When Are Apples Ripe?

This fact sheet gives tips on how to tell if apples are ripe, and how to differentiate between fruit maturity and ripeness. It also tells how to harvest apples, how to store them, and what to to in case frost is forecast

Managing Vegetation Around Fruit Trees

Fruit trees thrive along the Wasatch Front and in many other locations in Utah. Backyard fruit trees are very common in Utah, and producers quickly become attuned to insect and disease pests that can swiftly spoil substantial amounts of fruit. They are typically less aware of the detrimental effect of competing vegetation around fruit trees. This fact sheet describes the nature of vegetation competition and proposes management strategies to reduce or eliminate competition

Almonds in the Home Garden

This fact sheet describes growing almonds in Utah. It includes how to select plantings, site preparation, planting, pruning, irrigation, pest management, and some reasons why almond trees fail to bear

Managing Suckers Around Fruit Trees

Many types of fruit trees produce suckers around the base of the tree. Crown suckers arise in the area immediately surrounding the tree trunk (Photo 1), and root suckers can arise from roots further away from the trunk. Not only are suckers around trees unsightly, but they can also harbor insect pests like wooly apple aphid and provide points of entry for diseases like fire blight. If suckers are profuse, they interfere with in-row weed management and can absorb systemic herbicides such as glyphosate. Some rootstocks used for fruit trees such as M.7 for apples and Mazzard for cherries are genetically predisposed to produce suckers. M.9 clone RN-29 is more inclined to sucker than other M.9 clones. In some cases, sucker growth is a symptom of partial incompatibility between the rootstock and scion. Suckers can also result from injury to the crown, such as extreme cold or mechanical damage. Whatever the cause, managing suckers takes time and expense. This fact sheet reviews mechanical and chemical control methods to manage suckers surrounding fruit trees

Growing Pears in the Home Orchard

This fact sheet gives tips on growing pears in the home orchard including descriptions of cultivars, soil preparation, planting, irrigation, fertilization, problems, pruning, harvest and storage

Backyard Fruit Production in Utah\u27s High Mountain Valleys

Utah’s population has seen significant growth in recent years resulting in population increase outside of the Wasatch Front and into Utah\u27s high mountain valleys. These locations include Bear Lake Valley, Ogden Valley, Morgan and Henefer, Park City, Wasatch Valley, and Sanpete Valley. Much of the information presented here would also apply to the Uintah Basin and other high elevation locations in eastern Utah. Common characteristics of these valleys include high elevations (greater than 5,000 feet) leading to short growing seasons. Many homeowners who are new to these regions wish to establish perennial fruit crops in their gardens. This publication outlines the challenges to fruit production in Utah’s high mountain valleys, offers mitigation suggestions, and lists plant materials that might be successfu

Genetic Diversity of New Almond Accessions from Central Asian and Cold-adapted North American Germplasm

We evaluated the genetic diversity of a newly available collection of 94 almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb] accessions from the former Improving Perennial Plants for Food and Bioenergy (IPPFBE) Foundation. Most of the collection (87 accessions) were collected as seeds from trees growing in the central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and included several examples of Prunus bucharica (Korsh.) Hand.-Mazz, and related wild species. Of the remaining accessions, six were sourced from a nursery in northern Utah in the United States, and one was a seedling of ‘Nonpareil’, a major commercial cultivar. DNA fingerprints were generated from 10 simple sequence repeat markers. To evaluate the comparative diversity of these new accessions, 66 accessions from the US Department of Agriculture, National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) almond germplasm collection near Davis, CA, USA, were also included. These NPGS accessions were chosen to represent those collected in similar regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus. The fingerprints were analyzed via hierarchical clustering, principal components analysis (PCA), and discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC). Hierarchical clustering suggested that half of the Utah-sourced accessions are closely related to each other and to the ‘Nonpareil’ seedling. Additional close relationships were detected (including at least one duplication or mislabeling), and two P. bucharica accessions from the IPPFBE collection were separated from the rest of the collection. A plot of the first two principal components clearly separated wild almond relatives (P. bucharica and Prunus fenzliana Fritsch) from the remaining accessions. PCA after removal of the wild species separated the ‘Nonpareil’ seedling, the Utah-sourced accessions, and many of the IPPFBE accessions (mostly from Uzbekistan) from nearly all other individuals. The third principal component identified an additional population structure that separated groups of predominantly IPPFBE or NPGS accessions. DAPC showed a considerable admixture of accessions from Azerbaijan, and a little to no admixture of accessions from Georgia and Tajikistan. These results suggest that central Asian/Caucasian almond germplasm is generally distinct from ‘Nonpareil’ and its relatives, and that although there is overlap between the NPGS and IPPFBE collections from this region, the IPPFBE collection does enhance the diversity of available almond germplasm