The Importance of Soil Temperatures

Monitoring soil moisture as we enter Spring is common, however, soil temperature can be easily overlooked. Why are Spring soil temperatures important to look at in the first place? Root growth is typically initiated once soil temperature reaches 45° or higher. Coming...

Protect Your Nitrogen Investment With TILL-IT N-POWER

The Nitrogen Cycle in soils is a very leaky system, meaning nitrogen can be lost to the environment by several mechanisms, and losses can be significant (up to 40+%). These losses reduce Nitrogen Uptake Efficiency (NUE) and return on fertilizer investment, which is of...

Technology Enhances Hops Nutrient Management

Hops are unlike other value-added crops. Their bines and cones have special environmental and nutritional needs, and Wilbur-Ellis is eager to help growers with everything hops. In the past 10 years Wilbur-Ellis has worked with growers in the Pacific Northwest to...

Postharvest Nutrition

Yet again, 2022 has been a whirlwind of a growing season and here we, are in mid-September with apples coloring up and pears ready for storage. We started off the year with a cold, wet spring and multiple days of heavy snow during full bloom. For some orchards in the...

Physiology of Pre-Harvest Fruit Drop in Apple

Optimizing performance of apple stop-drop products can be improved with a basic understanding of the physiology of pre-harvest drop and some of the factors that can influence it. Apples are a climacteric fruit, meaning that the maturation and ripening processes are...

Post-Harvest Planning for Hops

The past few years have provided unusual environmental challenges to hop production in the PNW growing region. Fluctuating and abnormal precipitation and temperature feel like the new normal. However, September always brings the familiar and welcome constant of hop...