Video's from the 2024 Berry Primer
Last week, we had
a great lineup of speakers at the 2024 Berry Primer Webinar. On Monday, I
shared the recording on Nematode Survey Results and Management with Perennia’s Matt
Peill and Silica and it's Importance in Plant Health and Yield with
University of Toledo's Wendy Zellner so make sure to check below for those
two videos if you have missed them.
Today, I finally
finished editing two more video's:
AAFC Berry Breeding and Variety
Evaluations with AAFC's Beatrice Amyotte: Click Here
Integrating Biologicals into your
Spray Program with Perennia's Dustin MacLean: Click Here
Monday's videos:
Nematode Survey
Results and Management with Perennia’s Matt Peill: Click Here
Silica and it's
importance in Plant Health and Yield with University of Toledo's Wendy
Zellner: Click Here
Introducing Perennia’s Online
Pest Management Guides
April 10th at 12:00
To sign up for a
demonstration of this game changing tool please follow the link:
A couple things to keep in mind for
your 2024 Strawberry Planting
You’ve done your prep to get your 2024
strawberry field ready, selecting the site, planting the cover crops, dialing
in the soil fertility. Now is not the time to rest on your haunches. Here
are a few things to look out for in the spring to keep this planting on
track.
When you receive your strawberry
plants open the boxes and inspect the plants. If they warmed during shipping
leave them open and place them in the cooler, in a single layer, to quickly get
them back down to temperature. Reseal the bags after a couple of hours
and the plants have cooled. The plants are usually packed in a plastic bag
within the box. Inside the bag they are usually packed with shredded paper or
moss. This should be damp, if it is starting to dry out add a
small amount of water and reseal the bags. Do not wet or soak your plants
until you are ready to plant. If you notice mold growth at this
time, call your nursery right away. Store the dormant bare root plants as
close to -2 c as you can without cooling past -2.7 c. For shorter periods
of up to a week, plants can be held as “warm” as 4 c.
Before planting should begin make sure
to have a well thought out herbicide program mapped out and the product on
hand. This will allow you to make applications in a timely manner when
plants are still dormant and at proper timings though the season.
Some growers will soak their plants in
a “secret sauce” of water, biologicals and phosphorous before planting.
If nothing else this will re-hydrate the roots before putting them in the
soil. If you are using this technique, consider adding “the sauce”
to the bag in the box rather than removing plants from the bag and soaking in a
central tank. Putting the plants in a central bath may spread disease from box
to box and across varieties. Alternatively, so that planting is not held up
and disease is not spread, biologicals and phosphorous can be added to a drench
with a root fungicide after planting.
Planting should take place as soon as
the ground is fit, and the soil temperature reaches 10 c. Planting depth is
very important. Crowns should be placed so that the middle of the crowns are at
the soil line. Roots should be spread out in a downward direction rather
than bent. This may require deeper tillage than is required for other
crops. Make sure you have enough soil to work with before bringing the
transplanter to the field and adjust the shoe depth from there.
If the weather is dry, it is important
that irrigation is provided after planting. This is important for rehydration
but also to settle the soil around the roots creating root to soil
contact. Some growers will also roll after planting in order to facilitate
the settling of the soil. I believe this also provides a more
uniform surface for herbicide application thus making your herbicides more
effective.
As the plant is establishing it may be
important to get an Orondis Gold, or Aliette applied for the control of
phytophthora crown rot. Phytophthora spreads rapidly under wet conditions
and can take out large sections of rows very quickly.
Losing mother plants at planting can
quickly affect the final stand so care should be taken out of the gate.
Keeping these steps in mind will help get the plants off to a good start
putting more berries in the basket in the next years.