Hello Everyone:
We are doing a Pop- Up sesion in Cape Breton, if you have any question or want to discuss or chat about berries or other crops our Horticulture team will be at Millville on October 21, 2026. Registration is not required, but would be nice to know if you are coming, if you can let your Ag Rep from NSDA or us what are your concerns in advance would be great. See you there. Thanks,
Hector
.jpg)
Good morning, Everyone
Going into the fall and the winter I think is important review and provide the number of Chilling hours for the berry crops. Here some insights and data:
Chilling hours are the cumulative number of hours that berry plants are exposed to temperatures within a specific range, typically between 0°C and 7°C (32°F and 45°F), during their fall and winter dormancy period. These hours are required to satisfy the plant's chilling requirement, allowing buds to break dormancy normally and supporting uniform flowering, fruit set, and yield during the following growing season.
In berry crops such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, insufficient chilling can result in delayed or uneven bud break, reduced flowering, poor fruit development, and lower productivity. Chilling requirements vary among species and cultivars and are an important consideration when selecting varieties for a specific growing region.
Chilling accumulation is also critical for nursery production and crop management decisions. Adequate chilling hours helps ensure that plants enter winter dormancy with sufficient carbohydrate and nutrient reserves before they are dug, cold-stored, or protected. For example:
Understanding chilling requirements is essential for maximizing plant health, winter survival, bloom synchronization, and fruit production in berry crops.
Bellow you see the chilling hours acummulation for different locations in Nova Scotia, if you want something specific for your field, please contact me and we will try to find a weather station nearby to do the calculation.
Hector
Hector Jaldo,
Ag.Dr.; P.Ag.
Berry Specialist
| Agri-Services
Perennia
Food and Agriculture
Email hjaldo@perennia.ca
Mobile: 902.599.7027
Good morning, Everyone
With the Fall around the corner I would like to focus on late season practices and suggestions that will prepare your crop for the winter and potentially maximize your yield next year.
Strawberries
With a lot of rain, there are some diseases that you should be paying attention. The last couple of weeks I have seen many fields with Powdery Mildew and leaf spots. An application of a fungicide Group 7+11 like Pristine/Merivon/Luna tranquility is recommended. You can alway check our guide for more recommendations or reach out if you have any questions.
Strawberry Guide to Insect and Disease Management"
Keep scouting your crops for aphids, hoppers and mites, check with your advisor or reach out if you need an specific recommendation for control.
With the rain some of the weeds could escape our pre-emergent summer herbicides, you could use some post-emergent herbicides like Venture for grasses or Lontrel for broad leaves.
At this time of year, June-bearing strawberry fields are entering a critical period for root growth and flower bud initiation, both of which have a significant impact on next season's yield potential.
Last two weeks with the cold weather, several fields are showing some yellow symptoms in the new leaves, now is the time to focus on late-season nutrition. Nutrients such as zinc, boron, magnesium, and potassium play an especially important role during this stage. Small amounts of nitrogen can also be beneficial by supporting carbohydrate accumulation and energy storage for the following season. Several fertilizer blends are available on the market that can help achieve these objectives. To better understand the nutritional status of your fields, both soil and foliar tissue testing are recommended. These analyses will help identify any deficiencies or imbalances and guide nutrient management decisions. As we move toward winter, it is important to ensure nutrient levels are well balanced while avoiding excessive vegetative growth that could compromise plant hardiness and next year's productivity.
I have seen some fire blight in late blossoms, prunning affected branches and burn them, a copper application is recomended to avoid its spread in the spring time.
Your weed management remains important. Apply pre-emergent herbicide
for raspberry fall treatment. You could use Sinbar or Chateau in late fall. If you have a lot of weed pressure you could use Venture for grasses or 2,4 D for Broad leaves. Also, a burndown herbicide hooded application of Aim or Ignite could be used it.
Crown borer is always a concern, you could do one or two
applications of Altacor depending on the pressure, ask your IPM advisor. Direct
your sprays to the base of the canes with high volumes of water and high
pressure are recommended.
Applications of Zinc, Boron, Potassium and Magnesium will
improve nutrition going into the fall, again soil and foliar analysis is
recommended.
Blueberries
It is a suitable time of the year to take care of the weeds,
Callisto as a pre-emergent, a burndown herbicide like Ignite or glyphosate with a hood will keep your
beds clean and ready for next year.
Disease management is important; the application of copper
sulphate is useful to keep you bushes clean and ready for overwinter; this needs
to be done after 50 % of leaf drop. This treatment will help to suppress canker
and bacterial diseases and help with the leaf drop.
Hector Jaldo,
Ag.Dr.; P.Ag.
Berry Specialist
| Agri-Services
Perennia
Food and Agriculture
Email hjaldo@perennia.ca
Mobile: 902.599.7027
This is just an update that we are still collecting samples of Neo-P (Neopestalotiopsis) in strawberry fields to learn more about its distribution and types/species.
Please, reach us if you want your field to be sampled.
Here some pictures of the symptoms from our lab, last year.
Good day, everyone:
For the 2026 growing season, Perennia has funding from Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture to collect suspected neopest (Neopestalotiopsis) samples from across Nova Scotia to determine its distribution and the types/ species found in Nova Scotia.
The perfect time to collect samples is once picking has wrapped up but prior to field renovation. But, we will keep receiving samples until the end of the season.
Please contact us if you are interested in participating in this free analysis for Nepest and arranging delivery of your samples to the Perennia Plant Health Lab. Perennia will also be collecting samples from select farms across the province. If you are suspicious that you have a neopest infection and would like us to visit your farm, please reach out. Information on Neopest identification can be found in the attached information sheet.
For information on how you can take, preserve and ship your sample, please follow the attached sample guide.
Ship to: 173 Dr. Bernie MacDonald Dr., Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, B6L 2H5
Thanks,
Dustin and Hector
Questions regarding sample collection can be sent to:
Dustin MacLean, M.Sc., P.Ag.
Plant Pathologist | Agri-Services
Perennia Food and Agriculture
Email dustinmaclean@perennia.ca
Mobile (902) 324-9623
or
Hector Jaldo, Ag.Dr.; P.Ag.
Berry Specialist | Agri-Services
Perennia Food and Agriculture
Email hjaldo@perennia.ca
Mobile: 902.599.7027
As temperatures begin to cool, the risk of Spotted Wing
Drosophila (SWD) infestations in your fields increases.
Below is a summary of some insecticide products, with a short PHI, listed in our
guides that are specifically recommended for SWD control. When reviewing
product labels, you may notice differences in label format among manufacturers, including
application rates, pre-harvest intervals (PHIs), and other recommendations.
This sometimes make it difficult to identify the information that applies
specifically to SWD management.
For example, the same crop may have different rates or PHIs
listed depending on the target pest. Always consult and follow the product
label for:
Remember always to rotate between products to avoid resistance and if you have any questions or are unsure about any
recommendation do not hesitate to reach out.
Thank you,
|
|
Strawberry |
Highbush-Blueberry |
Raspberry |
Blackberry |
||||
|
Product |
PHI |
# Applic. |
PHI |
# Applic. |
PHI |
# Applic. |
PHI |
# Applic. |
|
Malathion 85 E |
3 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
Entrust/Success |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
|
Up-Cyde |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
|
Delegate |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
|
Exirel |
1 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
|
Harvanta |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
PHI:
Pre-harvest Interval; Applications/season.
SWD males
(left) have dark spots at the tip of each wing. Females (right) lack these spots
but have a serrated egg-laying structure (see insert). Credit: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Div. of Extension.
Spotted wing drosophila (SWD) have been detected in the Valley and
North Eastern Nova Scotia from monitoring performed by researchers and
private consultants. Perennia has also been performing SWD monitoring across
the province this season in berry crop fields as part of Climate Adaptation Leadership
Program, with sites located in Aylesford, Sheffield Mills, Rawdon, Debert,
Oxford, and Parrsborro.
SWD
continues to be one of the most economically important insect pests affecting
small fruit production. Unlike common vinegar flies that infest overripe or
damaged fruit, SWD females possess a serrated egg-laying structure that allows
them to deposit eggs into ripening, marketable fruit. This unique capability
can result in rapid losses in blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries,
and other thin-skinned fruit crops if populations are not managed effectively.
With
SWD now present, it is important to begin implementing controls when fruit is
ripening up to harvest. For products available in your specific fruit crop
consult Perennia’s Pest Guides or contact your commodity
specialist.
Good day, everyone:
For the 2026 growing season, Perennia has funding from Nova Scotia
Department of Agriculture to collect suspected neopest (Neopestalotiopsis) samples
from across Nova Scotia to determine its distribution and the types/ species
found in Nova Scotia.
The perfect time to collect samples is once picking has wrapped up but prior to field renovation. But, we will keep receiving samples until the end of the season.
Please contact us if you are interested in participating in this
free analysis for Nepest and arranging delivery of your samples to the Perennia
Plant Health Lab. Perennia will also be collecting samples from select
farms across the province. If you are suspicious that you have a neopest
infection and would like us to visit your farm, please reach out. Information
on Neopest identification can be found in the attached information sheet.
For information on how you can take, preserve and ship your
sample, please follow the attached sample guide.
Ship to: 173 Dr. Bernie MacDonald Dr., Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, B6L
2H5
Thanks,
Dustin and Hector
Questions regarding sample collection can be sent to:
Dustin MacLean, M.Sc., P.Ag.
Plant Pathologist | Agri-Services
Perennia Food and Agriculture
Email dustinmaclean@perennia.ca
Mobile (902) 324-9623
or
Hector Jaldo, Ag.Dr.; P.Ag.
Berry Specialist | Agri-Services
Perennia Food and Agriculture
Email hjaldo@perennia.ca
Mobile: 902.599.7027
