FFF 07-04

Crop conditions:  Fruit appear to be sizing well with warm 
temperatures, although the dry conditions may be starting 
to have a small negative effect. Apples in Lafayette are 
20-25 mm, and if I had any peaches Iâd tell you their stage 
of development. In Lafayette we are harvesting 
strawberries, and grapes are at buckshot to final bloom 
stages. Blueberries are suffering from reduced vegetative 
growth as a result of the Easter freeze. There is far more 
fruit on the plants than the foliage can support and the 
fruit will not size or ripen properly unless some thinning 
is done. Both black and red raspberries are showing signs 
freeze injury on floricanes. Primocane fruiting reds are 
just starting to bloom. Red, white and black currents 
appear to have been only slightly affected by the Easter 
freeze and the fruit is sizing nicely. In grapes we have 
nearly a full crop on most varieties despite significant 
loss of primary buds to freeze. Secondary buds appear to be 
very fruitful on all varieties, a result of the excellent 
growing conditions this past summer. The dry conditions we 
had in May have been good from a disease standpoint. We 
noticed a bit of leaf phylloxera on Frontenac this week but 
other than that there are no disease or insect problems. 
Herbicide drift damage is prevalent in Lafayette. Our 
Cabernet franc was severely damaged by dicamba drift early 
in May and just recently 2,4-D drift has damaged the 
sensitive varieties. Another ãtypicalä year in Indiana. 

Lack of rain: Many areas of the state have been very dry 
over the past month or so. Comparing 2007 precipitation 
with long term averages, many areas were slightly wetter 
than average in April but very dry since then.  For May, a 
large part of the state is running at about 1/3 to1/2 of 
the normal rainfall.  Being so dry has some benefits in 
terms of being able to stretch out your cover sprays a 
little, but may also reduce vigorous shoot growth. This is 
likely to be of particular benefit to those growers with 
short crops this year. For complete Indiana weather data, 
refer to: http://shadow.agry.purdue.edu/sc.index.html  
(Hirst)

Indana Hort. Society summer meeting: Plans are set for the 
2007 summer meeting to be held Monday and Tuesday, July 2-
3. The Monday will be at Beiersdorfer Orchard in Guilford 
IN and the Tuesday will be at Wesler Orchards, just 
across the state line in Ohio, near Richmond, IN.  There is 
plenty to see at both these operations and also ample time 
to meet socially with your fellow growers.

Beiersdorfer Orchard

Bill Beiersdorfer grew up on a small orchard in southwest 
Ohio, and as a young man wanted to start his own orchard. The 
land there in Ohio was too expensive so in the mid 1960âs, he 
and his wife Hilda moved a few miles over the state line into 
Indiana, where they found more affordable land. He and his 
family have been successfully growing fruit near Guilford IN 
ever since. Their sons Russell and Jerry and grandson Jeremy 
are now also involved in the business.

 Last time we visited the Beiersdorfers was in 1997, and the 
discussion at that time centered around cider making and 
pasteurization. Although we wonât be concentrating on cider so 
much this time, we will still see their FTI press and 
Thermaline pasteurization system. Cider continues to be a good 
use for their off-grade fruit and an important part of their 
business, with cider making continuing almost year-round.

Beiersdorfer Orchard has seen a number of changes over recent 
years. They have recently completed a duplex for housing of 
migrant orchard workers with the help of a grant through HUD.  
Harvest labor and housing is a hot topic right now, so we will 
be visiting their duplex and discussing financial assistance 
that is available to farmers to help provide migrant worker 
housing. The Beiersdofers also recently completed a large 
storage building, which has concrete perma-columns, so that 
there is no timber in the ground.

Apples are the biggest crop grown at the farm, with about 50 
acres of over 15 varieties. Smaller acreages of other fruit 
crops are also grown. These include pears, peaches, sweet and 
tart cherries, and plums. The Beiersdorfers fared better than 
many growers this year, regarding the cold conditions in early 
April. Some varieties have quite light crops (Paulared, Gala, 
Cortland, McIntosh) while others look heavy and will require 
thinning (Red and Golden Delicious, Jonathan, Winesap). 

Their on site farm market is open year round, but only 
accounts for a relatively small proportion of their total 
sales. Markets and supermarkets mostly around the Cincinnati 
area are the major outlets for their fruit.

Directions to the Beiersdorfer Orchard:  
The Beiersdorfer Orchard is in Dearborn County and is located 
between Guilford and Yorkville just off the Guilford-York 
Ridge Road.  From Lawrenceburg, go north on SR#1, turn left 
and go through Guilford, go up over the hill west from 
Guilford a distance of 4 miles, turn left on Kuebel Road.  A 
Beiersdorfer Orchard sign is on the corner.  The orchard is 
the first farm on the left, 0.8 mile from the corner.

From the northwest, exit interstate 74 at the Sunman Exit 
(Route 101), go 2 miles south on SR 101 to Sunman.  In Sunman 
turn left (east) on North Dearborn Road.  (North Dearborn Road 
joins SR 101 right at the railroad crossing in Sunman.) Go to 
New Alsace (about 4 miles), then turn right on to York Ridge 
Rd. 3 miles to Yorkville, continue on York Ridge Road 1/2 mile 
to Kuebel Rd.

From the northeast, go south from Interstate 74 on SR 1, turn 
west on North Dearborn Rd. to New Alsace, turn left on York 
Ridge Rd. to Yorkville and on to Kuebel Rd.

 

Wesler Orchards and Farm Market

Wesler Orchards was established in 1930 in New Paris Ohio, 
less than a mile from the Indiana state line when Frank Wesler 
purchased the orchard from Mr. Martin, whom heâd worked for 
upon graduation from Purdue University. Frank, having 3 
children, was eager to build a family business. People always 
said to him, ãFrank youâll be able to grow the apples, but 
youâll never be able to sell them all.ä  Frank, and the rest 
of the family, proved them wrong, with the orchard still 
thriving 77 years later.  During the mid 60âs Frankâs children 
Duane, Meredith, and Beryl joined the business. Later Duane 
went into the dairy business, while Meredith and Beryl pursued 
the family orchard business with Frank. In the mid 70âs Frank 
had semi-retired from the business leaving Meredith and Beryl 
to manage the orchard and market: 60 acres in apples, 64,000 
chickens, with a few peaches and other fruits. During the 
early 80âs David (Berylâs oldest son) and Ron (Meredithâs 
youngest son) came into the family business. The four partners 
expanded the business in both the wholesale and retail 
markets. Today Ron and Jennifer Wesler with their 3 children 
own and operate the business. Although overall production has 
declined, the business is now more diversified than ever.

The last few years have seen unproductive and out of favor 
varieties such as Red Delicious and Romes aggressively 
removed. The Easter cold snap hit the orchard hard, with 
virtually all apple and peach production wiped out. This is 
the first year in the orchardâs 77 year history that apples 
have been a complete loss. The sale of fruit is mostly through 
their own on-farm market and to other farm markets. As well as 
apples and peaches, other crops grown include pears, 
blueberries, sweet and sour cherries, grapes, black and red 
raspberries, strawberries, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, and 
sweet corn. This year tomatoes, black and red raspberries, 
peppers and strawberries are being grown in a high tunnel for 
the first time. The high tunnel is likely to be of much 
interest to many growers. Cider is all flash pasteurized. 

Another innovation of recent years has been increased 
diversification into other products and a number of 
agritourism activities. These include the addition of a 
kitchen for the production of homemade pies, apple dumplings, 
and cookies and the sale of Amish furniture and crafts. 
Agritourism activities include school tours, a haunted house, 
a petting zoo, hayrides, bonfires, and a tubing hill.  The 
tubing hill uses 5 snow makers and has proved very popular 
from November to March. The hill has been contoured for both 
tubing and snowboarding, and is steep (Peter broke into a cold 
sweat when he thought Ron was going to drive him down it in 
his pickup!). 

Directions to the farm
From Beiersdorfer Orchard: North on Kuebel Rd, turn left on 
York Ridge Rd, then right at N Dearborn Rd. Left onto IN-1 
then left on US-52 at Cedar Grove. At Brookville, turn right 
(north) on IN-101 then onto US-27N at Liberty. In Richmond, go 
through the city on US 27Nand turn right at IN-121. Turn left 
at Porterfield Rd. Right at Smyrna, then left at the T 
junction with Wesler Rd to the orchard.

From the west: From I-70 W take exit 153, and go south on IN-
227 for about 500 feet then turn left onto Smyrna Rd. At the T 
junction with Wesler Rd turn left to the orchard.

If you are staying at a motel on US 40 east of Richmond, go 
East on US 40 about a mile into Ohio to Ohio 320, north to New 
Paris, about 2 miles.  Go through new Paris and turn left 
(west) on West Walnut St and follow Wesler Orchard signs to 
the orchard.

 

Motel Information:

The official motel of the meeting is the Quality Inn at 
Harrison, Ohio.  A block of rooms will be held for us until 
June 18, 2007. To make your reservation, call 513-367-5200. 
Mention ãHorticultural Societyä to obtain the special rate of 
$59 + tax.  The motel is located on I-74 at exit 1 in Ohio.

Other motels located close by are:
Comfort Inn, Phone 513-367-9666.
Holiday Inn Express, Phone 513-367-1111
(Note:  This is not intended to be a complete list or to imply 
endorsement of any of these establishments.)

Schedule

Monday, July 2:

Beiersdorfer Orchard, Guilford, IN
9:30 am	Coffee and registration
10:00 am	Welcome and Introductions
		Tour of market 
		Tour of facilities, including new migrant housing
12:00 pm	Lunch ö catered lunch.  Sign up and payment due with 
on-site registration.
12:45 pm	Update on immigration and labor issues.  John 
Wargowsky, MAAHS. 
1:30 pm	IHS business meeting
2:00 pm	Field tour
5:00 pm	Conclude field tour
5:30 pm	Dinner ö cookout at the farm
		Roundtable (informal) discussion and fellowship

Tuesday July 3:

Wesler Orchards, New Paris, OH
9:30 am	Coffee and registration
10:00 am	Welcome and Introductions
		Tour of market facilities and high tunnel production
12:00 pm	Lunch ö catered lunch. Sign up and payment due with 
on-site registration.
1:00 pm	Field tour
3:00 pm	Conclude and adjourn.  Have a safe trip home!

Registration Information:
Registration cost will be $3.00 per person for both days 
(includes drinks and other incidentals)
Lunch Monday will be catered for a nominal cost.
Monday evening will feature a cookout at the orchard for $5.00 
Lunch Tuesday will be catered (pulled pork Barbeque with the 
trimmings for $9.50.)

While membership in the Indiana Horticultural Society is 
encouraged, it is not required. All interested fruit growers 
are invited to attend these tours without regard to membership 
in the Society.  Growers in Ohio and Kentucky and other states 
are welcome.

Safe-Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match 
Letter:  The Department of Homeland Security announced 
April 30 in its semi-annual regulatory agenda that it plans 
to publish the final Safe Harbor. DHS announced the 
proposed rule on June 14, 2006. The recent notice states 
that the final rule will become effective in May 2007. 
MAAHS will keep its members informed of details of the 
final rule. 

Abstract of the soon to be published final rule: The Bureau 
of Immigration and Customs Enforcement hereby amends the 
regulations relating to the unlawful hiring or continued 
employment of unauthorized aliens. The rule adds two more 
examples of situations that may lead to a finding that an 
employer has constructive knowledge that an employee is an 
unauthorized alien. These additional two examples involve 
an employer's failing to take reasonable steps in response 
to one or the other of two events: (1) The employer 
receives written notice from the Social Security 
Administration (SSA) that the name and social security 
account number submitted for an employee do not match SSA 
records; or (2) the employer receives written notice from 
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that the 
immigration- status or employment-authorization 
documentation presented or referenced by the employee in 
completing Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, 
was not assigned to the employee according to DHS records.
The rule also describes steps that DHS considers to be a 
reasonable response, and clarifies that whether DHS will 
find that an employer had constructive knowledge that an 
employee was an unauthorized alien will depend on the 
totality of relevant circumstances. The rule describes 
ãSafe Harborä procedures an employer can follow in response 
to such a letter to be certain that DHS will not use the 
letter as part of an allegation that the employer had 
constructive knowledge that the employee referred to in the 
letter was an alien not authorized to work in the United 
States. The purpose of this rule is to clarify an 
employer's obligations and options when it receives a no-
match letter, either from SSA or DHS. (John Wargowsky, 
MAAHS)

Freeze Impacts Indiana Fruit Crops:  Michael A. Alston, 
Director of the Springfield Regional Office of the Risk 
Management Agency (RMA), reminds perennial crop producers with 
crop insurance to be aware of their responsibilities for 
reporting crop damage according to their policies.  

ãGiven recent weather events, including abnormally low 
temperatures in many areas of the Midwest, itâs important for 
perennial crop producers to monitor their crops and report any 
damage to their crop insurance agents,ä said Alston.  ãThe 
weather during this yearâs early growing season has been very 
cold with freezing precipitation and may result in crop damage 
in some areas.  The safety net of crop insurance can help 
producers to mitigate their risk.ä  

Producers should notify their crop insurance agents as soon as 
they suspect they have an insured cause of loss.  Regarding 
production intended to be sold by direct marketing, such as 
farmerâs markets and u-pick, notification must be given to 
crop insurance agents at least 15 days before the crop will be 
sold.  Producers who intend to claim an indemnity must notify 
their agents at least 15 days prior to the beginning of 
harvest, or immediately if damage is discovered during 
harvest.  The damaged crop may not be sold or disposed of 
until after the insurance provider has given written 
permission.  If the crop will not be harvested, producers must 
notify their agents at least 3 days before harvest should have 
started.  A crop appraisal is used when calculating a claim 
for unharvested acreage and to establish production when sold 
in direct marketing.

Perennial crops insured by the Springfield Regional Office in 
the state of Indiana include apples, peaches, and grapes.  

Mr. Alston reminds producers to discuss crop losses with their 
crop insurance agents.  For more information, please visit the 
RMA website at www.rma.usda.gov.  (Crop insurance update, 
RMA/USDA)

Indiana Crop Insurance Profile: 
Insurance plans available in Indiana

Insurable Crops	Insured acres	Total acres	% insured
Apples		719		4000		18%
Corn		3,747,646	5,500,000	68%
Grapes		92		NA		NA
Peaches		145		NA		NA
Soybeans	3,839,814	5,700,000	67%
Tomatoes	4,848		136,000		4%
(Crop insurance update, RMA/USDA



ãMinorä Pests of Apples: All apple growers know that the 
major pests of apples are plum curculio, codling moth, 
European red mite, and, to a lesser extent, apple maggot. 
We talk a lot about how to control mites and most of our 
cover sprays are directed at the other three pests. 
However, it is not uncommon to have serious infestations of 
several other pests, including aphids, leafhoppers, and 
spotted tentiform leafminers. In the past, when we 
discovered a damaging infestation of one of these pests, we 
had to apply an insecticide specifically for that pest, 
because our most common cover spray insecticides, Imidan 
and Guthion, are not effective against them. However, some 
of our newer insecticides will not only control plum 
curculio and codling moth, but will do an excellent job 
controlling aphids, leafhoppers, and leafminer larvae. My 
colleagues in surrounding states and I have several years 
of experience with Assail and Calypso, and a little 
experience with Clutch. These products have proven to be 
effective against a wide variety of pests. If you discover 
an infestation of aphids, leafhoppers, or leafminers that 
needs attention, you should consider using one of these 
products for your next cover spray. On page 12 of the 2007 
Midwest Commercial Tree Fruit Spray Guide is an efficacy 
chart that shows, to the best of our knowledge and 
experience, how we would expect all the available 
insecticides to work against all the pests on apples. 
Consult this table to determine the range of insect pests 
that your insecticide will control. (Foster)


Scab Resistance Breakdown: In Indiana, the Midwest, and 
most of the United States, apple scab is the most important 
disease of apples. For this reason, plant breeding 
programs, like the PRI collaborative program between Purdue 
University, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 
and the University of Illinois, developed scab resistant 
apple cultivars like Williamsâ Pride, Enterprise, Prima, 
Priscilla, and GoldRush. These cultivars were developed by 
breeding resistance from Malus floribunda 821 into 
commercial cultivars with high fruit quality to produce 
high quality eating apples with scab resistance. Since 
1970, approximately 80% of the scab-resistant cultivars 
that have been released worldwide purportedly carry the Vf 
gene from M. floribunda 821, with very few cultivars 
carrying other sources of resistance.  In 1993, scab 
lesions were found on ÎPrimaâ, a Vf- selection in an 
orchard in Germany (Parisi et al. 1993). Although ÎPrimaâ 
was now susceptible to this race of scab, these isolates 
were not able to infect the resistant parent M. floribunda 
821. These isolates were designated Race 6. One year later, 
inocula from an unlabeled M. floribunda was found capable 
of infecting M. floribunda 821, thereby identifying a new 
race of the pathogen, Race 7 (Roberts and Crute 1994).
 
Back in North America, we still only had five races of 
scab, none of which could infect our scab resistant apples. 
However, in a pathogen like scab, it was only a matter of 
time until new races would be identified. On May 18, 2007, 
Ryan Deford and I found scab on Malus floribunda 821 in the 
Old Hort Farm. Subsequent searches on resistant varieties 
like ÎWilliamsâ Prideâ, ÎEnterpriseâ, ÎPrimaâ, ÎPriscillaâ, 
ÎScarlett OâHaraâ, and ÎGoldRushâ has NOT revealed scab on 
these cultivars to date. This would strongly suggest that 
Race 7, but not Race 6 is present in this orchard. Further 
work is currently underway to confirm this in the 
laboratory.

Nationally and internationally there is no doubt about the 
economic importance of reliably scab-resistant apple 
cultivars in both organic, and sustainable apple 
production. With the majority of resistant cultivars 
possessing single gene scab resistance from M. floribunda 
or M. floribunda Î821â (Vf) weâve created a situation where 
ãall of our eggs are in only one basket.ä  The reliance of 
on a single Vf- gene for resistance in apples that are 
cultivated worldwide places tremendous pressure on the 
pathogen, and a likelihood that this gene would fail and 
infection would occur. This is evolution at work. 

What does this mean for growers? In the absence of any 
spray, as is the case at the Old Hort Farm, the scab 
infection on M. floribunda 821 is significant in one of the 
driest years on record. The question regarding how 
widespread Vf breakdown is remains to be seen, but I have 
identified a scab-infected M. floribunda in Ohio that was 
previously reported as resistant for over thirty years. 
These two findings in two different states suggest that 
Race 7 is widespread, and not an isolated occurrence in 
Indiana. 

What does this mean for the future of scab resistant 
apples? In looking to Europe, where theyâve dealt with this 
issue for almost 20 years, itâs important to note that a 
few Vf-resistant cultivars (ÎGoldRushâ, ÎReandaâ, ÎRegineâ, 
ÎRenoraâ, ÎResiâ, ÎRewenaâ and Î Enterpriseâ) remain 
uninfected and show clear resistance reactions to Race 6. 
To date, cultivars like Nova EasyGro, with another 
resistance gene, called Vr, derived from Malus pumila ÎR 12 
740 7Aâ have never shown any scab symptoms, whereas 
cultivars crossed with Va resistance from ÎAntonovkaâ have 
only lightly sporulating lesions occasionally reported. 
Additional good news: The spread of Race 6 and 7 has not 
been rapid: In fact, in several locations in southern 
Germany, Vf-resistant cultivars remained free of infection, 
despite susceptibility of M. floribunda in regional apple 
genebanks. The various scab occurrences are presumably 
based on different race spectra in each location, including 
Race 6 in northern Germany and Race 7 in southern Great 
Britain. In other locations, the race spectrum is still 
being investigated. Races 1ö5 are not yet able to break the 
scab resistance of Vf cultivars. 

I would state that as of right now, the other shoe hasnât 
dropped÷yet. However, for organic or sustainable apple 
production, it is essential to rigorously apply fungicides 
to prevent primary infection during key scab periods when 
the weather is cool and wet weather while the tissue is 
young and susceptible to infection. The simple, but 
conscientious application of one to three sprays to prevent 
primary infection in the spring should keep resistant 
cultivars free of scab for the entire season. To date, 
these minimal, or organic practices to control other 
diseases like powdery mildew and and cedar-apple rust may 
have contributed to the preservation of scab resistance in 
these lines. This is the ãglass is half fullä view.  
Alternatively, the apples at the old Hort Farm, or Meigâs, 
or areas surrounding known Race 7 infections, may have only 
escaped disease, and that scab is a matter of time, and 
that the time will be sooner rather than later.  This would 
be the ãglass is half emptyä view.  Being a pragmatist, I 
suggest we agree the glass has water in it, and keep an eye 
on things. (Beckerman)