In this Issue:
VEGETABLE NEWS
STRAWBERRY NEWS
Renovation: An Important IPM Tool
APPLE NEWS
| Vol 3 No. 8 | July 14, 2006 |
Renovation: An Important IPM Tool
Thaddeus McCamant, Specialty Crops Management Specialist, Northland Community & Technical College
The strawberry season ended early for most people, but a few farms in northern Minnesota are still picking. As soon as the last pickers leave the field, most strawberry growers begin to renovate their strawberry beds. Each step in the renovation process is important in reducing insect and disease pressure in your fields.
The first step in renovation is mowing the plants. Many people wonder why they mow their strawberry plants after harvest. In controlled studies, fields that were mowed at renovation had higher yields the following spring than fields that were not mowed. Mowing also reduces the amount of diseases in the field. Mowing breaks the disease cycles of leaf spot and botrytis, reducing the number of overwintering spores. Mowing gives you a chance to control cyclamen mites. Typically, leaves in the strawberry rows protect the cyclamen mites from insecticides, but once you remove the leaves, insecticides can reach the cyclamen mites in the strawberry crown.
Our recent hot weather will affect renovation practices. During hot weather, make sure that your plants are watered before you mow. With Jewel, you should mow fairly high if the weather is hot, otherwise the plants can be killed.
The other major step is narrowing the rows. Narrow rows have fewer fruit diseases than wide rows. During the picking season, I found a fair amount of gray mold in some fields. Nearly all the gray mold I found was in the center of the row. Strawberries on the edge of the rows had no gray mold.
Most growers narrow the rows by tilling, but a few people use chemicals to narrow the rows. There is no strict rule as to how wide the rows should be after narrowing. The desired width of the row varies with different cultivars, and is often restricted by equipment. If you could not walk down a strawberry row during harvest without stepping on strawberry leaves or fruit, you may want to make sure that your rows are narrower this year.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Co-Editors: Bill Hutchison (hutch002@umn.edu), Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Jeanne Ciborowski, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Ag. Resources Management and Development Division, and Suzanne Wold-Burkness (woldx018@umn.edu), Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota
The Newsletter is published weekly from May through August, cooperatively, by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the University of Minnesota (U of MN). Reports are posted on the U of MN and MDA web sites on Fridays. If you have suggestions and/or comments, please send your contributions by 4 p.m., Wednesday to Jean Ciborowski, 651-201-6217, jeanne.ciborowski@state.mn.us, MDA, 625 Robert St. North, St. Paul, MN 55155-2538. You can access the Newsletter at the U of MN web site in htm format at: www.vegedge.umn.edu/MNFruit&VegNews/mnindex.htm and at the MDA web site in pdf format at: http://www.mda.state.mn.us/ipm/ipmnews/
Partial funding for this publication is provided through partnership agreements with the Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (MFVGA) and the United States Department of Agriculture – Risk Management Agency (RMA). These institutions are equal opportunity providers.
DISCLAIMER
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