![At the soil health station, attendees listened as Tracey Somera, a research plant pathologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, discussed nematodes’ role in replant disease during Washington State University’s tree fruit research field day in Rock Island on Aug. 6. (Kate Prengaman/Good Fruit Grower)](https://www.goodfruit.com/wp-content/uploads/SunriseFieldDay-0655kp.jpg)
From soil health for new plants to postharvest quality analysis, scientists based at Washington State University’s Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center and their colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture lab in Wenatchee have a lot of research going on.
They gathered at WSU’s Sunrise Research Orchard on Aug. 6 to share the latest research updates with the industry in a rapid-fire field day featuring rootstock and pruning trials, powdery mildew control, apple and pear pest management, and soil health.
The soil health project is one of the newest plantings at the research farm and was established last year with support from the state’s Soil Health Initiative. The goals of the project are to look at drought, soilborne disease, compaction and fruit quality and production, said Jessica Waite, a USDA scientist and collaborator on the project.
The Honeycrisp trial compares growers’ standard management to a mulch treatment; a high-carbon treatment with compost and mow-and-blow applications; and an organic, high-carbon treatment.
“We’re trying to look at the whole picture,” said project lead Tianna DuPont of WSU.
At the horticultural station in the field day rotation, attendees toured a Granny Smith rootstock trial to see how the latest Geneva rootstock releases performed with the variety in Washington. They also saw a WA 38 trial that assessed the best pruning approaches and rootstock selections to minimize blind wood.
Pest management talks featured updates on codling moth monitoring research that aims to understand how the catch in different traps and lures relates to population pressure under the presence of mating disruption, along with updates on research into controlling the leafhoppers that spread X disease in cherries.
—by Kate Prengaman
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