Better Apples through Mindful Management
Vermont apple growers understand that you want the freshest, healthiest apples you can get. That’s why we employ Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM methods take advantage of our knowledge about pests and how they behave. In many cases, we can prevent pest invasions by taking simple actions like setting out sticky traps and dispersing pheromones to disrupt insect mating. By monitoring rainfall and relative humidity, we can even tell if an infection period is imminent.
With IPM, we apply pesticides only when necessary, and we use as little as possible. All this is good for your family—and for the environment. And since pesticides are expensive to purchase and apply, IPM is good for growers, too!
Our Growers Use NEWA
Cornell University’s Network for Environmental and Weather Applications (NEWA) is one of the best tools IPM tools available. It allows growers and scientists to closely monitor such important factors such as rainfall, growing degree-days and temperature. Crop scientists at Cornell and the University of Vermont also support our growers by providing them with timely information about new growing tools and techniques.
