Berry Bulletin August 25

This week:

-SWD and blackberries & raspberries

-Strawberry management

-weed management

-OBGA twilight meeting

August 25, 2017                                                            PDF available: Berry Bulletin August 25

Spotted-Wing Drosophila:

SWD continues to be the biggest challenge for fall-bearing raspberries and blueberries.

Remember that insecticides are only a part of the toolbox for managing spotted wing drosophila. Picking often, every other day if possible, will have a big impact on managing the population.  Remove all damaged fruit, get thorough spray coverage, and cool the fruit as soon as possible post-harvest.

Blackberries and raspberries are very attractive to SWD. SWD will be a problem as soon as the berries begin to change colour- keep your fruit protected. If rain continues insecticides will be needed every 5-7 days. Re-apply an insecticide after ½-1 inch of rain. Destroy dropped fruit from pick-your-own customers if possible.

Strawberries:

Runners are continuing to grow and root in renovated strawberries, although runner growth is variable and some fields do not have a lot of runner rooting yet. New plantings that were planted early are showing good growth and establishment. Labour day is next week and is an important time for weed control. In new plantings apply an herbicide to control winter annuals when rows are filled in. If rows are not filled in with runners continue to cultivate and hold off on an herbicide. If you are using Sinbar use a very low rate, and rain or irrigation is needed after application for both Sinbar and Devrinol.

Anthracnose and a lot of powdery mildew can be found in day neutral fields. Work in the oldest, overwintering fields last. Remove infected berries to manage anthracnose as well as SWD. Captan and Maestro, when applied for botrytis, will also control anthracnose, along with Pristine, Cabrio and Switch, which will also control anthracnose. See Pub 360, page 141 for a list of products available for powdery mildew control. More leaf disease (common leaf spot, powdery mildew and angular leaf spot) can be seen in strawberry fields and a fungicide in the next couple weeks can help with control.

Continue to monitor your aphid populations in your new fields as well as your renovated fields. An aphicide may be needed again (approximately every three weeks) to keep the aphid levels down and to stop them from flying to new fields. Spotted wing Drosophila will be present for the rest of the season, and populations will increase.

Blueberries

Blueberry harvest continues across the province, and SWD is the main concern at this time. Some of the blueberry crop has been left behind because of the high SWD pressure and challenge

Brambles

Fall bearing raspberry harvest is underway. Primocane growth in summer raspberries are looking good compared to last year’s shorter canes.

Events: The OBGA Annual  Twilight Meeting is being help at Strawberry Tyme Farms in Simcoe, Tuesday September 12^th, at 4:00pm. RSVP to Kevin Schooley at 613-258-4587 or info@ontarioberries.com