The Northern Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project will be one of the three tours offered during the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center's annual field day scheduled for July 16.
Field day events begin at 9 a.m. with a welcome from center director Blaine Schatz and the introduction of guests and speakers. Tours will begin at 9:30a.m. and 1 p.m. Lunch will be served at noon. No preregistration is needed.
The Northern Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project field tour starts at 9:30 a.m. Kathy Wiederholt, Carrington Research Extension Center fruit project manager, will lead the tour of the center's fruit orchard.
The featured speaker for that tour is Tom Kalb, NDSU Extension horticulture specialist. Kalb's topic is "Growing Apples in North Dakota." He'll discuss how to select varieties as well as how to prune, mulch and fertilize trees. He also will discuss how to protect fruit from diseases and insect pests.
Kalb was raised on a family farm in Minnesota that has grown and sold apples for 40 years.
A 1 p.m. presentation by Jared LeBoldus, NDSU assistant professor and Extension plant pathologist, will cover diseases of apple trees and methods home gardeners can use to help their trees overcome these problems.
The Northern Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project was established in 2006 to introduce and demonstrate alternative, economically viable fruits that will grow in NorthDakota. The project features grape, black currant and Juneberry variety trials as well as demonstration plantings of University of Saskatchewan cherries and haskaps; apples; aronia; red, black and white currants; elderberries; gooseberries; honeyberries and plums.
The Carrington Research Extension Center's livestock and crop tours also beginat 9:30 a.m. A second crop tour will be held after lunch.
For more information on the fruit, livestock or crop tours that are part of this year's field day, contact the Carrington Research Extension Center at 701-652-2951 or visit www.ag.ndsu.edu/CarringtonREC.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.
