Crop Update

Strawberries

The bulk of the June-bearing strawberry season is winding down in southern and eastern Ontario as growers begin to pick Malwina and begin the renovation process for earlier varieties. Continue to manage SWD in late varieties and day-neutrals as harvest continues in those fields.

See last week’s bulletin for details on renovation and weed control. Remember that renovation is the best time to control cyclamen mite.

With the warm, dry weather make sure berry fields are getting enough water, including renovated fields. Consider mowing plants higher above the crown if fields are dry.

New fields:

• Watch for powdery mildew and cyclamen mite in new fields. Look for crinkled, stunted, crispy leaves and open up young, folded leaves to look for the mites.
• Cygon, Lagon, Sivanto Prime, and Cormoran applied for aphids will provide some control of leafhoppers as well, so these could be a good choice if both pests are present. There is a very low tolerance for aphids in new plantings- plan to apply an insecticide for aphid control regularly.

Day-neutrals:

• Spring-planted day-neutrals are beginning to be harvested. Where harvest has begun plan to pick every 2 days.
• Scout regularly for thrips, spider mites, and tarnished plant bug.
• If picking hasn’t started in new fields, now is a good time to apply broad spectrum fungicides for disease control, including Captan/Maestro products, as they cannot be used closer to harvest with a 6-8 day REI/PHI.
• Take advantage of the Strawberry Disease Decision Support System to time fungicide applications for botrytis and anthracnose.
• Switch (9+12, cyprodonil +fludioxonil) and Miravis Prime (7+12, pydiflumetofen +fludioxonil) are the best products to use once harvest starts for anthracnose control. Note there is a maximum of 4 applications of fludioxonil-containing products (Switch, Button, Miravis Prime, Scholar) per year, and 3 applications of cyprodonil-containing products (Switch, Inspire Super) per year. Note the maximum applications for each individual product: Switch/Button- 3, Miravis Prime- 2, Scholar- 2, Inspire Super- 3.
• Botrytis fungicide resistance to multiple active ingredients has been identified in Ontario and other regions. Rotate between multiple FRAC groups that are active on Botrytis.

Raspberries

Growers are picking early raspberry varieties.  SWD management is the priority in raspberries at this point for all raspberry growers. Pick regularly, and remove culled fruit. Also watch for Japanese beetles, potato leafhopper nymphs on primocane leaves, and two-spotted spider mites on the underside of leaves, especially in protected environments.

Blueberries

Blueberry harvest is beginning this week in southern Ontario. Japanese beetles have begun to show up in blueberries. Exirel will control SWD and Japanese beetle if needed.  Maintain regular insecticide coverage for SWD control, and encourage clean picking once harvest starts.  

Spotted Wing Drosophila Monitoring

Ripe and ripening berry crops are now at risk of SWD damage in Ontario. All berry growers should be managing SWD in ripe and ripening crops. Pick strawberries early and as clean as possible and renovate as soon as possible after harvest.

Use salt water tests to evaluate fruit quality, watch for soft, juicy fruit, as an early warning of SWD problems.

Trap collected period of:	County/region where SWD was trapped	# of traps with SWD	Total number of SWD trapped this week	# SWD/positive trap
May 26- June 1	0	0	0	0
June 2-June 8	Norfolk, Elgin	2	2	1
June 9- June 13	Halton	1	1	1
June 14- June 16	Norfolk	3	3	1
June 17-June 20	Elgin	5	9	1.8
June 21-June 23	Norfolk, Elgin, Halton, Hamilton	28	206	7.4
June 24- June 26	Norfolk, Elgin, Halton, Hamilton	45	391	8.6
June 27-June 30	Norfolk, Elgin, Halton, Hamilton, Haldimand	49	445	9.1
July 1-July 3	Norfolk, Elgin, Halton, Hamilton	42	230	5.5
July 4- July 7	Norfolk, Elgin, Halton, Hamilton, Haldimand	42	243	5.8
July 8- July 10	Norfolk, Elgin, Halton, Hamilton	41	300	7.3

See Registrations for SWD and Monitoring Update June 13, 2025 for a list of products registered for SWD control or suppression.

• Apply an insecticide 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 (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 alleys clean, and destroy unmarketable fruit
• Pick regularly and clean
• Cool fruit as quickly as possible after harvest
• Make the environment less favourable to SWD- prune the canopy and manage water to reduce humidity (repair leaking drop lines).

Thank you to the consultants and OMAFA berry team for checking these traps!

Agricultural Stewardship Initiative

• Third intake of the Agricultural Stewardship Initiative Opens August 13- September 23, 2025.
• This initiative is being funded through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
• Successful applicants can receive between $10,000 to $90,000 for energy efficiency improvements, including the replacement of inefficient on-farm technologies, installing geothermal heating and adopting high efficiency motor, ventilation, heating, cooling, refrigeration, grain drying and lighting systems.

Herbicide Resistance Testing

• No-cost Molecular Herbicide Resistance Testing Available for Ontario Growers. Check out onfruit for details on submitting samples for fast, accurate, resistance confirmation- for Free!

Upcoming events

Mark your calendars for these exciting events coming up for berry growers!

• July 22– AgRobotics Demo Day- Simcoe Research Station, 1283 Blueline Rd, Simcoe, ON (register here)
• August 12-13– NASGA Summer Tour, Nova Scotia
• September 3– Strawberry High Tunnel Grower Day, EZ Grow Farms
• September 4– BGO’s Annual Twilight Meeting, Howe Family Farms