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In nearly all Pennsylvania orchards at some time, there is a problem with late spring frosts that can damage the flowers and reduce the crop.

Early-season yield and packout predictions are useful for growers and packers to plan for adequate harvest labor and storage space and to develop an orderly marketing plan.

During the cold winter period people begin thinking about their vegetable gardens and looking at all the seed catalogs. They also think about that good apple or pear they had from their local farmer's market.

Unless soils are deficient in a nutrient, such as sandy soils, fruit trees respond more to nitrogen (N) application than any other nutrient.

Over the past 40 years, many rootstocks have been evaluated for peach in North America and Europe. Although results vary with site, we have learned quite a bit about these rootstocks.

Whether apple fruits will be sold fresh, stored for wholesale, or sold for processing, estimating optimum harvest dates is critical.

Penn State participates in multi-state apple rootstock trials, such the NC-140 rootstock project. The following rootstock descriptions and comments are based on results from these trials.

The term "small fruit" includes many of the berry crops such as blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries among others.

Irrigation often is necessary because of the uneven distribution of precipitation throughout the year, especially during critical growth periods.

Raspberry production is well suited to small farms, as a small area of raspberries can provide significant income and equipment needs for an acre or so of raspberries are not great.

In general, fruit quality is defined by three major attributes: color/appearance, texture, and fruit flavor.

Apples may be grown in many parts of the country and lend themselves well to part-time farming operations.

Blueberries are well suited for small-scale and part-time farm operations.

The life of the orchard is expected to be at least 20 years, so the initial investment may be spread over a longer period of time than many crops.

Grapes are produced in many areas throughout the Commonwealth and lend themselves well to small-scale and part-time farming operations.

The high value of strawberries creates potential for sizable profit from a small planting; however, the potential for serious problems also exists.

Marketing is important to all farm enterprises, regardless of size.