Autumn officially begins on Sept. 23, and Washington State University Tree Fruit Research Extension Center (TFREC) in Wenatchee is already digging into apples.

Faculty, researchers and graduate students alike are trying to get to the core of apple anthracnose, perennial cankers and bull’s-eye rot, among other post-harvest issues.

As part of this goal, Jim McFerson has been appointed as director of TFREC. The director position is new and will provide additional managerial assistance in responsive research and other related projects.

McFerson’s role will divide his work between two separate places.

Thirty-five percent of his time will be dedicated to his position as the manager of the Washington Tree Fruit Commission, McFerson said, which he held before receiving his most recent title. The other 65 percent of his time will be committed to his new role as director at the extension center, he said.

The center employs more than 50 people, which is composed of a full-time staff, graduate students and undergraduate interns.

Positions offered provide students with opportunities to work alongside researchers, learn more about sustainability and relationships with growers and consumers, and learn more about the science behind tree fruit.

“The most exciting and energizing aspect is the culmination of different disciplines in this field of research,” McFerson said.

The Wenatchee extension is unique in regards to the fact that faculty and students are able to explore all aspects of scientific research while also interacting closely with consumers and buyers, he said. Because of this, there is much interaction with other extension centers in Washington.

Carol Miles, a professor in the department of horticulture at WSU Mount Vernon’s Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center [NWREC], will be taking two of her graduate students to the Wenatchee extension on Friday, Sept. 11.

Miles’ research focuses primarily on issues with vegetables primarily, but does touch on other select products.

“If it is a commercial crop, we work on it,” Miles said.

One of these products is cider apples, she said, and the information available through the Wenatchee extension can benefit work being done at the Mount Vernon extension.

Whitney Garton, one of the two graduate students traveling with Carol Miles, is new to the Mount Vernon extension. Her primary focus is apple anthracnose. She is excited for her visit because of the research being done on it in Wenatchee.

Anthracnose is the largest killer of apple trees in Washington and other areas throughout the Pacific Northwest, she said. While the disease is not severe on the east side of the state, it is a significant problem on the west side.

The disease cannot be controlled completely, but the goal for researchers currently studying the disease is to find a way to at least manage it.

While in Wenatchee, Garton will be working with Mark Mozolla. Utilizing the labs he has available, they will try to isolate the pathogen which causes the detrimental disease.

Growers experience significant loss when their crops are affected by the disease, she said. It is challenging, if not impossible, to find evidence of the disease before it has nearly destroyed a tree or entire crop.

Even early detection solutions carry their own problems. There are instances when entire trees are removed, she said.

The other tree fruit-related disease receiving significant attention is the perennial canker.

A series of rings that can become large enough to kill scaffold limbs, the perennial canker destroys on the east side of the state what anthracnose destroys on the west side of the state.

McFerson believes that by establishing a knowledge base at the center that acts as a resource for growers and consumers, growers can make educated decisions regarding their crops.

With his experience now at the Tree Fruit Research Center in Wenatchee, McFerson hopes that this goal can be reached.