July 8 Berry Bulletin

In this bulletin:

• Crop & Pest Update
• Spotted wing drosophila monitoring
• Irrigation posts- hot weather impact on water demand and permits to take water
• AgRobotics Field Day- July 13th

Strawberries:  The bulk of the June-bearing season is slowing down- many pick-your-own operations are done for the season or finishing this weekend. Growers are starting to pick Malwina in southern Ontario and will be picking Malwina shortly in Eastern Ontario.  

Renovation continues in early and mid-season varieties, including fertilizer applications, narrowing rows, mowing, and herbicide applications. The earlier renovation can be completed the better. Broadleaf herbicide options include Lontrel and 2,4-D and should be applied 5-7 days before mowing if needed. Poast and Venture are your options for grass herbicides. Note that Poast and Venture should not be applied within 10-14 days of Sinbar. If Agri-mek is needed for mite control wait to apply until there is new active growth after moving and wait for 5-7 days after applying Agri-mek before applying Sinbar. After mowing apply 50 kg of N per hectare along with other nutrients if needed.

Irrigation: strawberries need adequate moisture after renovation for plant growth and runner development. If possible, irrigating will help at renovation, or wait until a rain to mow. If plants are under water stress consider mowing high.

If Agri-mek is needed:

• Apply Agri-mek at 225 mL/ha in 750-1000L water /ha, with a non-ionic surfactant at .1-.5%
• Watch the pH of your spray tank.
• Slow down and get thorough coverage of the plants and crowns. 
• Apply Agri-mek under slow-drying conditions to improve uptake into the leaves.
• Do not apply Agri-mek within 10-14 days of chlorothalonil (Bravo or Echo) or captan applications.
• Avoid applying Agri-mek during bloom.
• Agri-mek can only be used twice a year.

New fields: are looking good. Check for aphids and leafhoppers in new fields. Cygon, Lagon, and Assail applied for aphids will provide some control of leafhoppers as well, so these could be a good choice if both pests are present

Day-Neutrals: Spring-planted day-neutrals and overwintered day-neutrals are blooming again. If harvest hasn’t started yet now is a good time to get a group M fungicide (6 day REI) on for disease control and resistance management. Continue monitoring for tarnished plant bug now that there is a bloom and green fruit present.

Raspberries:  Raspberry harvest is underway in many areas. See below for the SWD update- if you are picking raspberries and SWD is present in your area it is time to spray. We are also starting to find Japanese beetles this week. Exirel is registered for Japanese beetle and SWD control.

Blueberries: blueberry harvest has begun in southern Ontario and harvest will likely begin in a couple weeks in eastern Ontario. Watch for Japanese beetles.

Spotted Wing Drosophila Monitoring 2022- this year we are monitoring at a limited number of sites. Traps are set up in Oxford, Middlesex, Elgin, Norfolk, Brant, Hamilton, and Niagara.

Summary of SWD trap catches:

Week traps collected	County/region where SWD was found	Crops where SWD was trapped
June 11-June 17	0
June 18- June 24	Elgin, Niagara	Wild hosts, strawberries
June 25- July 1	Elgin, Niagara, Hamilton	Wild hosts, strawberries, raspberries
July 2-July 8	Niagara, Oxford, Middlesex	Wild hosts, strawberries, raspberries

To monitor on your own farm you can use sticky cards to identify adults, or salt water tests or plastic baggie tests to monitor for larvae in fruit. Spraying for SWD isn’t necessary until there is ripe fruit present + SWD is active in your area. Do not count on sprays alone– use as many of these tools as possible through the season to control SWD: 

• Spray every 5-7 days.
  • Using the best products first will help knock the population back down at the beginning of the season. The most efficacious products include Exirel, Delegate, Success, Harvanta and Cormoran.
  • Reapply after ½ inch of rain.
  • Use products from different groups.
  • Spray in the morning (6-10am) or in the evening (6-10 pm) when SWD is active.
  • Do not spray in temperatures above 25C.
  • Pyrethroid insecticides (Mako, Up-Cyde) will not work well in hot weather and will cause an increase in mites. Save these products for later when weather cools off and mite pressure is low.
• Keep your fruit picked regularly and clean- this can be very effective!
• Cool fruit immediately after harvest.
• Keep alleys clean- either remove unmarketable fruit or crush it in the alley
• After unmarketable fruit is removed it should be destroyed (disposed of, or leave in plastic bags in the sun).
• Make the environment less favourable to SWD- prune the canopy and manage water to reduce humidity (repair leaking drop lines).
• Calibrate your sprayers now to ensure excellent coverage once you start to spray.
• Renovate June-bearing strawberries as soon as possible.

Irrigation updates:

Hot weather impact on plant water demand- how can we measure?

3 Secrets of irrigation water taking permits revealed

Reminder the AgRobotics Working group has a demo day coming up on July 13^th:

July 13: 9 am – 4 pm

AgRobotics Field Tour

Start at: Haggerty Creek Ltd. (Haggerty AgRobotics Company)

7708 Bentpath Line, Bothwell, ON N0P 1C0

Register for virtual or in person participation and see the FarmDroid, Korechi RoamIO, Naïo Oz, Nexus La Chèvre and Raven OMNIPower.

https://survey.clicktools.com/app/survey/go.jsp?iv=25t6zheg5h9kv

For more information check out: https://onfruit.ca/2022/06/29/agrobotics-in-ontario/

Follow our ONfruit blog for regular updates and berry information.