Crop Management
First, my apologies for sending this out late. This was a relatively early year for strawberries and by now, most harvest is over. As soon as harvest is done, it’s time to begin the renovation process. Matted row strawberry plantings must be renovated each year to establish new crowns for the following year’s crop. For[Read More…]
It may seem like the worst is over, but apple growers should continue to be vigilant and apply fungicides even as we approach the end of the ascospore discharge period. Leaves are still highly susceptible to both primary and secondary apple scab infection until the terminal bud has set and the leaves have hardened off.[Read More…]
In Lafayette, fruit crops are progressing normally. Strawberry harvest is winding down and quite of bit of leaf spot is showing up. We have our first ripe fruit on summer red raspberries. All brambles are showing signs of freeze damage from the mid-March event. Weak and collapsing fruiting laterals are common. Grapes are from late[Read More…]
Canopy management is a critical production practice for improved sunlight exposure. Pulling shoots off the top of the rows improves sunlight exposure to the leaves at the base of the shoots. Those nodes will be the ones saved as spurs next year during pruning and sunlight improves bud fruitfulness and cane hardiness. Shoot positioning is[Read More…]
One of the most important management practices for production of blackberries and black raspberries is summer tipping of the primocanes. This practice removes the apical dominance of the shoot tip, resulting in several lateral branches below the tip, and a stronger primocane. Next year’s crop will primarily be produced from buds on the lateral branches,[Read More…]
The Office of the Indiana State Chemist has filed a Notice of Intent to Adopt a New Rule that will make most dicamba containing herbicides Restricted Use Products (RUP). This designation will allow the OISC to track sales of those herbicides. As many specialty crop growers know, dicamba is one of the growth regulator herbicides[Read More…]
Tipping of primocanes (new vegetative canes from the ground) is an important management practice for summer bearing blackberries and black raspberries. Tipping the new primocanes causes lateral branching and most of the fruit production next year will be from buds on those lateral branches rather than buds off the main cane. Tipping also helps increase[Read More…]
Growers across the state experienced some damage from frost and freeze events on May 7, 8, and 9. Damage is scattered across the state and ranges from minor to severe. We did not have damage in the Lafayette area, but areas of northern and northeastern Indiana were hit. Surprisingly some damage occurred in south central[Read More…]