How UFOs can improve sweet cherry production
Thursday, October 13, 2016 - 12:01
in Mathematics & Economics
Sweet cherry growers must address many challenges to producing marketable crops, including high labor costs, pests, diseases, rain-induced cracking, and bird damage. The authors of a new study (HortScience, August 2016) say that high-density tree training systems can help growers make sweet cherry production more efficient and reduce pesticide use. Tiffany Law and Gregory Lang, from the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University, evaluated the first-year establishment of upright fruiting offshoots (UFO) of sweet cherry trees, and determined effective practices that they say can increase grower's success.