SHELBURNE, Vt. (WCAX) – Orchards across Vermont are reporting a strong apple crop this season, but growers say producing pie-ready fruit takes modern science and meticulous pest management alongside favorable weather.
Nick Cowles has been growing apples and other fruit at Shelburne Orchards his entire life. “My daughter is now also the owner and bossing me around,” Cowles said.
In prime picking season, there are as many people as there are apples in the fields, but there are just as many pests, too. “Every insect — seems like — loves apples,” Cowles said.
Up until a few decades ago, farmers used broad-spectrum pesticides and fungicides that kill pretty much everything around. Now, with stricter regulations on pesticide use and more advanced technology, growers like Cowles use very specific chemicals that target one particular pest or fungus. For these modern chemicals to be effective, farmers have to be very meticulous.
“If you’re just going to spray once, you’ve got the right day, the right material,” said Terence Bradshaw, a Vermont tree fruit and viticulture specialist who runs the University of Vermont’s Integrated Pest Management program.
Instead of just spraying for a pest, Bradshaw says the method looks at the whole system, where the plant is in its growth cycle, the pest’s life cycle, the pest’s own natural challenges, and weather conditions. “If it’s too windy, we can’t spray; if it’s raining…” Cowles said.
It is not all new technology. Old-school methods remain in play, including pheromone traps to target pests such as codling moths whose larvae represent the classic “worm in the apple.” But they allow farmers and researchers to determine how best to keep populations under control.
“We can learn whether or not the moths are hatching, laying eggs, mating, where they’re at, and then we can use a very specific tool to manage them at that exact moment,” Bradshaw said.
A network of weather stations across the state, managed by the IPM program, collects data providing insight into pest management and offering a guide to farmers on what spraying to do and when. “That’s allowed us to really scale back to the point where we’re spraying half of what we used to 30 years ago. It’s made it — pest management — like working with a scalpel instead of a hammer,” Bradshaw said.
A combination of tools remains at play to ensure consumers can get their fill of apple cider, pie, cider donuts, or fall treats.
Bradshaw estimates that this year’s apple crop is a little larger than average, anticipating around 700,000 bushels statewide.
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