Transcript Production of Strawberries in Florida

Production of
Strawberries in
Florida
Monica Cooper
Field Preparation
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Clear all debris
Construct raised beds
Fumigate
2 weeks later, set transplants (15-16 in.)
Transplant selectionearly season yield
3 varieties/field
‘Sweet Charlie’ & ‘Camarosa’
Gulf Coast Research & Education Center
Dover, FL
The Pathogens
Botrytis cinerea
 Colletotrichum acutatum
 Colletotrichum gloeosporioides
 Colletotrichum fragariae
 Xanthomonas fragariae
 Sphaerotheca macularis
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Gray mold
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Botrytis cinerea
Small, firm, light brown
spots
Fruit eventually covered
with gray mass of
mycelium
Invades blossoms, then
infects maturing fruit
Postharvest
Management
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Leaf sanitation & plant spacing
Cultivars with smaller calyxes
Partially resistant cultivars
Biological controls
Treat transplants
Broad spectrum fungicide on
weekly basis
Iprodione during peak bloom
periods
Postharvest:
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Avoid overripe or
damaged fruit
 Avoid injury
 Cool fruit
 Maintain in CO2 rich
atmosphere
Anthracnose fruit rot
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Colletotrichum acutatum
Round, firm, sunken
lesions on fruit
Pink, orange, salmoncolored spore masses
Favored by warm
temperatures & rainfall
May cause serious losses
in nursery
Management practices
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Avoidance
 Resistance
 Use minimal amounts of Nitrogen
 Remove infected fruit from field
 Captan or Thiram (protectant)
 Quadris (azoxystrobin)
Anthracnose crown rot
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Colletotrichum
gloeosporioides
 Colletotrichum fragariae
 Wilting & death
 Temperature dependent
 Warm weather & frequent
rainfall
 Reddish brown rot or
streaking in the tissue of
the crown
Management
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Preventative
End of season removal
of inoculum
Resistant cultivars
Benlate (benomyl)
Topsin M
(thiophanate-methyl)
Angular leaf spot
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Xanthomonas
fragariae
Angular, water soaked
leaf spots
Translucent lesions
Very resistant to
desiccation
May become systemic
Angular leaf spot
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Prevention
 No resistant commercial cultivars
 Copper containing bactericides
Sphaerotheca macularis
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Powdery mildew
White, web-like
growth
Undersides of leaves
Cool
High humidity
Severe in
glasshouses &
tunnels
Management
Clean stock
 Destroy leaves on
which pathogen
overseasons
 Protectant fungicide
 Resistant varieties
(‘Sweet Charlie’)
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The Arthropod Pests
Twospotted spider mite
 Armyworms
 Thrips
 Field cricket
 Sap beetle
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Tetranychus urticae
88% of growers
 Warm, spring
weather
 Reduce yield
 Blooms and
developing fruit
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Spider mite
Clean transplants
 Beneficial mites
(30% of growers)
 Miticides
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undersides of leaves
Fall & Southern Armyworms
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Spodoptera
fruqiperda
Spodoptera eridania
Larvae feed on fruit
& leaves
 Prefer young,
developing leaves
 Nocturnal
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Management practices
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MonitoringSept. through Dec.
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Bacillus thuringiensis
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Methomyl
Flower thrips
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Frankliniella
cephalica
Wind-borne
 Rasp flowers
 Mistaken for
powdery mildew,
spray burn damage
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Field cricket
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Gryllus firmus & G.
rubens
2-5 months after
beds covered
 Nymphs & adults
feed on crowns &
scrape seeds from
green fruits
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Scouting
 Insecticides
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Sap beetle
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Lobiopa insularis
Minor concern
 Overripe, damaged
berries
 Disseminate fruit rot
pathogens
 Warm weather
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Management
Maintain sound fruit
 Don’t leave overripe fruit in field
 Harvest all areas of field
 Scout
 Insecticides, only in case of population
explosion
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Beneficial Arthropods
Predaceous mite
 Sixspotted thrips
 Lady beetle larva
 Minute pirate bug larva
 Hover fly
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Phytoseiulus persimilis
Orange, shiny
 Faster than spider
mites
 Specialized predator
of webspinning
spider mites
 Careful in choice of
insecticides
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Sixspotted thrips
Feeds on mites,
other small
arthropods
 3 dark spots on
each forewing
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Minute pirate bug larva
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Orius insidiosus
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Thrips, mites, mite
eggs, aphids
Hover fly
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Flower fly, syrphid
fly
Mistaken for fruit fly
Distinguished by
ability to hover & fly
backwards
Adultpollinators
Larvaepredaceous
on aphid
Insecticides & Miticides
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Methyl bromide
Methomyl (Lannate)
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Armyworm
65-80% acreage
3-5.2 times/season
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Vendex
Mite
31-61% acreage
1.7-4.8 times/season
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Mite
68-83% of acreage
2.5-3.4 times/season
Diazinon
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Fenbutatin-oxide
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Abamectin (Agri-Mek)
Armyworm
24-35% of acreage
2.5-3.4 times/season
Naled (Dibrom)
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15% acreage
2.2-3.1 times/season
More chemicals
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Carbaryl (Sevin)
11% of acreage
 2.6 times/season
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Bacillus thuringiensis
When populations of worms low
 57-65% of acreage
 4.2-5.2 times/season
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Weeds
Several grasses &
broadleaf weeds
 Managed mainly by
fumigation & plastic
mulch
 Weeds problem in:
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Row middles
Planting holes
Perimeter of field
Nutsedge:
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Most troublesome
Not managed by
plastic mulch
Weed management
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Cultivation of row middles
Hand weeding
Plastic mulches
Cover crops, sods, living mulches
Fallowing
Herbicides
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Applied to row middles
Rotate herbicides due to changing weed population over 6-7
month season
Herbicides
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Paraquat (Gramoxone)
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Postemergence
Annual broadleaf & grasses
Top kill of perennials
Non-selective, need shield to protect berries
82-98% of acreage, 1.7-1.9 applications/season
Napropamide (Devrinol)
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Annual grasses & broadleaf weeds
Not effective on established weeds
Not from bloom to harvest
25% of acreage, 1.23 applications/season
Nematodes
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Sting
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Root knot
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Belonolaimus
longicaudatus
Meloidogyne spp.
Foliar
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Aphelenchoides sp.
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Make plants more
susceptible to:
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Drought
Salt damage
Other pathogens
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Fusarium sp.
Pythium sp.
Sting nematode
Ectoparasite
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Nurseries
Transplants
Sandy soil
 25-30oC
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Symptoms:
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Well defined borders
Dead transplants
Stunting, decline,
dormancy
Browning of leaf edges
On roots:
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Overall, coarse
appearance
Tips injured
No new growth
Lack of feeder roots
Nematodes
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Sampling
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At end of growing season
When soil damp, not
soggy or dry
10-20 samples at depth
of 6-10 inches
Management
practices:
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Preplant or postharvest
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Clean stock
Destroy crop at end
of season
Fallowing with
frequent tillage
Cover crop
Crop rotation
Chemicalmost
common
Methyl bromide
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January 1, 2005
Soil fumigant
Controls
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Weeds
Nematodes
soil-borne pathogens &
insects
Telone C-17 or C-35 with
Devrinol
Telone EC
Mulches, cover crops
Tunnel system
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Decrease disease
 Increase early season
yields
 Where water is
limiting factor
 ‘Sweet Charlie’