Grower replants peaches after virus eradication

Mark Rice demonstrates a device for thinning peaches that was adapted from an old cherry harvester. He’s still trying to improve on it. Photo by Geraldine Warner R&L Orchards in Pennsylvania had 200 acres of peaches producing 50,000 bushels annually a decade ago. Then along came plum pox virus. The virus, previously unknown in North America, showed up in orchards in Pennsylvania in 1999. Many hundreds of acres of orchards in the state were removed in an effort to eradicate it. The virus was reported in eastern Europe almost a century ago and has spread throughout Europe. Quarantine zone Since 2000, […]