We’ve had a beautiful hot week of sunshine in Central Washington! ☀️ 4th Generation Apple and Pear Grower Kaitlyn Thornton teaches how growers protect pears during high temperatures.🍐
Video Transcript:
“What in the world is this white stuff all over these pears! Hey, my name is Kaitlin Thornton. I’m a fourth generation apple and pear grower from up in north central Washington. Now I know that this white stuff seems pretty crazy, it’s pretty scary. But I can assure you it is really good for the tree and it’s really good for the fruit! As farmers we look at our pieces of fruit like they are our kids we want to make sure that they’re protected throughout the season, whether it is rough weather that they’re gonna see or predators like bad insects that they’re gonna see. So this time of year we are gearing up for a week of over 100 degree weather. We’re going to see heat stress and we’re going to see sunburn. To protect these fruit against the heat damage we apply diffusion which is that white stuff. This is a calcium carbonate so it’s going to act as if it was a sunblock like you put on your kids. It’s going to help prevent sunburn and then it also energizes the tree and helps prevent against heat stress. So hopefully you learned a little something about pear farming and let’s hope that these little guys make it through the heatwave that’s coming and on to harvest.”
