Protecting Apple Trees from Climate Change - January 31, 2025

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1. 0:00Researchers in the U.S.
2. 0:03state of Michigan are looking for ways to help apple trees survive bad weather.
3. 0:11To do this, one researcher plans to use a late bloomer.
4. 0:18The late blooming tree is a native Michigan apple tree known by the scientific name Malus coronaria.
5. 0:27To fight freezing temperatures,
6. 0:31the tree blooms two or three weeks later than trees that produce cultivated varieties of apples,
7. 0:40like Honeycrisp or Red Delicious.
8. 0:45That doesn't sound like a lot, but almost always that's enough for the flowers
9. 0:51to escape the killing spring frost," said Steve Van Nocker.
10. 0:58He is a professor and plant geneticist at Michigan State University.
11. 1:06Van Nocker wants to identify the genes responsible for the malice coronaria's delayed blooms.
12. 1:14Then he will use those genes to develop more frost-resistant apple varieties.
13. 1:24Vinokar's project is one of many ways researchers and growers are trying to make apples more resilient.
14. 1:34They say this is important because of climate change.
15. 1:38Other researchers are making similar efforts.
16. 1:45Jared Bono is the director of Cornell University's Hudson Valley Research Laboratory
17. 1:53in New York State.
18. 1:56Bono's lab is adding solar panels to its experimental orchard.
19. 2:01He said growers are experimenting with solar panels in Europe and South Korea.
20. 2:12The panels protect fruit from hail and sun damage,
21. 2:17but also let in light and heat when necessary.
22. 2:23University of Maryland researchers recently announced the development of a more heat-tolerant apple variety.
23. 2:33At Penn State University in Pennsylvania,
24. 2:37a team built an unmanned vehicle
25. 2:40that uses propane fuel to warm trees as it moves around an orchard.
26. 2:48Bono said these efforts can ease the effects of bad weather.
27. 2:52On May 18, 2023,
28. 2:57frost damaged trees across New York State and cut apple production by 20 percent.
29. 3:06A recent Washington State University study examined weather
30. 3:11in apple-growing areas from 1979 to 2022.
31. 3:17too. It said the top apple-producing states of Washington, Michigan,
32. 3:24and New York reported fewer cold days and more warm fall nights than they used to.
33. 3:34Washington State also has reported more extreme heat.
34. 3:40The study said warming temperatures could cause trees to come out of dormancy too early,
35. 3:48and increase the risk of sunburn.
36. 3:53This hurts the quality of apples.
37. 3:57Malus coronaria is also called sweet crabapple.
38. 4:02It was once so common in Michigan that its blossoms were named the state flower in 1897.
39. 4:107. But Van Ocker said it appears to be disappearing.
40. 4:17The trees that remain often produce little new growth or fruit.
41. 4:24Van Ocker and graduate student Lily Christian recently took cuttings from some trees.
42. 4:32They will test them to make sure they are fully malice coronaria and not a hybrid variety.
43. 4:41Then, the cuttings will be grafted onto apple root stock.
44. 4:47They hope to get healthy trees using this method.
45. 4:51Their goal is to identify the genes that cause late blooming,
46. 4:57and create a variety of apple that can be sold in markets.
47. 5:03Vennacher is also sending seeds to the U.S.
48. 5:07Department of Agriculture.
49. 5:10If the tree continues to disappear, he hopes to save its genes this way.
50. 5:17Making a later blooming commercial apple could take more than ten years.
51. 5:24If a malice coronaria is crossbred with a commercial apple tree to make a new hybrid,
52. 5:31It would take four or five years for that tree to start producing apples.
53. 5:39Crossbreeding would continue until researchers developed an apple with the desired qualities of both varieties.
54. 5:49But Van Ocker said it is important to try.
55. 5:53With climate change, it's quite possible that apples won't be able to be produced in Michigan in the future,
56. 6:01he said. That's why cultivar improvement,
57. 6:06especially in terms of frost resistance, is so important.
58. 6:12I'm Anna Mateo.