Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/590163
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER NOVEMBER 2015 41 Amiri also hopes to develop predictive models to help growers use management strategies based on the risk of infection. A model could also help producers develop marketing strategies based on the risk that the fruit will develop diseases. "If they know there's a high risk with a lot, they can market it differently from a lot that has a lower risk of disease development," he said, noting that this would be a long-term project. "It takes a long time to develop the model and implement it and make sure it's reliable before we recommend it to growers and packers." Amiri was previously with the University of Florida, where he worked for four years on fungicide resis - tance and predictive models for disease control in strawberries. He grew up in Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria, in an area where citrus, olives, and cherries were grown. He earned a master's degree in plant pathology from Gembloux University in Belgium, where he studied postharvest diseases of citrus in collaboration with universities in North Africa. He earned his doctorate in plant pathology at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, France, where he studied pome fruit diseases, such as blue mold in apples. In 2006, he took a postdoctoral position at Clemson University in South Carolina, where he worked on diseases of peaches and nectarines, including brown rot and armillaria root rot. He joined WSU September 1. His position is 70 percent research and 30 percent extension. • Leadership change at WSU Mount Vernon C had Kruger is the new director for the Washington State University Mount Vernon Northwestern Research and Extension Center. Kruger will continue to lead the statewide WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources ( C S A N R ) , b a s e d i n W e n a t c h e e , Washington. A new assistant director position has been created at CSANR to oversee activities that Kruger will set aside. "Chad's leader- ship and expertise in sustainable agricul- ture is an excellent fit for the research and extension programs at Mount Vernon," Rich Koenig, director of WSU Extension, said in a statement. Kruger says he plans to build on NWREC's existing success, as well as expand research into regional concerns, including soil health, water quality and quantity, and dairy management. "I want to ensure that the productive capac- ity of faculty, staff and students here is solid," Kruger says. "I'll be looking for opportunities to build and increase the capacity of the current programs." Kruger assumed his new role August 17. He succeeds Steve Jones, who left the position ear- lier this year to direct the Mount Vernon Bread Lab and oversee its new research facility. Chad Kruger SEAFOOD FOR THE SOIL SEAFOOD FOR THE SOIL I have been impressed by my cherry orchard's response to Paci c Gro's hydrolysate. Regular feeding of the product by foliar and fertigation during the season has pro- moted vigorous branch and root growth, increased fruit size a half to full row, made fruit signi cantly rmer and also helped trees recover from a devastating freeze this past winter. I have found that post-harvest feedings, which we apply up to leaf drop, are of critical importance to improving next year's crop. One surprising thing we have found that really excites us is that powdery mildew was signi cantly reduced in our orchards after we started using Pacific Gro's hydrolysate - even in highly susceptible varieties like Sweetheart. Mike Omeg, The Dalles, Oregon Feed the soil a bio-active nutrient package from the Paci c Ocean! Liquid Oceanic Fertilizer is a cold processed hydrolysate of sh, shrimp and crab that's high in plant available calcium and chitin as well as the whole range of nutrients found in ocean sh and shell sh. CREATIVE AG PRODUC TS • w w w. p a c i f i c g ro. c o m • 503 867-4849