Dr. Chin-Feng Hwang has joined us this month. He came from UC Davis in California, where he was working on the genetics of resistance to the dagger nematode in grapes. His main work here will be in grape breeding, and the first thing he will do is cross the disease resistant Norton grape with the disease susceptible Cabernet Sauvignon grape. He will grow lots of offspring from … [Read more...] about New member of the Grape Genetics lab
The Mid-America Strawberry Growers Conference was held yesterday and was hosted by the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station and Simpson's Family Farm. Jim Goodson and Wayne Simpson presented information to the 53 attendees and the group visited Simpson's Family Farm after lunch. … [Read more...] about Mid-America Strawberry Growers
The first flowers in the spring are always the most exciting ones. This year the first snow crocus opened it's flower on a sunny (yes, there were a few!) day in the middle of January. Then more appeared. Oddly only yellow flowers appeared at first, now finally also some purple ones. If anyone has an idea why the flower color seems to matter, let me know! Photo will follow when … [Read more...] about Spring Flowers
For the samples collected today. Cultivar °Brix pH TA Chambourcin bc 23.6 3.37 0.859 Chambourcin gdc 22.8 3.34 0.952 Catawba - West 18.4 3.12 1.282 … [Read more...] about Grape juice chemistry