The Cornell Cooperative Extension Lake Ontario Fruit team invites you to join our organization; you must be enrolled to benefit from the expertise of our Specialists. Enrollment in a partner county will provide a subscription to our newsletter, Fruit Notes, and access to Fruit Facts (the more time sensitive reminders for pest management and horticultural practices) and the Harvest Maturity subscription will provide you with apple ripening index measurements to help time harvest of apples by variety. We can also do farm visits to troubleshoot problems or evaluate situations.

In 2023, our program will be supported, in part, by 5 county Cornell Cooperative Extensions: Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Oswego and Wayne Counties. If you have not been enrolled in our program before, and are farming or living in one of these counties, you can click on the county listed above and contact them to find out how to enroll. Renewals of current enrollees are different for each county, they range from January through the end of March.

However, we still welcome those that farm or conduct agricultural services in other counties outside of Niagara, Orleans, Oswego, Monroe and Wayne Counties to enroll in our program (Satellite Enrollment). The Satellite enrollment will also provide a subscription to our newsletter, Fruit Notes, and access to Fruit Facts and the Harvest Maturity subscription. However, we must continue to respect the major supporting role of the partner counties who continue to support the cost of the program overall. Therefore, the growers who enroll through the Satellite program can only access specialists on the team for consultation by phone, fax, or email. Unfortunately, specialists will not be able to do on-farm visits or applied research out of the partner counties. But there is a lot we can do electronically through communication technology these days! If you would like to become a member of our program through our Satellite enrollment you can enroll by printing and mailing the Satellite PDF Enrollment form below, or simply enroll online with a credit card in the form below.

For general enrollment questions or to learn more about the benefits or enrolling in the Lake Ontario Fruit Program? Contact Team Leader Craig Kahlke at 585-735-5448, or cjk37@cornell.edu.

LOF Enrollment Form - Satellite (PDF; 267KB)

Fire Blight Informational Webinar Series

March 15, 2023 : Using biopesticides to help control fire blight

June 13, 2023 : Pruning and sanitation strategies to reduce fire blight

October 18, 2023 : Using weather and environmental conditions to optimize biologicals and biopesticides for bloom produ