The St Louis Metro East region has been so dry the last several months that it was rather bittersweet for the St Louis Metro East to receive a 3” rain event on one of the biggest fall agritourism weekends. On the one hand, the entire landscape was in desperate need of rain, but on the other hand was an overall loss of revenue for an important Saturday of agritourism events and sales. Prior to the rain event, the entire region was in severe drought status according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Apple harvest is in the ‘Evercrisp’ and ‘Granny Smith’ window, with ‘Goldrush’ and ‘Cripps Pink’ yet to finish out the season. Pumpkins are still plentiful, and the hope is dry weather will prevail through the remainder of the fall agritourism season.
Notice to commercial fruit growers: there will be a newly revised 2026-2027 Midwest Fruit Pest Management Guide. For those not attending a winter program in Illinois, where this guide is traditionally part of the registration, it will also be available starting early January from the Purdue Extension Education Store as a downloadable ready-to-print version. An option to buy a bound copy will be available as well.