In this Issue:
VEGETABLE NEWS
STRAWBERRY NEWS
August in Strawberry Fields
APPLE NEWS
| Vol 3 No. 11 | August 18 , 2006 |
August in Strawberry Fields
Thaddeus McCamant, Specialty Crops Management Specialist, Northland Community & Technical College
Reprinted from: “Specialty Crops Management Newsletter,” August 2004
August is a critical month for strawberry plants. In new fields, runners are growing, and runners need to be aligned at least once a week. Make sure your runners have a chance to peg in this month. Daughter plants that form in August will produce good quality fruit next summer, but daughter plants that form in September are usually worthless. The soil surface should be wet for at least twelve hours for the runners to form roots and peg in. Some growers water at night or during cloudy days so that the soil stays moist for a long period of time.
Nitrogen fertilizer is critical in August. Once the daughter plants have pegged in, you are fertilizing five times more plants than you were in June. Most new fields need 70 pounds of actual nitrogen per year. About half of that should be applied in August. Most renovated fields should be fertilized at renovation and in late August. The fertilizer at renovation helps the new leaves to form. The late August fertilizer helps to form strong plants during flower initiation. The plants will start forming the flower buds for next summer on August 15.
Irrigation in August is critical. The highest water demand for the year usually corresponds to the third week of August. The plants need about an inch and a half of water a week either through irrigation or rainfall during hot, dry August weather.
Look out for leaf diseases on both new and old fields. Moderate summer temperatures can allow powdery mildew to flare up. Powdery mildew causes the leaves to curl up in cup shapes. The lower side of the leaf eventually develops a white appearance. Powdery mildew looks similar to potato leafhopper damage, but leafhoppers have not been a big problem this year. Potato leafhoppers rarely cause economic losses after the middle of August, but powdery mildew can be a problem until late September. Powdery mildew can be controlled with the fungicide Nova.
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
Reference to products in this publication is not intended to be an endorsement to the exclusion of others which may have similar uses. Any person using products listed in this publication assumes full responsibility for their use in accordance with current manufacturer directions.
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