Soil Health for Vegetable Growers Workshop

Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern New York Horticultural Program is hosting a soil health workshop on November 1. Here are the details:

Wednesday, November 1 from 9:30 am - 2:30pm

Whallonsburg Grange, 1610 Route 22, Essex, NY

Cost: $30 per person

Join us for presentations, discussions, and hands-on demonstrations focusing on soil health concepts and best management practices for vegetable growers. Topics include tarping, maintaining soil health in high tunnels, cover cropping, reduced tillage, compost microbiology, and more.

1.75 DEC pesticide recertification credits are available in categories 1A, 10, and 23. Register by October 27. For more information or to request accommodations, contact Elisabeth Hodgdon, eh528@cornell.edu or (518) 650-5323. Register for the workshop here.

Agenda

9:30 am: Welcome & introductions, coffee & refreshments

9:45 am: Soil health concepts and the effects of soil type, cropping system, and management on soil health (Joseph Amsili, Cornell Soil Health Initiative)

10:15 am: Explore the intricate world of the soil food web (John Culpepper and Jennifer Perry, Compost for Good)

11:00 am: Tarping research updates (Crystal Stewart-Courtens, CCE Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program and Philia Farm)

11:30 am: Cover cropping in reduced tillage systems (Jean-Paul Courtens, Philia Farm)

 12:00 pm: Grower panel and discussion: How we maintain soil health using tarps, reduced tillage, and other practices (Lissa Goldstein, Wild Work Farm; Adam Reed, Tangleroot Farm; TBD)

 12:30: Lunch

 1:00 pm: Maintaining soil health in high tunnels (Jud Reid, CCE Cornell Vegetable Program and Harvest NY)

 1:45 pm: Tying together soil health and climate change resiliency (Kitty O’Neil, CCE North Country Regional Ag Team)

 2:15 pm: Overview of services offered by the Essex County Soil & Water Conservation District and the Lake Champlain Basin Program (Alice Halloran, ECS&WCD and Myra Lawyer, LCBP)

This workshop is sponsored by the Northern NY Agricultural Development Program and the New York Farm Viability Institute.

May Berry Maintenance

May Berry Maintenance

Adapted from Cornell ENYCHP’s Berry News

Strawberries

• Inspect irrigation equipment and row cover. Make sure you have an adequate temperature detection system at the field level, especially for frost protection.

• Red stele, the common name for root and crown rot of strawberry, is caused by the fungus Phytophthora fragariae. Leather rot of the fruit is caused by Phytophthora cactorum. Earlier in the season, Ridomil and phosphorus acid products (such as ProPhyt) are recommended as soil drenches in fields where flooding was a problem last fall. Those same products can be added to bloom sprays if extended wet fields or overhead iirrigation because of frost were problems, or if leather rot has been a problem in past years. Add these products at first bloom. Straw mulch helps minimize the water splashing that spreads leather rot.

• Spray early for best leaf spot control, if leaf spot incidence has been increasing in your area.

• Consider strawberry pre‐plant herbicide options. Prowl H20 or Chateau are both great. Depending on your weed pests, you may want to try Dual magnum or Goal 2XL. Both of them have timing limitations, so read the label carefully.

Blueberries

• Green tip sprays for mummyberry and Botrytis should be applied now. Abound and Indar are labelled for both diseases, but there are other choices as well. Check the guidelines on the label.

• Prepare for nutrient applications in May and again in early June. Review foliar tests. Apply sulfur if soil pH is higher than 5.2 – 200#/A is the maintenance rate that should be applied 1‐2 times annually to prevent soil pH from creeping up. Remember that the target pH is 4.5. Make sure soil boron or foliar boron tests show that those levels are appropriate.

• To improve pollination of blueberries, plan on adding bumblebee hives into the planting. Stocking density of hives varies greatly depending on the variety of berry you are growing. Ask your local extension agent for details.

Brambles

• Brambles are breaking dormancy in all but most northern locations.

• Complete the necessary pruning, to keep cane density at no more than 4 canes per square foot. There may be some winter injury, so look for that and prune it out.

• Bud break is the trigger for sprays to control anthracnose, spur blight, and cane blight.

• Apply early season herbicides. Casoron 4G (granular) can be used in caneberries. The same caveats listed above for blueberry apply. Casoron CS can be applied a bit later, but still needs to be incorporated by rainfall, before weed germination; it is labeled for blackberry and raspberries if applied before new shoot emergence. Don’t delay: you are running out of time, and the southernmost counties are likely too far along to use Casoron safely and effectively.

• Watch for raspberry fruitworm feeding on new leaves.

Juneberries (Saskatoons)

• Now is the time to spray for apple curculio and/or saskatoon sawfly if you’ve had damage in past years. The larval stages of these insects feed inside the developing berries, resulting in fruit losses or the presence of insects inside fruits at harvest. Treat if damage to berries exceeded 10% last season. Products include Molt‐X (10 fl oz/A) or SuffOil‐X (1 – 2 gal/100 gal) or PyGanic 1.4 ECII (16‐64 fl oz/A).

• There are relatively few pesticides registered for use on this crop. Even for products that are registered, there is limited information on the efficacy of the active ingredients against specific saskatoon pests. Therefore, the recommendations are based largely on how well the pesticides are known to work on related pest species on other fruit crops.

Ribes

• Powdery mildew sprays (many organic options including oil, Kailgreen, sulfur and Actinovate, but also Rally, Cabrio, and Rampart) should begin now if this has been a problem in the past.

Western New York Berry Update

Western New York Berry Update

April 3, 2020

By Esther Kibbe

Western New York Berry Specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension

April 3, 2020

Strawberries

New leaves are starting to push under the straw. With no extended cold in the forecast, research has shown that it is better to remove straw early, if leaves are emerging, rather than basing it on the calendar. Consider getting out there to rake it off soon.

This is also the time to apply preemergent herbicides against annual weeds. Chateau or Devrinol can be used. Aim, Axxe and Gramoxone are options as more weeds emerge, or against winter annuals, but should be applied with a shielded sprayer.

Strawberry leaves emerging from the crown.

Blueberries

Depending on microclimate, buds are just swelling to early green-tip. If you haven’t already, this is the time to go after cane diseases (Phomopsis, Botrytis, Fusicoccum) with a delayed dormant spray of lime sulfur or copper. Several fungicides are also labeled for these, but I would save them unless you are dealing with a severe, recurring level of infection.

As you finish pruning, be sure to cut out any diseased canes and gall wasp galls. Start planning your spring herbicide applications. Blueberries have many herbicide options—the best choice depends on what your weed issues are.

Blueberry buds are between bud-swell and early green tip.

Raspberries

Still looking pretty dormant. Copper, dormant oil or lime sulfur sprays can be applied for cane blights. This is the time to get started on weed control: Devrinol, Surflan, Sinbar for preemergent weeds (annuals), Axxe for post-emergent broadleaves, and Poast or Fusilade for perennial grasses.