It was great to see many of you at the start of June at the Summer Hort Field Day up north at Jonamac Orchards. One of the takeaways I always enjoy from this event is the growers report, highlighting some of the challenges that growers have faced this winter and spring and the differences that we hear about. A row of u-pick apple trees at Jonamac Orchard shows their methods of trellising, irrigation, and weed management (photo credit: G. McCarty Illinois Extension 2024).
As of the week of June 17, we are in the middle of strawberry u-pick. The crop looks really good for our farms this year due to the plentiful rain we experienced in May. Rhubarb and asparagus has concluded for the season. Pumpkins were direct-seeded this week and last at many of our farms. The end of the week, June 22, some of the orchards will have tart cherries available for u-pick. This crop also looks very good too.
I visited a number of orchards in Jo Daviess county (Galena and Elizabeth) the week of June 10th. For the most part, we are not seeing too much losses in crop load nor winter damage. This varies considerably in other northern Illinois orchards as you make your way east towards orchards in the Rockford-McHenry region that have reported losses due to spring weather. If you are familiar with Jo Daviess county, the topography can play a considerable role here in both providing protection or leading to challenges when spring weather is of concern.
