Highlights from the Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers Congress

This congress boasts electronic proceedings, available online.

The small fruit program provided a great update of small fruit work in Ohio.

Strawberry herbicides: Doug Doohan at Ohio State University, has been working on the herbicide clopyralid, known to us as Lontrel, and to the Americans as Stinger. Doug reported that clopyralid has visible effects on strawberry plants, although yield is not usually reduced. Leaf twisting, precocious bloom, and a compressed harvest season can result from application of this herbicide.

Grad student Steve Polter at OSU has been working with the herbicide Sinbar to generate information for a revised label in the USA. He looked at how growth stage of the plant, and irrigation, affected Sinbar injury symptoms on strawberry. Light irrigation (approx 1/2 inch) up to 3 hours after Sinbar application reduced the amount of leaf injury but did not reduce weed control. In the field, Sinbar applied to newly planted strawberries prior to new growth, caused more injury than Sinbar applied to new plantings at the three leaf stage.

Plasticulture: At Piketon Research Center in Southern Ohio, Brad Bergeford is looking at the potential for plasticulture strawberry production, using southern varieties and plug plants grown from Canadian tips. They are conducting studies to determine optimum date of planting, and the use of row covers and straw mulch for winter protection.

Deer have become a pest of strawberry plants, especially in the plasticulture system. An electric fence, run by a solar panel, and supported by T-posts angled away from the patch, helped keep damage in check.

Organic strawberries: The biggest challenge in organic strawberry production may be weed control, according to Dr. Joe Kovach, after working with an organic plot for two years. In this trial, Botrytis damage was 1-2 %, and tarnished plant bug damage was 6-7% in the organic plots, but weeds were the biggest challenge, requiring many many hours of hand weeding. There was also more slug damage in plots where composts were used. There was no difference in taste between the organic and conventionally grown strawberries in this study.

Site Specific Management for Strawberries: Researchers Reza Ehsani and Matt Sullivan, from the Ag Engineering department at OSU wondered if site specific management techniques used in field crops could be useful in strawberry production. They described site specific management as using the right amount of inputs at the right location at the right time. The elements of site specific management include yield monitoring, establishing the relationship between crop inputs and yield, developing maps, and applying the right inputs on a site specific basis. In strawberries, this type of crop management is still in its infancy. The objective of this project was to find a low cost yield monitor, determine how variable strawberry fields could be, and determine the causes of this variability.

Several yield monitoring methods were tested. The best method was simply on-the-spot weighing of harvested berries, in conjunction with a GPS meter. Soil and leaves were analyzed for major and micronutrients. Soil moisture and compaction were measured. Aerial imagery and infra-red photography was used to further characterize the field.

Yields in this one-acre block of Honeoye ranged from 2800 to 7300 lb/acre. Nearly half of the variation in yield could be explained by the soil and plant characteristics.

It was exciting to hear of this project. The OMAFRA berry team is wrapping up a 2-year study on site specific sampling in strawberries.

Related Links

• South Centers Horticulture Program
• Ohio Fruit Growers Society

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