Spring 2022

SMALL FRUIT NEWS – Vol. 22, No. 2
Published four times annually, Small Fruit News is sponsored by the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium (SRSFC), www.smallfruits.org.
Download the PDF version of Small Fruit News, Spring 2022

 

  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Alejandro Rojas, Dept of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas Strawberry is one the most widely cultivated fruits in the US and it is a major berry crop in Arkansas, with at least 30 growers around the state, or in the nearby states. Soil infestation by plant pathogens in strawberry fields are amongst the most limiting…

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  • Mahfuz Rahman1 and Jayesh Samtani2; 1West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, Email: mm.rahman@mail.wvu.edu ; 2 Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech., Virginia Beach, VA. Anthracnose is one of the most destructive diseases of strawberry affecting fruit growers in the southeastern United States. Although all parts (crowns, runners, petioles, blossoms, fruits) of the strawberry…

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  • Justin Scheiner, Associate Professor and Extension Viticulture Specialist, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University In 2021, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and Texas A&M University cooperatively released a new table grape, Southern Sensation Seedless. What makes this grape special is that after thirty-four years of trialing in central and southeastern Texas,…

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