approximately 2,800 for the three-month period April 

 through June. 



A press release on June 04, 2003 resulted in articles 

 appearing in at least two newspapers about this project. 

 They mcluded: 'Grant application bears fruit: New 

 Weather station will provide data for area growers,' 

 Tlie Berkshire Eagle, June 26, 2003; 'The fruit of his 

 labors: Brooksby Farms teams up with UMass to 

 improve apple growing,' Gloucester Daily Times, 

 August 27, 2003. 



All six cooperating growers now have functionmg 

 orchard weather monitormg stations mstalled that can 

 be used in upcoming growing seasons. They also have 

 personal computer software to download and store the 

 weather data collected by the stations, as well as disease 

 and insect models. All growers expressed an interest 

 in continuing to collect and use orchard environmental 

 data from the weather instruments in upcoming 

 growing seasons. 



Conclusion 



The objectives of this project were met. To 

 summarize; 



1 . Six on-site weather stations were easily established 

 in grower orchards. Growers used models 

 minimally to help assess scab infection periods and 

 time fungicide sprays. The Limitations encountered 

 were occasional weather station/computer software 

 interface problems and lack of time during a busy 

 period for orchard activities to analyze fully all 

 the information available for decision-making. 



2. Weather and apple scab infection period 

 information from these orchards were posted on 

 the Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association web 

 site for neighboring growers access and use in 

 helping them make fungicide application decisions. 

 It is unclear, however, how much this information 

 was used by neighboring growers. A better 

 approach would be to encourage growers to 

 purchase their own weather stations. 



3. SkyBit E-Weather information was used by 

 cooperating growers in decision-making, although 

 the consensus appears to favor the use of on-site 

 weather stations for this purpose. A thorough 

 comparison of SkyBit E-Weather model output vs. 

 on-site weather stations still needs to be done; 

 however, it may be irrelevant, as grower preference 



Fruit Notes, Volume 69, Summer, 2004 



