Berry Bulletin July 14

PDF available:Berry Bulletin July 13

July 14, 2017

Crop development: June bearing strawberry harvest is slowing down in Southern Ontario; late varieties including Valley Sunset and Malwina are being picked now and the crop is looking good. Raspberries are being harvested in most parts of the province. Blueberries are still ripening in Eastern and Central Ontario but harvest has begun in Southern Ontario and PYO operations are opening.

Difficult weather including rain and hail has challenged growers over the past two weeks across the province.

Blueberries:

Blueberry harvest is underway in Southern Ontario, and will follow shortly in the rest of the province. Scale crawlers have been seen in southern Ontario and Movento appears to be working. Japanese beetles have been detected and SWD numbers are increasing- it is time to start controlling this pest. Note that Entrust has a PHI of 1 day in bushberries, and Malathion has received emergency use registration again for 2017.

Raspberries: Raspberry harvest began last week in Southern Ontario and PYO operations opened last weekend. As we are finding SWD earlier this year and at higher pressures don’t neglect the summer raspberries- they will need to be managed for SWD this year. While the summer raspberry harvest can usually miss serious SWD infestation, that is not the case this year.   Keep your fields picked clean to manage SWD as the season gets underway. Apply insecticides with a short preharvest interval if you can’t pick the field clean every 1-2 days.

Keep your fall-bearing raspberries fields clean as well. If you are not harvesting the early berries before the main crop, try to strip off the fruit.

Potato Leafhopper damage has been noticed in strawberry and raspberry fields across the province. Look for nymphs on the underside of the leaves (Figure 1) or the white shed skins of the previous instars. Control for nymphs where present.  In raspberries your options are Malathion, Pyganic, Admire, Alias, or Assail for leafhopper control. Avoid spraying Pyganic, Admire, Alias or Assail during bloom or when bees are present.

Figure 1: Leafhoppers on raspberries

Strawberries:

Keep an eye out for potato leafhoppers in new plantings. Consider control if you are finding 1-2 nymphs per leaf and damage- yellowing and leaf curl- is evident. Use products that control both leafhoppers and aphids. Keep the aphid populations down in new plantings- there is a very low tolerance for aphids in new fields. These plants should be virus-free, so it is important to keep the aphids out of these fields and stop them from spreading virus. Look at 60 of the newest leaves each week, and use an aphicide when numbers are around 15 aphids/60 leaves. Aim to spray every 2 weeks or sooner if necessary.

It is time to start thinking about renovation and weed management in your strawberry fields. Do not use herbicides when temperatures are over 25C. Do not use Sinbar in close sequence to grass herbicides (Venture, Poast) or Lontrel or 2-4 D. Wait 10-14 days between applications of these products. Sinbar and Devrinol, used for pre-emergent weed control, require 1-2cm rain or irrigation after application.

Day neutrals: The second flush of overwintered day neutrals have started to be harvested in southern Ontario. Anthracnose is present in June bearing and day neutral fields.  Include a group M fungicide in your disease management program to manage both botrytis and anthracnose.

Spotted-Wing Drosophila:

We have found SWD in June bearing strawberries this past week in southern Ontario, a crop where SWD has not historically been a problem. If you are still harvesting strawberries make sure you are not picking soft fruit, and consider renovating early to protect other crops. Protect nearby raspberries with regular sprays.

The Exirel label has been expanded to include SWD control on caneberries, and Mako and Malathion have received emergency use registration for this year again. The PHI for Entrust on bushberries is 1 day.

When SWD is present in your crop use regular sprays, thorough, clean harvest, and immediate post-harvest cooling to less than 5C or cooler.

Check out the SWD registrations for 2017 here: Registration for SWD July 2017