Amateur gardeners looking to sweeten their diets or supplement their income can find helpful information at a new World Wide Web site produced by the college. “Small-Scale Fruit Production” (http://ssfruit.cas.psu.edu) offers gardeners and horticulturists detailed advice and instruction for growing apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, and other fruits. The site, adapted from the 161-page Penn State publication Small-Scale Fruit Production, is aimed at people who want to grow fruit on one acre or less.

The Web site offers fully searchable text and sharply defined color photographs of many different varieties of fruit trees and plants, disease symptoms, and insect damage. “The guide presents state-of-the-art production methods,” says tree fruit specialist Robert Crassweller.

Gardeners can learn everything they need to know, from preparing the planting site to harvesting the bounty. The site also addresses subjects such as pollination requirements for trees, soil fertility, monthly management tips, planting fruit trees, and controlling pest and wildlife damage.

Crassweller says both the Web site and publication list nursery sources for trees and small fruit plants, sources for wildlife control materials, and reference books. “The on-line guide really gives consumers a complete understanding of how a fruit tree or plant functions as a production system,” Crassweller explains.

Web surfers also can find easy-to-use charts and tables detailing pest control and fruit management information.

“Small-Scale Fruit Production” is jointly produced by the horticulture, entomology, plant pathology, and agricultural and biological engineering departments and the School of Forest Resources. The printed publication is available for $9 and can be ordered by calling the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Distribution Center at (814) 865-6713. Other college publications are available on the Web at http://pubs.cas.psu.edu.

—John Wall