SOLID GROUND FARMER TRAININGS Growing Strengthening Our Farms Across Connecticut Visit newfarms.extension.uconn.edu/solidground for the full Small Fruit schedule of trainings offered in collaborations with our Commercially Agricultural Learning Partners: • Common Ground, New Haven • Community Farm of Simsbury, Simsbury Beginning Farmer & Rancher Program • Green Village Initiative, Bridgeport BF 105 • Killingly Agricultural Education Center, Killingly • Knox- Urban Farming Incubator Program, Hartford • Grow Windham, Willimantic, Windham Mary Concklin • Listo Para Iniciar Program, Bethel, Stamford, New Milford Visiting Extension Educator, Fruit Production and IPM

Advancing the Business of Farming in Connecticut in Partnership with Agriculture Learning Centers

Resources: UConn Extension Growing  Fruit production and IPM: [email protected]  Greenhouses: [email protected], Small Fruit [email protected] Commercially  Food Safety: [email protected]  Business & Risk Management: [email protected]  Pesticide Education: [email protected]  Food Systems: [email protected] Related Resources  Plant Diagnostics: [email protected]  UConn Soils Lab: [email protected], [email protected]

Advancing the Business of Farming in Connecticut in Partnership with Agriculture AgricultureLearning Centers Learning Centers

Opportunities: Fruit Production & IPM Other Farm Resources:  Crop Talk: Vegetable & Small Fruit Newsletter  CT Agricultural Experiment Station  UConn Fruit IPM Message via email, website  USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)  New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference  USDA Farm Service Industry (FSA)  CT Vegetable & Small Fruit Growers’ Conference  CT Department of Agriculture (CT DoAg)  New England Small Fruit Production Guide  CT Department of Environmental and Energy Protection  Special Topic Workshops/Conferences/Twilight (DEEP) Meetings  CT Farm Bureau  Beginning Farmer Training Courses  CT New Farmers’ Alliance  UConn IPM Website (www.ipm.uconn.edu/)/fact sheets  NE Vegetable & Berry Growers’ Association  Phone/email/on-farm consultations/trainings  NE SARE

1 Growing Need To Ask Yourself Small Fruit  What do you want to grow OR what does your Commercially market want you to grow  How are you going to market the crop  PYO insurance Pre-Plant Considerations  Do I have enough space for the type of market  Do I have the capital  Food safety plan  Pollination options Advancing the Business of Farming in Connecticut in Partnership with Agriculture AgricultureLearning Centers Learning Centers

http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx CLiCK

Compaction

 < ½” per hour poorly drained soil  ½” – 1” per hour moderately well drained  > 1” per hour well drained

2 Site Selection Topography

 Well drained soils  Organic matter at least 3%  Full sun  Currants and Alpine strawberries will do OK in partial shade

Critical Temperatures Site Selection

Blueberry TC Early Pink Late Pink Bloom - PF 20-23 23-25 24-27 28  Well drained soils Full Swell Bud Burst 1st leaf 2nd-4th leaf  OM at least 3% 21 25 27 28  Full sun Strawberry Tight Bud Popcorn Open Blossom Fruit Set  Currants and Alpine strawberries will do OK in 22 26 30 28 partial shade Bramble Full Bloom  Topography 28  Avoid planting in sod

Temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit

Existing vegetation Get rid of weeds, sod  Blackberry, blueberry and Black walnuts don’t go together.

Diagram courtesy of VA Tech

3 Cover Crops Cover Crops

 Increase OM  Annual ryegrass, oats,  Add nitrogen buckwheat do not  Loosen compacted soil overwinter   Attract beneficial Legumes: clovers, fescue, hairy vetch - Clover, mustard flowers  Non-legumes: wheat, oats,

Veggietgardeningips.com forage radishes, rye, barley,  Reduce soil erosion Indiana Museum of Art buckwheat, mustards  Suppress weeds

Nutrient Deficiencies Nutrient in excess Induced deficiency Nitrogen (N) K Phosphorus (P) Cu Potassium (K) N, Ca, Mg Sodium (Na) K, Ca, Mg Calcium (Ca) Mg, B Magnesium (Mg) Ca Iron(Fe) Mn Manganese (Mn) Fe Strawberry, Brambles Blueberry, Cranberry Copper (Cu) Fe

Rabbiteye Lowbush blueberry Vaccinium virgatum (also known as V. ashei) Vaccinium angustifolium  Low spreading  Native to southern USA  Spread by underground  Ripen late May – late July rhizomes  Wooded or open areas  Wild or managed stands  Harvest late July - August

www.informedfarmers.com www.extension.org Photo courtesy of NCSU

4 Half-high blueberry Highbush Blueberries Vaccinium corymbosum x V. angustifolium Vaccinium corymbosum  Northcountry, Northblue, Northsky, Northland,  Indigenous to North America Chippewa, Polaris  1st successful hybridization was in 1911  Exceptional cold hardiness  Grown commercially beginning in 1930s

 Root system 6” – 12” deep  Grows between and within soil and mulch 1. pH !  Canes develop at crown  Sensitive to changing water 2. pH ! conditions 3. pH !

5 Amount of Sulfur in Pounds per 100 Square Feet Required to Lower Soil pH Present pH Desired pH Value of 4.5 of soil Nitrogen deficiency Sand Loam Clay Or 4.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 Iron deficiency ? 5.0 0.4 1.2 1.4 5.5 0.8 2.4 2.6 6.0 1.2 3.5 3.7 6.5 1.5 4.6 4.8 7.0 1.9 5.8 6.0 7.5 2.3 6.9 7.1

 Self-pollination discouraged  Cross pollination strongly recommended  Native sonicating bees best  Bloom period of 7-20 days

Photo courtesy of Wilson Bros Nursery

Photo courtesy of Sandy Richards

 Ripen 2-3 months after bloom

Photo: NCSU.edu

Photo:extension.org

6 Plant Selection  Increase in size by ~35% AFTER fruit turn  Early season  Very late blue - Duke, Patriot - Elliot  Sugar content ~ doubles  Mid-season  At least 2 varieties  Ripe fruit are 85% H2O - Reka, Northland, Blueray  Highbush + lowbush +  Don’t pick early and - Bluecrop, Bluegold half-high put on shelf to ripen  Late mid-season - Chandler, Darrow  Late season - Nelson, Jersey

Planting & Care Planting & Care  Apply 4 - 6 inches mulch, flat top  Planting time  Between rows  Bare root or container - mulch, sod  Spring in northeast  Soak roots before or water immediately  Root pruning - NO

Photo: Marvin Pritts

3 years old plant

7 Pruning Blueberries  Year 3 onward  Timing  2 – 3 canes per year of growth  1st 2 – 3 years remove  No canes older than 6 years - Flower buds  Remove dead, low, weak - Dead wood canes - Broken wood - Diseased wood - Weak wood

Drawing courtesy of OSU

Dead canes

Weak canes Low canes

8 Rejuvenation

Brambles Rubus

R. idaeus – red and yellow raspberry R. occidentalis – black raspberry R. neglectus – purple raspberry R. fructicosus – blackberries

Other Brambles Other Brambles

 Dewberry: Rubus trivialis  Loganberry: Rubus x - Trailing habit, related to loganobaccus blackberry - Accidental cross between blackberry & red raspberry  Boysenberry: Rubus ursinus  Tayberry: Rubus fruticosus x x idaeus idaeus - Cross between raspberry, - Cross between black blackberry & loganberry raspberry & Loganberry

Photo Marvin Pritts

9 Planting & Care DON’T plant brambles or strawberries where . . .  Canes are hardy Tomatoes, potato, eggplant in past 4-5 - reds to -300F years: VerticilliumWilt - Others to -100F  Self-fruitful  Full sun

Photos courtesy of Oregon State Univ. Extension

Remove Weeds Fertility

Avoid potassium chloride fertilizer

Planting Pruning Floricane Fruiting Raspberry  Majority of roots in top 10” of soil Summer reds  ~10-20% in next 10”  Tipping  Shoot buds develop on roots  Timing  Shoot buds develop at  Remove spent fruiting crown canes, weak canes  Reduce row width to 1’  4-5 canes/linear ft of row Diagram U of Illinois Extension

Diagram U of Illinois Extension

10 Summer Bramble Training Systems

“I” trellis

“V” trellis Photos M. Pritts, Cornell

Photo courtesy of Marvin Pritts

Pruning Floricane Fruiting Black & Pruning Floricane Fruiting Black & Purple Raspberry & Blackberry Purple Raspberry & Blackberry

 Tipping early summer  Remove spent fruiting canes, weak canes - 3”-4” when canes at the wire  Leave 4-8 strong canes/crown  Winter tipping

Diagrams Purdue Univ Diagrams Purdue Univ

11  Stiles shift trellis - For semi-erect & trailing blackberries

Fall Fruiting Brambles aka - Everbearing

 Annual fruit production  Primocane bearing  Red & yellow raspberries  Blackberries

Fall bearing Brambles Pruning Fall bearing Brambles

 Red raspberries  Blackberries  After harvest, once plants - Heritage, Autumn Britton, - Prime Jan, Prime Jim, are dormant Caroline, Josephine, Prime Ark 45, Prime Ark Polana, Himbo Top, Freedom  Don’t leave long stubs Nantahala, Polka, Jaclyn, Joan J, Prelude  Black raspberries - Niwot

- Anne, Kiwigold, Fall Gold

12 Double Cropping

Diagram Purdue Univ

Strawberries Fragaria ananassa

Photo courtesy of U. of Ill. Extension

Site Selection & Preparation Types of Strawberries

 Avoid frost pockets  Alpine, Fragaria vesca - Red, white, yellow fruit - Full sun to partial shade

Photo Rareseeds.com

13 Types of Strawberries Pollination  June bearers  Self-fruitful - Early season: Chandler, Earliglow, Cavendish, Honeoye, Northeaster, L’amour - Mid-season: Allstar, Darselect, Jewel, Seneca, Ovation, Sparkle - Late season: AC Valley Sunset, Record  Everbearers or Day Neutrals - Everest, Tribute, Tristar, Seascape, Mara Des Bois, Evie 2 www.Bugguide.net

Parts of the Plant Fertility

Photo Univ of Minnesota Extension

Matted Row Planting System

 June Bearers - 12”-18” x 3’- 4’  Day Neutral - 6”- 9” x 9” between staggered rows, x 4’  Flower removal

Photo M. Pritts, Cornell

Univ of Alabama

14 Renovation Renovated  Mow off the plants  Remove diseased leaves  Thin plants  Improve sunlight penetration  4 - 6# 10-10-10/100’ of row after harvest  Add soil by root crown for Photo S. Schloemann root development

No Renovation Done Winter care

 200F crown damage

S. Schloemann

15 Currants & Gooseberries  R. sativum, R. rubrum (red)  R. hirtellum (American)  R. petraeum (white)  R. grossularia var. uva-  R. nigrum (black) crispa (European)  R. odoratum (native)

Varieties Varieties  Black Currants  White Currants  Red Gooseberries - Consort - Blanca - Hinnonmaki Red - Titania* - Pink Champagne - Tixia - Crusader  Native Currant - Captivator - Ben Sarek - Crandall - Pixwell  Red Currants - Poorman - Rovada - Jonkheer Van Tets  Green Gooseberries - - Invicta - Red Lake

Jostaberry Site Selection & Preparation

 Cross between gooseberry and black currant  Full sun to partial shade  Fruit similar to gooseberry  Well drained soils  Thornless  Resistant to White pine blister rust  OM at least 3%  Varieties  Soil pH 6.0 - 6.5 - Jostaki, Josta, Jostagrande  Tolerate -22 to -310F

16 Pruning  Fibrous root system  Raised bed /container  Dormant option  Year 1: 6 - 8 canes  Mulch 2”– 4”  Year 2: 4 – 5 canes  Avoid potassium chloride  Year 3: 3 – 4 canes  No fruit 1st year  Mature plants 9-12 stems  Harvest in July  Prune out all wood over 3 years old

Grapes Plant Selection V. vinifera - European  Table grapes V. labrusca - American - Concord - black V. rotundifolia - Muscadine - Thompson seedless – white* V. Vinifera cultivars X - – black* disease resistant wild - Canadice – red* American species – - Himrod – white* French hybrids - Reliance – red* - Seneca – white - Steuben – black

Plant Selection The Plant Photo courtesy of Cornell

: Red  Wine: White  Deep roots - Delaware -  3-in-1 buds - -  Cordon, shoots, tendril - - Frontenac Gris - - - - - Cabernet - Edelweiss - Merlot - Aurora

17 Planting & Care

 pH 5.5 – 7.0 • American: 5.5-6.0 • French/European: 6.5-7.0 • French/American: 6.0-6.5  No fertilizer at planting  Grow tubes  Remove flower buds 1st year

Pruning & Training

 Stake and tie 1st year  Remove lateral shoots on trunk  Choose training system

Bilateral Cordon Pruning & Training System  Balanced pruning - 30 + 10 system  Remove 70-90% of last year’s wood

Photo courtesy of OSU

18 Photo S. Schloemann

Cranberry  Plant fall or early spring Vaccinium macrocarpon  pH 4.0-5.0  Native to northeast  Shallow fibrous root system  Heath family Photo courtesy of Marvin Pritts  Wetland plant but…  Trailing plant  Rhizomes grow couple feet/yr  Uprights bear fruit

Photo courtesy of UMaine Wisconsincentral.net

 Varieties  Harvest in fall  Early Black - MA - Plants 2-3 years old  Howes - MA - Dry, wet  McFarlin - MA Photos courtesy of UMaine  Add thin layer of sand  Stevens - NJ after harvest every 2-3 years  Ben Lear - WI  Mulch late fall  Searles - WI  Prune runners not uprights

Photo Cranberries.org

19 Elderberry Sambucus nigra  Hardy to zone 4, some  Denmark Series lower - Samdal, Samyl  Soil pH 6.0 -6.8  NY Series  Shallow rooted - Adams No. 1 &s No. 2, York - Don’t allow to dry out year 1  Nova Scotia series  Weed management is - Johns, Kent, Nova, Scotia, critical Victoria  Flower in June  Missouri series - Bob Gordon, Wyldewood

Ripen in August-Sept Prune in dormant season

- No canes over 3 years - Thin to 6-8 canes - Prune all canes to the ground

Photo Barefootgrdnr.com

Photo Missouri Extension

Principles of Small Fruit IPM Integrated Pest Management  97% of insects that you see in your yard are beneficial or innocent bystanders and are not damaging plants.  Plants can tolerate some damage from pests.  Beneficials do not eat all pests, instead, pest and beneficial Syrphid larvae preying on an aphid. populations are kept

Diagram: Donn Johnson, U. of Arkansas in a balance.

20 IPM Tools You Will Need

 Understanding of key pests & diseases  Magnifier  Picture guides  Method for keeping track of observations  Knife  Traps and lures

Abiotic Disorders  Sunburn  Hail  Nutritional Lacewing Lady beetle  Chemical

Birds IPM Management: Birds

 Biggest problem in  Auditory scare tactics blueberries  37 species of birds are attracted to blueberries  No threshold www.wunderground.com

21 Physical Barriers IPM Management: Birds

 Auditory scare tactics  Visual scare tactics

Photo: River Valley Fencing

Deer and Rodents

 Girdle canes  Eat buds, foliage, fruit  IPM management  Exclusion  Repellents  Predators  Traps

Spotted Wing Drosophila Spotted Wing Drosophila IPM Drosophila suzukii

 Feed on wide range of fruit  Many alternate hosts  Female ID  8-12 generations/year - Serrated oviposter - Egg laying: over 300 eggs/female  Male ID Photos courtesy of Illinois.IPM.edu - Wings

22 Spotted Wing Drosophila IPM Brown Marmorated Stink Bug,

 Sanitation Life Cycle  Traps  Overwinters as adults   Insecticides Female lays up to 250 eggs into the summer  Ongoing research - Clustered 25-30 Damage  Suck juices from fruit  Inject yeast, bacteria

Photo: M. Raupp, Photo: stopbmsb.org UMD

FREE Download https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/444/444-356/444- Life Cycle 356_pdf.pdf

 5 nymphal stages  1-2 generations/year

Photo: StopBMSB.org

BMSB Monitoring Halyomorpha halys Photo: Buguide.net Rough Stink Bug Brochymena quadripustulata, Tedder traps + pheromone lure Photo: Bugguide.net - Not for trapping out Look-a-Likes - Modify top Placement - Border vegetation - Orchard/vineyard border row - Orchard/vineyard center Spined soldier bug Podisus maculiventris Dusky Stink Bug Threshold Photo: Marlin Rice Brown Stink Bug Euschistus tristigmus Euschistus servus Photo: Bugguide.net - Established for apples only so far Photo: Bugguide.net

Photo: M. Concklin

23 Management Cane Borers  Insecticides along border  Raspberry Cane Borer, Oberea bimaculata  Insecticides alternate middles  Red Necked Cane Borer, Agrilus ruficollis  Insecticides whole block  Currant Cane Borer, tipuliformis  Biological control - Trissolcus japonicas - Other parasitoids

Photo: stopbmsb.org

Photo VPI

Raspberry Cane Borer Raspberry Cane Borer IPM

 2 year life cycle  Management  2 rings of punctures ½ “  Remove wilted tip below apart, 6” below growing tip the rings - destroy  Hatch July  No biological control  Larvae burrows down cane to crown first year  Second year feed on crowns  Adults emerge following later spring-early summer

Purdue Purdue

Rednecked Cane Borer Rednecked Cane Borer IPM

 Adults feed on foliage through  Management summer - Sanitation: remove infested  Eggs inserted 10” from ground canes before June 1 in summer - Sanitation: proper pruning  Larvae tunnel into cane in fall and disposal of old canes  Swelling - No biological control  Adults emerge following late spring  Cane weakened

Purdue Purdue

24 Mummy Berry Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi Disease cycle

 Fungus overwinters in mummified  Fungus overwinters in Photo MSU fruit mummified berries  Cool rainy weather, 50-62 degrees F  Blooming forsythia  Spring: spores released, move by Cornell University  Spring infections bees, wind, rain  Primary & secondary  6-12 hours leaf wetness at 59 stages degrees  Blueray highly susceptible  Infect young tissue, then to petioles

Cornell University

Disease cycle Mummy Berry IPM

 Secondary stage – spores move to  Management open flowers  Forsythia & mummy cups  Fruit infected  Sanitation  Infected fruit mummify, drop to ground  Avoid susceptible varieties  Bluecrop, Blueray, Collins, Earliblue, Weymouth, Jersey, Berkley  Cover mummies 1” mulch  Fungicides

Leather Rot Phytophthora cactorum Red Stele Life Cycle Red Stele Phytophthora fragariae Phytophthora spp; Phytophthora cinnamomi  Wet soils fungal spores released  Soil borne  Favor soil temps of 44-60 degrees F  Causes fruit & crown rot  Infect root tip  Rain splashed from soil to fruit  Fungus grows into the root  Management - Avoid fruit - soil contact - Avoid water puddling - Mulch plants - Raised beds

Photo: F. Louws, NCState Photo Ontario Gov.

25 Cultural management - Plant resistant varieties AC Wendy, Annapolis, Early Glow, Cavendish, Allstar, Flavorfest, etc. - Certified disease-free plants - Good soil drainage - Raised beds - Sanitation: remove all of the infected plants’ parts

Photo courtesy of Marvin Pritts

Photo courtesy of Marvin Pritts

Gray Mold – Bunch Rot Cultural Management - Keep fruit off soil  Wet cool weather, high RH - Promote good air circulation - Avoid too much nitrogen  Stone fruit, berries, grapes - Avoid overhead watering  Life cycle - Plant disease free plants - OW in infected foliage, twigs, soil organic matter - Sanitation - Moves to healthy tissue, flowers, fruit - No 2 fruit touching - Picked fruit - Moves on new plants, cuttings

Grape Berry Grape Berry Moth IPM Endopiza vitana  2 - 3 generations per year  Management  OW in debris, woodlots as pupae  Remove wild grapes  Adults emerge spring  Look for OW larvae  1st generation lay eggs on blossom  Monitor with GBM traps clusters, stems  Monitor clusters – threshold ~3% infested clusters  Larvae feed on flowers, fruit clusters  Sanitation: rake & dispose of leaves  2nd generation lays eggs on berries  Larvae feed internally  3rd generation in late July

26 Grape Berry Moth IPM Black Rot Guignardia bidwellii

Duration of continuous leaf wetness  Management  Life cycle necessary for infection by Guignardia  Insecticides  Over-winter in mummies bidwellii at different temperatures Temperature Hrs of leaf wetness  Kaolin clay repellent  Spring rains release spores 45 No infection  Biological control minimal with Trichogramma  Bud break – veraison 50 24 minutum  Young plant tissue more 55 12 susceptible 60 9 65 8 70 7 75 7 80 6 85 9 90 12

Black Rot IPM  Period of susceptibility - Foliage until finish expansion  Management - Fruit 3-5 weeks after bloom - Sanitation – remove & destroy all mummies - V. vinifera most susceptible - Mulch  Symptoms - Good air circulation - Fruit symptoms appear within 2 weeks - Leaf removal during season - Infections near veraison show - Fungicides symptoms 3-5 weeks later - Foliage: lesion center becomes reddish brown

Photo extension.org Photos courtesy of Purdue

Questions?

Photo credits, unless otherwise specified: Mary Concklin Advancing the Business of Farming in Connecticut in Partnership with Agriculture Learning Centers

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