Dr. Aaron Cato, IPM Specialist, University of Arkansas The Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium is an expansive source for unbiased information and news for small fruit growers and county agents across the Southeast. The consortium’s website features production and IPM guides that are updated yearly by specialists across the region,…
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Jayesh B. Samtani, Assistant Professor and Small Fruit Production Specialist, and Danyang Liu, Ph.D. Candidate, Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech. We are just about done with our strawberry season for 2019-20 growing season and like me, most of you are already beginning to think about the…
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Douglas G. Pfeiffer, Dept. Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA 24060, dgpfeiff@vt.edu. Since its introduction and spread in the US from 2008-2012, spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura), SWD has presented a huge problem for berry growers. SWD is a difficult pest to control. Because of its high fecundity and number…
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By Guido Schnabel and Madeline Dowling, Clemson University Anthracnose fruit rot, caused by Colletotrichum fungi, is an explosive disease of strawberries and other small fruits that is capable of wiping out an entire crop. The usual gray mold control program can help control anthracnose disease, but when that fails, anthracnose…
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Dr. Phil Brannen, Extension Fruit Disease Specialist, Plant Pathology, University of Georgia Many of the fungicides utilized for Botrytis management are no longer efficacious due to resistance development in this fungus. Now is a great time to collect Botrytis samples for fungicide-resistance testing. While the funds last, Botrytis resistance testing…
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Ashfaq Sial, Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. Since its first detection in 2008, SWD has emerged as a devastating pest of berry and cherry crops throughout the United States. Male SWD have dark spots on the outer margins of their wings. Female SWD have a saw-like ovipositor…
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Compiled by Phil Brannen, Md Emran Ali, Jeff Cook, Sumyya Waliullah, and Owen Hudson Anthracnose fruit rot disease, caused by fungal Colletotrichum species, is one of the most significant disease problems of commercial strawberry production in Georgia and the Southeast as a whole. Dark, sunken lesions on fruit are the…
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Compiled by Mark Hoffmann and Barclay Poling, NC State University Grower’s Checklist OCTOBER 2019 Planting Check plants for possible biological (insects and diseases) and physiological (nutrient) disorders prior to planting and treat appropriately or do not plant if Anthracnose is detected. Consult your extension agent if plants appear unhealthy. Get…
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This past annual hill plasticulture season in the Southeast was quite rough, characterized by a late start to the season, high disease pressure, often lower yields and an unfavorable berry market, facing low prices due to competition. While not every grower experienced all four of those factors, we rarely found a farm which was not affected by at least one of those problems last season.
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Compiled by Mark Hoffmann, Small Fruits Extension Specialist, NC State University, Raleigh NC; and Barclay Poling, Prof. and Extension Specialist (retired), NC State University, Raleigh NC Summer: After season to pre-plant 2019 The most important strawberry chores for the summer are: removing plastic and old planting material, order your plants,…
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