With lovely weather the past couple of weeks, how are Southwest Michigan’s crops faring?
MSU Extension viticulture specialist Mike Reinke tells us the past couple of weeks have brought a few rain events, mostly sunny days, and cool nights. That’s been great weather for ripening fruit.
“The apples are showing some beautiful color right now,” Reinke said. “Peaches, the last ones that are out there, are really building some good sugar, tasting really good. The growers have been able to get close to harvest and get through harvest with very little challenge as far as diseases, fungi and bacterial diseases on the crops. So we’ve had some really clean fruit.”
Reinke says there are still some peaches out on the trees, the apple harvest is about to get started, the pears are being harvested now, and raspberries are still waiting to be harvested. All are in good shape. He adds grapes are a bit drier this year due to less rain, but they’re going to make for high quality wine.
Reinke’s not expecting any major changes in the weather that would affect fruit crops in the next few weeks.
