Cindy Tucker

  • Strawberries: Late planting – What now?

    Planting date, pre-plant soil and bed preparation and plant quality are the three important pillars that make the foundations for a successful crop. There is still time to enhance plant growth, even if you are a few weeks late on planting.

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  • Broad mite continues to be a sporadic issue in Blackberry across the Southeast. This pest can severely limit plant growth, result in high levels of yield loss and growers in the entire region should be scouting each year.

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  • Blueberry bushes are notorious for their strict soil requirements. The blueberry industry has relied on soil amendments to create ideal conditions for blueberry roots. Containers filled with soilless substrates are the latest tool growers have to achieve this purpose.

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  • The 10th North American Strawberry Symposium will be held in conjunction with the annual North American Strawberry Growers Association conference, March 7-10, 2023, in San Luis Obispo, CA.

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  • NARBA Annual Conference, January 22-24, 2023

    North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association

    The North American Raspberry & Blackberry Association will be gathering in person for their annual meeting to be held January 22-24, 2023 in Tampa, Florida.

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  • By Lisa Rayburn, NCSU; Josh Mays, TriEst Ag Group, Inc.; James Hewitt, Lewis Nursery and Farms; and Gina Fernandez, NCSU  In 2021, NC State University started an on-farm research project with Lewis Nursery and Farms to investigate the feasibility of long-cane raspberry production in the state. Until now, commercial production of this high value crop…

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  • Kristin Hicks, Agronomic Services, NCDA&CS In order to optimize growth, fruit quality and economic return, commercial strawberry production requires intensive and precise fertilization throughout the season. In high-value crops like strawberry, using a combined strategy of pre-season soil testing and in-season plant tissue analysis is an inexpensive and highly effective approach to optimize both strawberry…

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  • Mengjun Hu1, John Lea-Cox1, Jayesh Samtani2, Roy Flanagan III2, and Chuck Johnson21 Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland 2 Virginia Cooperative Extension Plasticulture growers in production areas outside Florida and California, such as the coastal plain or piedmont areas of the eastern US, typically use lightweight spun bound or nonwoven row…

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  • Infrequent Pests: Wireworms in Strawberry

    Aaron Cato Wireworms are an uncommon, soil-dwelling pest that feed on seeds and developing seedlings, as well as the roots and underground stems of plants. While uncommon, wireworms can be a serious pest of many seeded annual crops and especially of root and tuber crops such as sweet potato. Most berry growers probably aren’t too…

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  • Spittlebugs in strawberry

    Douglas G. Pfeiffer, Dept. of Entomology, Virginia Tech Meadow spittlebug is an insect that most people are familiar with, even those not involved with berry production. The masses of white, frothy spittle-like material are commonly seen on meadow grasses and other plants. If you pull apart the froth, a green nymph is usually found feeding…

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