Protecting Apple Trees from Climate Change

01Researchers in the U.S.

02state of Michigan are looking for ways to help apple trees survive bad weather.

03To do this, one researcher plans to use a late bloomer.

04The late-blooming tree is a native Michigan apple tree known by the scientific name Malus coronaria.

05To fight freezing temperatures, the tree blooms two or three weeks later than trees that produce cultivated varieties of apples, like Honeycrisp or Red Delicious.

06That doesn't sound like a lot, but almost always that's enough for the flowers to escape the killing spring frost, said Steve Van Nocker.

07He is a professor and plant geneticist at Michigan State University.

08Van Nocker wants to identify the genes responsible for the Malus coronaria's delayed blooms.

09Then he will use those genes to develop more frost-resistant apple varieties.

10Van Nocker's project is one of many ways researchers and growers are trying to make apples more resilient.

11They say this is important because of climate change.

12Other researchers are making similar efforts.

13Jared Bono is the director of Cornell University's Hudson Valley Research Laboratory in New York State.

14Bono's lab is adding solar panels to its experimental orchard.

15He said growers are experimenting with solar panels in Europe and South Korea.

16The panels protect fruit from hail and sun damage, but also let in light and heat when necessary.

17University of Maryland researchers recently announced the development of a more heat-tolerant apple variety.

18At Penn State University in Pennsylvania, a team built an unmanned vehicle that uses propane fuel to warm trees as it moves around an orchard.

19Bono said these efforts can ease the effects of bad weather.

20On May 18, 2023, frost damaged trees across New York State and cut apple production by 20%.

21A recent Washington State University study examined weather in apple growing areas from 1979 to 2022.

22It said the top apple producing states of Washington, Michigan, and New York reported fewer cold days and more warm fall nights than they used to.

23Washington State also has reported more extreme heat.

24The study said warming temperatures could cause trees to come out of dormancy too early and increase the risk of sunburn.

25This hurts the quality of apples.

26Malus coronaria is also called sweet crabapple.

27It was once so common in Michigan that its blossoms were named the state flower in 1897.

28But, Van Acker said it appears to be disappearing.

29The trees that remain often produce little new growth or fruit.

30Van Acker and graduate student Lily Christian recently took cuttings from some trees.

31They will test them to make sure they are fully Malus coronaria and not a hybrid variety.

32Then the cuttings will be grafted onto apple root stock.

33They hope to get healthy trees using this method.

34Their goal is to identify the genes that cause late blooming and create a variety of apple that can be sold in markets.

35Van Acker is also sending seeds to the U.S.

36Department of Agriculture.

37If the tree continues to disappear, he hopes to save its genes this way.

38Making a later-blooming commercial apple could take more than 10 years.

39If a Malus coronaria is crossbred with a commercial apple tree to make a new hybrid, it would take four or five years for that tree to start producing apples.

40Crossbreeding would continue until researchers developed an apple with the desired qualities of both varieties.

41But Van Acker said it is important to try.

42With climate change, it's quite possible that apples won't be able to be produced in Michigan in the future, he said.

43That's why cultivar improvement, especially in terms of frost resistance, is so important.

44I'm Anna Mateo.