Strawberries: June-bearing harvest continues here in Norfolk county and has begun this week in later parts of the province, and pick-your-own operations are opening. Harvest will begin this weekend in central and Eastern Ontario in time for the long weekend. The June crop continues to look great, and it will be a long harvest as some late varieties are still in bloom.
Fall-planted day-neutral harvest is wrapping up in southern Ontario, and is beginning in Eastern Ontario. Spring-planted day-neutrals will being harvest in a few weeks.
Insects: Watch for Potato leafhoppers, thrips, winged strawberry aphids, and cyclamen mites this week. Continue to spray for aphids and tarnished plant bugs as necessary.
Tarnished plant bugs (TPB): In fields with bloom and green fruit continue to check for TPB, and apply an insecticide when 25% of blossom clusters are infested. Beleaf and Rimon work best on small TPB nymphs.
Strawberry Aphids & Virus: virus symptoms have been found in a few June-bearing fields. It is very important to control aphids through the season, including in new plantings. Winged aphids have been found now which means they are flying to new fields and potentially spreading virus. In new plantings options include Cygon or Lagon, Admire, Assail, Sivanto Prime, Exirel, Beleaf, or Vegol Crop Oil.
Thrips: fruit bronzing from thrips damage has started to show up. Check blossoms by gently blowing on them and under calyces for small yellow thrips. Check day-neutral and late June-bearing varieties. Delegate and Exirel are registered for thrips suppression. Note the precautions when applying Exirel: do not apply or make sequential applications with Group 11 fungicides, captan or maestro, folpan or bravo.
Cyclamen mites: Damage continues to be found in June bearing strawberries. If harvest has begun plan to apply a miticide after renovation if necessary, or flag problem areas for next spring. If control is necessary and harvest hasn’t started, you can apply Agri-mek. Agri-mek has a 3-day PHI. Make sure to slow down, get thorough coverage, and use a non-ionic surfactant.
Disease: Continue to protect your fields during and after bloom. Additional fungicides may be needed this year in June-bearing fields due to the regular rain we’ve been having. Anthracnose and botrytis have been found in June-bearing fields. Anthracnose is a threat when there is warm and rainy weather. Choose products for botrytis that will also control anthracnose, including Captan, Maestro, Switch, Pristine, and Diplomat (suppression only of botrytis). Tank-mix group 11 products with a Group M product for resistance management.
Blueberries: Green fruit is present and early harvest could begin the second week of July.
Insects: Petal fall is an important time for cranberry and cherry fruitworm. If this pest has been building up you may need a second insecticide 7-14 days after the first.
The PHI for Delegate to control SWD on blueberries has been reduced through the minor use program. The PHI is now down to 1 day, which should help manage maintaining insecticide coverage with regular picking.
Raspberries: bloom is finishing up in southern Ontario and green fruit is present. The first harvest has begun in the south-west.
Insects: Potato leafhoppers can damage new leaves in raspberries. Spray before bloom in fall-bearing raspberries if necessary.
Spotted Wing Drosophila: SWD has been caught in Norfolk, Kent and Essex county and Niagara in low numbers (1-2). This is the second week for trap catches in Norfolk county, which mean insecticides may be necessary now in Norfolk if there is ripe fruit present. Insecticides will likely be needed on late strawberry varieties and summer-fruiting raspberries in other parts of the province.
Source : Onfruit.Ca