Strawberries

Sunscald on Blackberry

I made a visit to a beautiful blackberry field a few days ago and was shown this example of sunscald, in this case on mature Ouachita blackberry. Notice these are not tunneled, and also one observes immediately that only the part of the fruit facing the sun is affected.

While today it started to become quite warm - thinking it'll be hitting a toasty 80 degrees here before long - this was not the situation when the damage occurred on these fruits a few days ago.  More likely, this is a case of ultraviolet radiation (UV) striking and engendering dysfunction in those druplets (the juice filled sacs which compose in aggregate what people know as the blackberry fruit) which are now discolored.   

It is not uncommon to see this disorder right around this time of year, coming so soon as it does after the summer solstice, which we all know is June 21 and the longest day of year.  Which means the greatest amount of UV exposure of the year for everything outside.

This is also the time of year when I get the most calls about aborted flowers in strawberry, and sure enough one photo already floated into my phone this morning, some varieties are more sensitive to UV.  Meaning that the lengthy exposure of flowers to this radiation during the day of and days before and after the solstice is the time that people tend to see this type of damage. 

 

 

Sunscald on Ouachita blackberry.

UC Cooperative Extension Santa Cruz County Has Moved!

Just to let you all know we completed our move from our office we've been at for 56 years into a new facility at 500 Westridge Drive which while on the other side of town.  This is part of a re-organization by the County of Santa Cruz to provide more services to the people residing in the south part of the County.

Our main telephone line is unchanged at 831 763 8001, and obviously email contact remains the same.

 

Signs on the door indicating our change of address

Map showing our new UCCE address and how to get there from the old one. Please call 831 763 8001 before you go.

UC Experts Talk: Lygus bugs and Strawberry available on YouTube

In case any of you missed the talk (or missed a point, I went rather quickly) I gave last week for the UC Experts Talk on lygus bugs in strawberry, it is now on YouTube.  Thank you to all of you who listened in, I think it went well, in particular because I had such great support from Cheryl Reynolds and Petr Kosina from the UC ANR Statewide IPM Program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Mj8OAL_uc

 

 

 

UC Ag Experts Talk: Lygus bugs in Strawberry

I've been invited to give a talk on lygus bug management in strawberry by the UC Ag Expert Talk series :  

As all California strawberry growers, PCA's and farm managers know, lygus bugs are a serious pest of strawberry, and they cause big losses statewide. The webinar will cover the description and biology of lygus bugs and their relationship to strawberry, including the role of the surrounding environment on lygus bug severity. Biological control, pheromones, along with traditional management methods and advances in managing lygus will also be discussed. It's a full hour with time for questions and answers at the end.

Date and time: June 5 at 3 pm Pacific

CEU's have been applied for.

You have to register, and so follow the link here:

 

https://ucanr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l174WSTYTmWOtmXfhiPWrw#/registration

 

 

Three More Updated Cost of Production Studies Available for Central Coast Berries

My UC colleagues, including Emeritus Advisor Laura Tourte with whom I have worked together with so well on these studies for many years, and I have been working at a blistering pace over the past few months and completed updating three more studies for Central Coast Berry Production.

This work was emphatically not only us academics, but a great many area berry growers, who generously provided up to date information on production methods and costs with just dynamite insight all the time.  These studies would be not realistic at all would we not count with the assistance of so many people.  So THANK YOU to you growers, really it's great to be working with all of you!! 

The links for each of the three studies are included here:

Blackberries

https://coststudyfiles.ucdavis.edu/2024/04/23/2024Blackberries-CorrectedFINAL-APRIL2024.pdf

Fresh Market Organic Strawberries

https://coststudyfiles.ucdavis.edu/2024/05/10/2024OrgStrawberries-FINAL-May2024.pdf

Fresh Market Conventional Strawberries

https://coststudyfiles.ucdavis.edu/2024/04/04/2024Strawberry-FULL-FINAL-March2024.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

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