Roasting August Heat Creates a Wonderland of Pathologies in Strawberry

Hi folks, I've had some questions lately on how the summer heat has been affecting strawberries, so I thought I'd get some pictures together and accompany them with some comments and insight.

Bottom line is that the heat is really killing the berries.  

Softened fruit by heat has rendered it susceptible to vinegar flies, of which a maggot is clearly visible.

An apparently sound fruit is...

Not so sound on the other side. Take care on picking, this comes down to have good quality control.

Speaking of quality control, you need to be looking for soft spots anywhere on the fruit, which generally are the mark of an active SWD larva. Many times the area is darkened, but can also form a slight depression like what you see here.

Post about fruit problems so don't want to spend too much time on this, but really hot weather only exacerbates existing problems from root disease.

Seriously, the problems from this heat wave are pretty bad.

Depiction of good strategy for mitigating later problems. Remove damaged fruit from the plant and discard into the furrow. The drying fruit kills most fly pupae, and not a great substrate for fungal propagation.

Less common this time around in the fields, quite probably because the humidity, ie water droplets suspended in the air scattering damaging UV radiation, is sunburn.

Probably the best solution for making money in agriculture in high temperatures is to grow parsley. Doing great, no disease or anything.

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