches-nectarines\/spray-table\/3-bloom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New England Tree Fruit Management Guide&#8217;s page on peach fungicides<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Peach leaf curl, a problem in unsprayed orchards, could be severe this year because of the frequent rainfall during budswell when infection occurs. Fungicides applied in the previous season generally prevent this disease. Fungicides applied after budswell are ineffective at preventing infection.<\/p>\n<h3>USDA Request for Reports of Crop Damage<\/h3>\n<p>Every year, the Risk Management Agency asks Dr. Renae Moran for a report on the extent of any impact of widespread weather events that have damaged apples, blueberries, cranberries, grapes, peaches, pears, and tart cherries. If your orchard has experienced any winter injury or damage from the April freeze, this information will help with the report for Maine. They are also interested in the extent of the loss and an estimated date when it occurred. The deadline is in early June.<\/p>\n<h3>Announcements<\/h3>\n<h4>Hudson Valley Summer International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) Tour July 2026<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Registration is now open!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA), together with regional partners, is planning a multi-day tour showcasing the Hudson Valley\u2019s diverse tree fruit systems July 20-22. Tour highlights will include commercial orchards, research facilities, and innovative marketing models. Participants can expect a strong emphasis on grower-led insights related to finished fruit production, value-added enterprises such as cider, and connections to regional markets.<\/p>\n<p>Find full registration details, hotel information, and travel resources here: <a href=\"https:\/\/ifruittree.org\/event\/6485\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Tree Fruit Association 2026 Summer Study Tour \u2013 Hudson Valley, NY<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>First Annual Great Lakes Tek Flex Connects Cutting Edge Labor Saving Technologies with Specialty Crop Growers<\/h4>\n<p>Benton Harbor, MI<br \/>\nSeptember 10-11, 2026<\/p>\n<p>The inaugural Great Lakes Tek Flex will be held at the Michigan State University Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center. Technology promises to ease labor issues and empower growers with actionable insights in ways most growers could never envision. Vegetable growers, vineyards, nursery and orchard growers throughout the Great Lakes region won\u2019t have to imagine any longer. The Tek Flex will feature the latest in weed mitigation and crop management solutions using robotics, drones and precision agriculture technology over two consecutive days.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Day 1<\/strong>: The event will focus on connecting growers with companies that have commercialized advanced technologies through \u201cIn the dirt\u201d demonstrations, allowing them to see technology in use. Growers can interact with company representatives to better understand the benefits of these technologies to their operations. A wide range of technologies will be on tap, including but not limited to \u201csee and spray\u201d, autonomous vehicles, AI perception tools, orchard management, planting, vegetation management, harvesting, drone spray and AI decision support. Complete lists will be updated on the www.gltekflex.org website.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Day 2<\/strong>: The focus will be on removing barriers to adoption, with targeted discussions featuring governments, industry groups, and supporting industry participation, with the goal of identifying and aligning resources and activity to streamline the process of technology adoption. The mission of the Great Lakes Tek Flex is to improve the sustainability and resiliency of Great Lakes Specialty Crop Growers by removing barriers to technology adoption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This event is made possible by support and promotion from our partners and sponsors including: Michigan State University Extension, Michigan Department of Agriculture, Michigan Vegetable Council, Michigan Grape Growers, Michigan Hort Society, The Ohio State University, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Agribusiness, Cornell University, The Ontario Ag Robotics Working Group, Cornell University, Meshcomm Engineering, with many additional sponsors expected.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Dates<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>Demonstrator and sponsor signup: Now through August 1, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Earlybird savings cut-off is May 15, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Public registration opens: Early June 2026. Attendee signup list open now on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gltekflex.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Great Lakes Tek Flex webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Renae Moran<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/fruit\/\">University of Maine Cooperative Extension: Tree Fruits<\/a><\/p>\n<p>PO Box 179<\/p>\n<p>Monmouth, ME 04259<\/p>\n<p>(207) 933-2100<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:rmoran@maine.edu\">rmoran@maine.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Mention of a trademark, proprietary product, or vendor does not constitute a guarantee or warranty of the product, nor does it imply approval or disapproval to the exclusion of other products or vendors that may also be suitable.<\/p>\n<p>University of Maine Cooperative Extension is an equal opportunity institution and provider committed to nondiscrimination. For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/nondiscrimination\/\">extension.umaine.edu\/nondiscrimination<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this newsletter: Bloom Stages Stone Fruit Diseases USDA Request for Crop Damage Announcements Bloom Stage at Highmoor Farm Apples Zestar! trees are at the pink stage, and most of the other apple varieties are at early pink. Peaches Peaches are at the balloon stage. The more tender varieties such as Desiree have a fair [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tree-fruit-newsletter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tree Fruit Newsletter - May 13, 2026 - Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/highmoor\/2026\/05\/14\/tree-fruit-newsletter-may-13-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tree Fruit Newsletter - May 13, 2026 - Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this newsletter: Bloom Stages Stone Fruit Diseases USDA Request for Crop Damage Announcements Bloom Stage at Highmoor Farm Apples Zestar! trees are at the pink stage, and most of the other apple varieties are at early pink. 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