University of Georgia

A website from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium

Small Fruit News

The Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium posts articles and sends the SMALL FRUIT NEWS to subscribers four times annually.
 

  • Sensory and postharvest attributes of four Blackberry varieties

    During the 2022 blackberry season in Georgia, the small fruit program at the University of Georgia evaluated physical and compositional attributes as well as sensory characteristics of the cultivars ‘Caddo’, ‘Osage’, ‘Ponca’, and ‘Ouachita.’

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  • 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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  • New Option for Broad Mite Management in Blackberry

    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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  • What we know, and what we should know, about blueberry production in soilless substrates

    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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  • 10th North American Strawberry Symposium, March 7-10, 2023

    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

    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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  • Different Types of High Tunnel Plastic Covers Affect Raspberry Performance and Pests in a Containerized System

    Tunnels that were used to grow raspberries

    Kathy Demchak, Matt Cooper, and Rich Marini (Penn State University); Maria Cramer (Univ. of Maryland, formerly Penn State) High tunnels are widely used for raspberry production in much of the world, and it is easy to understand why. The longer growing season, increased yields and improved quality, and the ability to schedule tasks without concerns,…

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  • Introduction to Irrigation of Small Fruits Using Sensor Technologies Under Humid Conditions

    Tensiometer

    By Stacia L. Davis Conger, Ph.D., State Irrigation Specialist, LSU AgCenter  Inherent to the southeastern United States, rainfall in hot-humid climates is highly variable in both frequency and duration. In Louisiana, historical rainfall averages 1,350 – 1,700 mm (53 – 67 inches) annually with most dry periods expected during the summer months (Sohoulande et al.,…

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  • Growing Long-cane Raspberries in the Southeast 

    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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  • UV light as a non-chemical alternative for control of plant pathogens 

    Interior of a reflectorized hemicylindrical array of germicidal UV-C lamps.

    By David Gadoury (Cornell University) and Natalia Peres (University of Florida)  Microbial pathogens that attack the above-ground parts of plants live in a world that is bathed in sunlight and have done so for nearly 300 million years.  In that time, these simple one-celled microbes have evolved to sense, use, and interpret light to direct…

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