WSU has hired Chris Hedges for the Postharvest Tree Fruit ITT Extension position. Chris comes with industry background in fruit postharvest. He will be under the supervision of Carolina Torres, WSU Endowed Chair of Tree Fruit Postharvest and based in Wenatchee at the Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center.
After 15+ years of acting as the export training coordinator for stone fruit exports to Mexico and B.C., Canada, and for apple exports to Taiwan and China, Wendy Jones of WSU-TFREC has handed the task over to Joshua Milnes of WSDA – Plant Protection Division. Joshua is a recent hire by WSDA and recently received his Master of Science degree in Entomology from WSU under Dr. Betsy Beers. Josh will be starting off with the stone fruit cutters training in May. The Taiwan/China training will be scheduled soon. Josh can be reached at jmilnes@agr.wa.gov or 509-220-1134 if you have any training questions.
Proper identification of damage, defects, diseases, and other disorders is the first step in solving the issue and producing quality fruit. Many issues can be difficult to identify because they look similar but may have completely different causes. To help out, we are developing tools to help you identify the problems. The first set of tools is a series of topical posters: Honeycrisp Defects, Postharvest Disorders, Insect Damage, Preharvest Defects, and Apple Fruit Diseases. To find out how to get your posters visit the sale page. Many of these have already been translated into Spanish and are also available to purchase.
The next tool is an online guide to defects, diseases, and disorders which will include 360° view rotators that show different manifestations of each of the major defects and disorders. The first module of this guide, Postharvest Diseases, is now online. Visit the ID Guide Table of Contents page to see the Postharvest Diseases galleries.
The third tool underdevelopment is a replacement of the “Quick Identification Guide to Apple Post-harvest Defects and Disorders” card set that came out in 2005 and is now out of print. The new guide will update the old information as well as expand the content to include more defects and more examples of different varieties. Once the print version of the guide is completed, we will develop a mobile App version of the guide.
Carolina Torres has joined WSU as the new Endowered Chair of Tree Fruit Postharvest Systems. She is based in Wenatchee at the Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center but will be providing service to all of Washington as well as collaborating with others throughout the PNW region.