Cosmic Crisp® apple wins Good Housekeeping’s 2020 Healthy Snack Award
The Cosmic Crisp® apple, developed by Washington State University, is a Good Housekeeping 2020 Healthy Snack selection.
Apples
New technologies could help breed more disease-resistant, high quality apples
Plant scientists at Washington State University are exploring how advanced technologies could help breed delicious apple cultivars that can also resist many devastating diseases, such as blue mold and fire blight, which cost millions in…
Award: Precision pruning can help machines safely, efficiently harvest apples
Team of WSU scientists help put labor-saving machines to work at harvest.
WSU scientists unmask the humble earwig as an apple-protecting predator
Helping Northwest apple growers protect their crops, WSU scientists have found new proof that earwigs are actually valuable predators in apple orchards, rather than the creepy, crawly, apple-damaging pests they’re sometimes assumed to be. In the May 2019 edition of the journal Biological Control, Robert Orpet, recent doctoral graduate at Washington State University’s Tree Fruit Research and […]
Grant supports improving cider industry — ‘Apple to Glass’
A grant from the USDA will allow researchers to work with orchardists and cider makers to develop the best apples and ciders.
WSU’s new tool for precise pollination could transform decisions for apple growers
To grow apples, we need bees. Apple growers depend on the humble honey bee to pollinate their crops, but there’s a delicate balance between hives, flowers and fruit. Bees fertilize apples by flying from flower to flower, feeding and distributing pollen. If bees don’t pollinate enough flowers, growers are left with a miniscule crop, but […]
WSU researchers test nanocrystals to prevent frost damage in tree fruits
By Maegan Murray, WSU Tri-Cities RICHLAND, Wash. – Groundbreaking nanotechnology designed to protect cherries, apples and other popular fruits from frost damage is showing positive results in tests by Washington State University researchers. The research team recently received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop […]
Student researcher seeks roots of apple resistance to fire blight
Named for the crooked, blackened branches it leaves behind, fire blight can wreck entire Northwest apple orchards in a single season. Growers depend on antibiotics to keep the fire blight bacteria, Erwinia amylovora, in check, but the pathogen has already developed resistance in many growing areas. It’s only a matter of time before antibiotics won’t […]
Student entomologist stalks predators to save Washington apples
White, fuzzy, and about the size of a pencil tip, the woolly apple aphid is a persistent pest in Northwest apple orchards, harming trees and shrinking apple harvests. Robert Orpet, doctoral student at Washington State University’s Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, knows that farmers have a hard time getting rid of this tiny pest. […]
Sparking an interest in agriculture
The CAHNRS Spark program took high school students on a tour to show the wide variety of job opportunities in agriculture.
