Grapes are at the 4 to 8 inch stage in Lafayette. Blackberries are just starting to bloom. Raspberries have a few flower buds starting to show. Strawberry bloom continues. Blueberries are at petal fall. Fruit set for apples and peaches has generally been adequate and thinning will be necessary. Cloudy weather during early fruit development[Read More…]
Strawberry
In Lafayette grapes are at bud break to 2-inch shoots. Blackberries are at 3 to 4-inch shoots with flower clusters showing, and raspberries are at 2-3 inch shoots. Strawberries are just starting to bloom. Apples in the northern half of the state are approaching full bloom whereas petal fall is more common in more southern[Read More…]
The 2016 Midwest Fruit Pest Management Guide (ID-465) is available for purchase from the Purdue Education Store. This publication replaces two previous annual publications: The Midwest Tree Fruit Spray Guide (ID-168) and The Midwest Small Fruit and Grape Spray Guide (ID-169). This guide provides pest management recommendations for commercial tree fruit, small fruit, and grape[Read More…]
There has been some talk about the use of promalin to help overcome the damaging effects of freezing temperatures. Only a small amount of research has been conducted on this. Dr Steve McArtney showed that promalin applied after damaging freeze events could increase parthenocarpic (seedless) fruit development. Keep in mind this was only shown to[Read More…]
What is the best way to assess bud damage from cold temperatures? Drs. Tara Baugher and Jim Schupp at Penn. State University have put together a nice page with some excellent photos explaining how to assess fruit bud survival: http://extension.psu.edu/plants/tree-fruit/news/2016/assessing-fruit-bud-survival-and-crop-potential I would add that unless you find that more than 90% of your buds have[Read More…]
Frost and freeze damage was minor in small fruits and grapes. Below is a review of general guidelines for when we expect damage to buds, flowers and fruit. Developmental stage 10% kill (°F) 90% kill (°F) Apples Silver tip 15 2 Green tip 18 10 Half-inch green 23 15 Tight cluster 27 21 Pink 28[Read More…]
The proper time to remove straw from matted row strawberries is when the bare-soil temperature at 4 inches averages about 40-43˚F. This usually coincides with mid to late March in central Indiana. This year is earlier than average with temperatures well into the 50s already by March 15. Plants will begin pushing new leaves as[Read More…]
Last August, we set up a high tunnel strawberry variety trial at Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center. There are 10 strawberry varieties including 3 dayneutral varieties and 7 June-bearings. Thanks to the nice fall weather, we did have a fall/winter harvest on dayneutral (Albion, Sweet Ann and San Andrea) and two early June-bearing varieties (Sweet Charlie[Read More…]