Mark Longstroth, Bill Shane and Diane Brown-Rytlewski...The 2009 growing season will be long remembered by fruit growers for various reasons. There was some winter damage due to several radiation freezes in mid-January (-10 to -24°F). These freezes affected lower portions of orchards and vineyards and blueberries located away from Lake Michigan in good blueberry sites, located in lower topographic conditions. Initially, it was feared that wine grapes and peaches would be severely affected.

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Bob Tritten...Our season is still running a full two weeks behind normal in terms of degree day totals. However, our harvest dates for our fruit crops have been and continue to be close to being “right on schedule” compared to normal seasons.

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Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier, Carlos Garcia-Salazar...As far as degree days go, 2009 started out on a rollercoaster, going from normal to above normal totals, back to normal and then very much behind normal averages for the Grand Rapids area. Here toward the end of the growing season, we are about nine days behind normal averages for GDD Base 42 and over 16 days behind average for GDD Base 50.

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Mark Longstroth, Bill Shane, Diane Brown-Rytlewski...The weather has been cool with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s and 50s. No significant rain occurred, but some early morning fog and misty rain provided some leaf wetness. Rain at the end of August brought about two inches of water. Most sites have fair to good soil moisture. Some areas continue to be dry. We continue to lag about eight days behind normal in heat units accumulated, but only slightly later than last year.

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Bob Tritten...With generally cool conditions persisting over the region, our season is running about nine to 12 days behind normal in terms of degree day totals. When I look at the season in terms of beginning harvest dates for most of our fruit crops however, our season is running just a few days behind normal.

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Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar...We have continued to lose ground with degree day accumulations. For the Sparta station, degree day totals for base 42 are 3,050, which is nine days behind normal averages; base 50 is 1,895, which is 15 days behind normal. We have had no rainfall in the last week, but soil moisture levels are adequate from earlier rainfall.

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Mira Danilovich...August ended with cooler than normal temperatures and with rain. Temperatures were mostly into the 60’s for highs and 40’s to the low to mid-30s for lows. The first week of September couldn’t have been better! We had mild temperatures, mainly into the 70’s for highs and 30’s and 40’s for the lows.

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Mark Longstroth, Bill Shane, Diane Brown-Rytlewski...Last week was cool with highs falling from the 80s into the 60s. The passage of several cool fronts brought showers, which dropped about an inch of rain. Soils have good moisture content. We continue to lag about 10 days behind normal in heat units accumulated. Fruit crop development seems close to normal.

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Bob Tritten...The unseasonably cool summer continues over the region. Most of the MAWN weather stations are still reporting our season being behind a little over a week in terms of degree day totals. However most of our fruit crops are picking out fairly close to normal as we move through the harvest season.

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Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier, Carlos Garcia-Salazar...We have gone backwards a little in degree day accumulations. For the Sparta station, degree day totals for base 42 is 2,769, which is 6.5 days behind normal averages; base 50 is 1,721, which is 10 days behind normal. We have had more than adequate rainfall over the past few weeks and many growers have turned their trickle irrigation off.

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Mira Danilovich...To describe the weather conditions last week in one word would be “wet.” It rained just about every day. The Ludington area received the highest precipitation followed by Manistee and Hart, each receiving about 0.5 inch less. Temperatures were comfortable with the daily highs from the low 60’s to high 70’s and low’s were from the mid-40’s to mid-50’s.

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Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine...We have seen some sun and warmer temperatures in recent days. However, our overall degree day accumulations remain behind our 19-year average. This season, we have accumulated 2,542 GDD base 42 and 1,567 GDD base 50, and both numbers are about 275 GDD behind the average. We have also had ample rainfall so far this August, where we have accumulated 3.88 inches of rain.

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... The last two weeks were warm with highs near 80°F and lows in the 50s. The weekend was hot with highs over 90°F on Sunday, August 9. The passage of warm and cool fronts caused thunderstorms on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which dropped from a third to over an inch of rain.

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By Bob Tritten... The entire east region received rain over the weekend with most fruit farms receiving a good soaking. Rainfall totals vary a great deal over the region with the highest totals in a band from Flint to Port Huron and much lesser amounts to the south.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar... There were some powerful storms that moved through The Ridge on the evening of Sunday, August 9. Please see the separate article in this issue for more information.

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By Mira Danilovich... The pattern of a cool summer was interrupted with the weather front arriving over the weekend. It brought us warmer temperatures and rain. Our automated weather stations are showing various amounts of precipitation for each of the last four days. Humidity has been one factor that made conditions uncomfortable. Soil moisture is adequate.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine...

Growing degree day accumulations at NWMHRS
GDD42 2163
GDD50 1300

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... The last two weeks were pleasant with highs generally in the 70s and lows in the 50s and 60s. Rains have been spotty, light and generally less than a tenth of an inch. Soils, especially sandy soils are very dry.

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By Bob Tritten... Dry soils are the story of the last few weeks at most fruit farms across the eastern part of the state. A few fruit growers have been lucky enough to have received rain from slow moving narrow thunderstorms that have popped up across the region. These storms have not been wide spread however.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar... We have quickly fallen behind normal averages with the very cool temperatures. All Grand Rapids area weather stations are running at very similar totals, which are unusual for this time of year when we often see some differences from north to south.

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By Mira Danilovich... For the past two weeks, temperatures have been several degrees cooler than what is considered normal for July. Channel 13, out of Grand Rapids, stated that so far this has been the coldest July in recorded weather history.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine...

Growing degree day accumulations at NWMHRS
GDD42 1820
GDD50 1069

Growth Stages at NWMHRS (July 27 at 8:30 AM.)
In apples, McIntosh have 48 mm fruit; Yellow Delicious have 46 mm fruit; Gala have 44 mm fruit; and Red Delicious have 43 mm fruit.

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane...Last week was pleasant with high temperatures were in the 70s and lows in the upper 50s. Warmer temperatures came late in the week with highs in the 80s and lows near 60°F. Storms passed early on Saturday, July 11, with spotty rains, especially at the south end of the region where rainfall totals were near half an inch. Other areas received less than a tenth of an inch.

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By Bob Tritten...Mild daytime temperatures and cool night or morning temperatures have continued to slow the degree day accumulations across the region. Our season is currently running seven to eight days behind normal in terms of degree day totals at most of our MAWN weather stations.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar...Degree days have continued to fall behind normal averages. All Grand Rapid’s weather stations are running at very similar totals. For the Sparta station, GDD base 42 is 1726 which is one day behind normal averages and GDD base 50 is 1012, which is three days behind normal.

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By Mira Danilovich...Over the past two weeks weather has been very comfortable with high temperatures from the low 60’s to low 80’s and back into low to mid 70’s, and lows from the mid-40’s to low 50’s. There were a few showers at the beginning of the end of the two-week period.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine...In apples, McIntosh have 36 mm fruit; Yellow Delicious have 33 mm fruit; Gala have 33 mm fruit; and Red Delicious have 38 mm fruit.

Bartlett pears have 26 mm fruit.

In sweet cherries, Hedelfingen have 23 mm fruit; Napoleon have 22 mm fruit; and Gold have 21 mm fruit.

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... Last week’s weather was hot and dry. High temperatures were in the high 80s and lows were near 70°F. Storms last Thursday, June 25, missed the area so no rain fell last week. Soils are drying out. Cooler temperatures are forecast for this week with highs in the 70s. There is a chance of showers during the week and a return to seasonal temperatures by the weekend.

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By Bob Tritten... Warm weather over the past week has helped push ahead the development of our fruit crop across the region. Our season has certainly been odd; for example, most (not all) strawberry growers started their harvest season late, and most sweet cherry growers are starting their season a bit early or right on schedule. Our season is currently running about five days behind normal in terms of degree day totals.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar... The warmer than normal temperatures last week pushed degree days above normal degree day accumulations. Data from the Sparta weather station - GDD base 42 equals 1432 (two days ahead of the 30-year average) and GDD base 50 equals 830 (one day ahead of the 30-year average). We will fall back to normal averages with this cool weather we’re having right now.

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By Mira Danilovich... Summer is here…at least it was until yesterday (June 29) with the temperatures well into the 80’s and a couple of days into the low 90’s. Last week brought some much needed rain. Our automated weather stations have reported from 0.21 inch in Hart to 0.49 inch in Bear Lake. Soils were getting a bit dry, and the rain is a welcomed relief that will have, for the most part, positive impact on developing fruit.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine...

Growing degree day accumulations at NWMHRS
GDD42 1203

GDD50 676

Growth stages at NWMHRS (June 29 at 3:30 PM)
In apples, McIntosh have 26 mm fruit; Yellow Delicious and Gala have 23 mm fruit; and Red Delicious have 28 mm fruit.

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... Last week’s weather was warm and wet. High temperatures rose from the 70s into the high 80s. Lows were generally in the 60s. Rain fell Tuesday and Wednesday, June 17 and 18, leaving about a third to a half inch. Major storms crossed the region Friday, June 19.

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By Bob Tritten... Warm weather has finally come to the region over the last few days. The warm weather has especially been welcomed by strawberry growers that were having challenges with strawberry ripening due to cooler than normal nighttime temperatures.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier, Carlos Garcia-Salazar... All tree fruits have been quickly putting on size most likely due to all the rainfall. June drop is on-going in apples and most blocks are left with a very nice crop. There are some blocks that will need hand thinning.

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By Mira Danilovich... This area has been spared from the stormy weather conditions and heavy rains last week. Out of that system, we received from 0.25 to 1.11 inches of rain. Most of the precipitation stayed in the southern parts of the district. Temperatures have been warm with maximums well into the 70’s and a few 80’s for the highs and 50’s and 60’s for the lows. Relative humidity has been high.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine...

Growing degree day accumulations at NWMHRS
GDD42 984
GDD50 513

Growth stages at NWMHRS (June 22 - 3:30 PM)
In apples, McIntosh have 21 mm fruit; Yellow Delicious and Gala have 19 mm fruit; and Red Delicious have 26 mm fruit.

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... Last week’s weather was variable with highs alternating from the high 60s to the high 70s. Lows were generally in the 50s. Rain fell Monday, Thursday and Saturday (June 8, 11 and 13). Thursday’s rain was a daylong wetting event in the southern counties.

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By Bob Tritten... The story of cool weather remains unchanged over the region for the last week. The cool morning temperatures have slowed development of some of our fruit crops, most notably strawberry ripening and harvest. More comments on strawberry harvest in the individual crop section of my report.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar... Apple fruits are really putting on size with fruits all at 25 mm-plus. The window for chemical apple thinning is closed. Some growers are getting ready to start hand thinning. Growing degree days are starting to fall behind normal averages.

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By Mira Danilovich... The weather conditions have started to resemble a “normal” seasonal pattern. Since last Thursday, June 11, sunny days and warmer temperatures have been a welcomed change. No precipitation all last week. So far, this season has been significantly cooler than normal. Based on growing degree day accumulation, Oceana County is about a week behind; Mason and Manistee counties are 14 days behind the 30-year average for this part of the season.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine...

Growing degree day accumulations at NWMHRS
GDD42 787
GDD50 372

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By Mark Longstroth, Bill Shane and Diane Brown-Rytlewski... Last week was generally cool with highs near 70°F and lows in the 50s. No significant rain fell after last Tuesday, June 2. Soils are beginning to dry out on the surface. The warm weather and scattered thunderstorms over the weekend increased insect activity and plant growth. Cooler temperatures with thunderstorms are forecast for early this week. Warmer weather is forecast for later in the week and the weekend.

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By Bob Tritten... Cool weather especially cold morning temperatures, have been the story over the region for this spring, and this past week was no different. As a result, our season is now falling behind by three to four days in terms of degree day totals, and our crops that are nearing harvest, such as strawberries, our slow to ripen.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar... Apples are really putting on size with fruits ranging from 15 to 30 mm across the region. The window for apple thinning is just about closed. Degree days are just a day or so ahead of normal averages from the 30-year data at the Sparta weather station: GDD base 42 equal 878 and GDD base 50 equal 444.

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By Mira Danilovich... Unseasonably cold weather continues. Daily high’s were from high 50’s to mid- to high 60’s, with the exception on June 5 when temperatures crossed the 70°F mark. Lows were generally into the 40’s. In terms of precipitation, this past week has had more rain than anticipated.

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Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine

Growing degree day accumulations at NWMHRS
GDD42 662
GDD50 301

Growth stages at NWMHRS (June 8 at 4:30 PM)
In apples, McIntosh have 10 mm fruit; Yellow Delicious and Red Delicious have 11 mm fruit; and Gala have 8 mm fruit.

Bartlett pears have 11 mm fruit.

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... Last week was warm with highs near 80°F and lows in the upper 50s. Significant rain fell last week Tuesday and Wednesday (May 26-27) and yesterday (June 1) as well. The warm weather increased insect activity and plant growth. Cooler temperatures with thunderstorms are forecast for early this week. Warmer weather is forecast for the weekend.

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By Bob Tritten... Cool, rainy weather has persisted over the region over the last week. Most of our MAWN weather stations in the region reported between 0.4 inch and 1-inch of rain that has come in three to four wetting events. For the most part, cool morning temperatures have kept insect activity fairly low over the last week.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier, Carlos Garcia-Salazar... All apple varieties are in the petal fall stage. Fruits are starting to size nicely – ranging from 8 to 15 mm across the region and varieties. Apple thinning is being done. Some varieties and blocks are thinning down nicely on their own. Degree days are just a day or so ahead of normal averages from 30-year data at the Sparta weather station: GDD 42 equals 759 and GDD 50 equals 374.

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By Mira Danilovich... Last week’s weather could be described as mostly rainy and cooler than normal. High temperatures were in the 50’s and 60’s and lows were mainly in the low 40’s with the exception of Saturday through Sunday night when we had near or below freezing temperatures throughout the district.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte and Rob Sirrine...

Growing degree day accumulations at NWMHRS
GDD42 590
GDD50 270

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... Last week was warm with highs in the 70s and 80s and lows in the upper 50s. Scattered showers fell Sunday, May 24. The warm weather increased insect activity and plant growth. Cooler temperatures with several chances of rain are forecast for the next week.

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By Bob Tritten... We have had more of a typical spring weather pattern over the last week with a fair amount of heating to push around growth. It seems as if the rainy spring has clicked off at some farms across the region, as some growers are reporting dry soil conditions and are turning on irrigation systems. The season is about normal in terms of degree day totals and the phenology (or time of flowers) of our fruit crops. We have not had any frost orfreeze events over the last week, and it appears that will continue to be the trend through the end of the week.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar... Early and mid-season apple varieties are in the petal fall stage. Later varieties still have some bloom, but are at 80 percent petal fall today. There is quite a bit of rag-tag bloom present in some varieties on one-year-old wood. We are starting to see some natural fruit drop in many apple varieties.

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By Mira Danilovich... This past week temperatures have been seasonable with the highs in the 70’s and lows in the mid- to upper 40’s. There were some scattered showers throughout the area, but no measurable precipitation around our automated weather stations in Hart and Ludington.

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By Nikki Rothwell...

Growing degree day accumulations at NWMHRS
GDD42 516
GDD50 245

Growth stages at NWMHRS (May 25 12:00 PM)
In apples, McIntosh are at petal fall. Yellow Delicious, Gala, Red Delicious are at early petal fall.

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Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane...Last week was another cool week with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. Scattered frost Monday caused scattered damage in frost pockets. Warmer weather is forecast for this week with highs near 80 and lows near 60. Cooler more seasonal weather with highs near 70 and lows in the mid 50s are forecast for the Memorial Day weekend. The warm dry weather should bring on an increase in insect activity.

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Bob Tritten...We surely have had a week of continued wet weather across the region, with many areas receiving 1 to 1.5 inches of rainfall over several days. Most areas had two or three wetting events, and some have even had four over the last week. Many farms have had two frost/freeze events over the last week, both occurring over the weekend. Some were close to a low temperature that would impact tree fruits.

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Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier, Carlos Garcia-Salazar...Most early apple varieties are in the petal fall stage and later varieties are just moving away from full bloom. There is quite a bit of bloom still out there in some blocks, especially as you move farther north in the region. Degree days are just about even with normal averages. At the Sparta weather station GDD base 42 equals 494 and GDD base 50 equals 215.

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Mira Danilovich...The weather has been cool. Our automated weather stations registered freezing or near freezing temperatures for May 16 through the May 18. Ludington was a cold spot on May 17 with 29.7°F while Hart experienced the coldest temperatures of 30°F on May 18. In low laying areas, temperatures were significantly lower creating conditions for various degrees of injury.

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Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte, Rob Sirrine...We continue to be cool and dry in the north. Last Wednesday, May 13, and Thursday, May 14, we received just under a 0.5 inch of rain, but the ground is still dry. On Saturday, May 16 we had about 10 drops of rain – just enough to kick off a few infection periods.

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... Last week was cool with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. Soils are beginning to dry out. Scattered frost Monday, May 11, caused little damage. Temperatures on Tuesday morning were low enough to cause damage to most fruit. Warm rain and thunderstorms are forecast for Wednesday.

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By Bob Tritten...Our weather over the last week has been more of a typical spring, mostly cool and dry. Most areas of the region received around a quarter-inch of rainfall late last week on Friday evening, May 8, and Saturday morning, May 9. A few strawberry growers frost-protected one to two times this past week, as we have had some widely scattered frost across the region.

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By Amy Irish Brown, Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia-Salazar... Most apple varieties are in the full bloom stage. Bee activity has been excellent except for the cold and rainy days over the weekend. There is some early petal fall on the earliest apples. Sweet cherries are moving out of bloom. Peaches are mostly in full bloom or a bit later. Pears are still blooming. Plums are showing small fruits.

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By Mira Danilovich... Last night temperatures did not go as low as forecasted. Enviro-weather showed low temperatures in the mid-30’s. The night before, temperatures plummeted into the below freezing zone. Temperatures started dropping between 11:00 PM and midnight north of Hart and after midnight in the Hart area. Given the current stage of vegetation development, these temperatures are not likely to cause significant damage to our crops.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte, and Rob Sirrine... For the past two nights, we have seen some cold temperatures throughout the region. On Sunday night, May 10, we recorded temperatures down into the high 20’s and low 30’s. The lowest temperature recorded on MAWN was 24.1°F at the Elk Rapids site. This location also recorded the lowest temperature on Monday night with 29.4°F.

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... The weather last week was wet and cool with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. Monday, April 27 and Thursday, April 30 were wide spread infection events for several diseases. Soils are wet. Weekend temperatures were not low enough to cause harm to open blossoms or fruit. Rain is forecast for Wednesday, May 6.

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By Bob Tritten... Warm weather has continued over the region, pushing our season ahead of normal by almost a week if we look at phenology or the flowering dates of our fruit crops, and a just a few days ahead, if you look at the degree day totals. There have been a couple of widely scattered frosts over the weekend at farms across the region. There may be some slight damage to strawberries, tart cherries, European plums and blueberries.

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Amy Irish-Brown and Phil Schwallier and Carlos Garcia Salazar... It’s nice to get dried out a bit after all the rain that fell last week. Many apples are in the pink stage with bloom right around the corner for early apple varieties. There are a few ‘Ida Red’ and ‘Jonagold’ blooms open in some blocks at about one percent.

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By Mira Danilovich... Weather is finally starting to resemble spring with temperatures from highs in the mid-50’s to mid-60’s and to lows in the mid-40’s with a couple of days into the high 30’s. There were a couple of days of rain with total accumulation for the week slightly lower than 0.7-inches.

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By Nikki Rothwell, Duke Elsner, Erin Lizotte, and Rob Sirrine...The weather has been slightly warmer during the days this week, but nights remain cool. We have accumulated 223 GDD base 42 and 85 base 50, a considerable jump from last week. We have had no rainfall since April 26 when we had just under a half-inch of rain. Overall, things are pretty dry in the north, but the snow has finally melted. Rain is predicted for later in the week.

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The weather the last two weeks has been a rollercoaster with highs ranging from 50°F to 80°F and lows ranging from 26°F to the mid-50s. Two weeks ago rain on April 13 and 14 brought a third to a quarter inch of rain.

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