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Outline

• Planning the Site

• Pruning/Training

• Irrigating

• Fertilizing

• Maintenance

• Harvesting

• Post Harvest

• Pest/Disease Issues

• By plant:• Strawberry• Blueberry

• Brambles• Blackberry

• Raspberry

Berry Planning

• Benefits of Growing Small Fruits:• Taste

• Availability

• Cost

• Fun

Berry Planning

• Limit size of planting to needs

• Site should be fertile & well-drained

• Moderately elevated or sloped site is beneficial

• Convenient location

• Choose cultivars adapted to your region

• Make certain planting stock is certified virus-free

Site Preparation

• Add organic matter prior to planting

• Avoid sites where Verticillium wilt may be present• Avoid tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, melons,

okra, peas, beets, or roses in the last 3-5 years

• Turn sod under a year prior to planting

• Most prefer slightly acidic soil (5.5-7.5); blueberries require acidic soil (pH 4.8-5.2)

Planting

• Buy the best plants available

• Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberry plants should all be virus free

• Tissue culture plants may be a better option though more expensive

• Order early to get desired cultivars• Nov-Dec

• Specify delivery date

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Planting

• Choosing Cultivars• Select cultivars for high fresh eating quality or for

preserving, or both

• Disease resistance and winter hardiness important

• Choose both early and late cultivars for an extended harvest

Planting

• Sources• Stark Bros

• http://www.starkbros.com/

• Burpee• http://www.burpee.com/fruit-plants/

• Gurneys• http://www.gurneys.com/category/fruits-and-berries/a

Planting

• Plants are normally held in cold storage after digging in fall

• Soak bare-root plants a couple hours before planting

• Plant as soon after arrival as possible

• Water regularly during establishment

© Formulax

Strawberry -Fragaria x ananassa

Types of Strawberries• June bearing – one crop in late

spring (better overall yield)

• Everbearing – several flushes of flowers and fruits each season

• Day neutral – flower and fruit continuously through growing season (unless too hot)

Select Strawberries Based On:

• Maturation date

• Dessert quality

• Preserving quality

• Disease resistance

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Site selection

• Grow well in most garden soil but require high level of soil fertility for optimal production

• Ideal pH of 5.5-6.5

• Work in manure, compost or fertilizer prior to planting

Planting

• Plant as soon as the ground can be prepared in the spring

• But not if soil is too wet

• Best done in March or April

• Cloudy day or late afternoon or evening is best

Matted Row

• Most popular for June-bearing berries

• Set plants 18-30” apart

• Rows 3-4’ apart

• Daughter plants allowed to root freely

Spaced Row

• Similar spacing as matted row

• But daughter plants are spaced to root no closer than 4” apart

• All other runners cut off

• Such spacing gives optimal growing conditions

• More labor, but higher yields, larger berries, and fewer disease problems

Hill System

• Best for everbearing and day neutral cultivars

• All runners are removed

• Multiple rows arranged in groups of 2, 3, or 4 plants with a 2’ walkway

• Plants 1’ apart

Pruning/Training

Pyramids

No trellising required

Pallet Planting

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Irrigation

• One inch per week

• Drip Irrigation• Reduces disease

• Water early

• Mulch• Hold water

• Reduce weeds

© hswstatic.com

Fertilization

• June-bearing plants don’t produce many runners by mid-July • Apply compost or an organic fertilizer

• Before plants begin growth in the spring of year 2 • Compost or organic nitrogen may be needed

Maintenance

• Remove flowers upon planting for 6 weeks

• Thinning:• Hill System: Cut Runners as they appear

• Matted-row: Remove surplus plants from outside rows – late summer

• Winter Cover: 4-6 inches straw• Rake off in spring, leave at base and in walkways

Follow this simple calendar of tasks to keep your strawberries healthy and productive throughout the season.

Things to do April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov

Plant dormant transplants. x xPlant potted transplants. x xPinch flower buds off transplants for a few weeks. xThin June-bearing plants within two weeks after harvest.

x

Apply compost to day neutral plants if needed. x x

Remove runners from June-bearing plants as needed.

x x x x

Cover plants with straw mulch if overwintering. x

Rake straw away as plants start to grow, leaving a little.

x

Weed Control

• Prepare your site prior to planting

• Remove weeds throughout the growing season

• Proper mulching aids in weed control

• Weed control before planting – Perennials• Stage of growth is important

• Fall application best

• Weed control before planting

• Annuals: IPM Techniques

Harvesting• Coolest parts of the day

• Early Morning

• Afternoon/Evening

• Don’t Harvest when wet

• Uniformly red, firm, flavorful, and free of defects and disease

• Harvest crew training critical• Grading

• Sizing

• Packaging

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Post Harvest• Extremely perishable

• Temperature management

• Forced-air cooling is highly recommended

• Store at 32 °F • 90 to 95% RH

• Can be stored for up to 7 days

• Disease is the greatest cause of postharvest loss

• Shelf-life: • 7 days at 37 °F

• 5 days at 41 °F

Nitrogen deficiency

• Results in smaller plants

• Older leaves develop a reddish color

• Symptoms most apparent in late summer

Phosphorus Deficiency

• Older leaves develop a purplish cast

• Younger leaves turn dark green

• Levels tend to decline after fruiting

Potassium Deficiency

• Symptoms appear first on older leaves as marginal necrosis

• Leaflet petioles may become necrotic

• Leaflets may darken

• Levels may decrease as crop load increases

Calcium Deficiency

• Soft fruit

• Leaf tips turn brown and do not completely expand

• Runner plants turn brown

• New leaves may develop interveinal necrosis

Boron Deficiency

• Poor root growth

• Stunted plants

• Asymmetrical leaf development

• Berries can be deformed

Photo credit: Cornell University

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Strawberry Pest

Leaf Scorch

• Fungal disease

• Use resistant cultivars

• Timely renovation removes most inoculum

Leaf Spot

• Fungal Disease

• Very common

• Uses resistant cultivars

• Fungicide treatments

Verticillium Wilt

• Fungal disease

• Soil-borne disease

• Use resistant varieties

• Rotate on a 3-5 year schedule.

• Avoid planting in areas where other susceptible crops have been planted

• Tomatoes, cucurbits, roses

Red Stele

• Fungal disease

• Avoid planting in low, wet spots

• Plant on raised beds

• Some varieties are more resistant than others.

Sap Beetles

• Sap beetles feed on plant sap exuding from wounds, fungi, and ripe fruit.

• These beetles can spread rot-causing disease organisms from fruit to fruit.

• Difficult to control with insecticides because of pre-harvest intervals.

• Sanitation is the best control measure.1/8 inch long

¼ inch long

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Other Strawberry Pests• Tarnished plant bugs

• Button berry

• Birds

• Slugs

• Non-alcoholic beer in traps has shown to be the most effective

• Thrips

• Start scouting when flowers are present

Thrip

Slug

Tarnished plant bug

©Lydur Skulason

Blueberry - Vaccinium sp.

Types of Blueberries

• 3 Types• Lowbush

• Native to Northern US

• Highbush

• Commercial varieties best for IL

• Rabbiteye

• Southern US

Requirements for Blueberries• Full sun

• Well-drained soil

• Uniform moisture

• Acid soil• 4.8 to 5.2

• Add sphagnum peat moss

• Or elemental sulfur• Apply 1 year prior

Blueberry Chlorosis Blueberry Blossoms

http:aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

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Blueberry Planting

• Plant at same depth

• Spread roots

• Add soil/peat mix

• Water thoroughly

• Apply mulch

Fertilizing

• 4 weeks after planting

• 1 oz. ammonium sulfate in a circular band 12-18” from base of plant

• Provides N and helps maintain acidity

• Increase the every year by 1 oz. until a total of 8 oz. is reached

Pruning/Training• No trellis required

• Prune well

© tickeltrunk

Irrigation

• Drip Irrigation recommended• Sprinkler irrigation acceptable

• Roots less than 18 inches deep

• Don’t want to see:• Reddened foliage,

• wilting, • browning leaf margins,

• Thin & weak shoots, • early defoliation,

• decreased fruit set

Maintenance• Pruning:

• New plantings:• prune off flower buds and weak growth, leaving enough vegetative growth to

support future crops. NO FRUIT years 1 & 2

• Fruit is produced on 2-4 year old canes.

• Blueberries should be managed so that plants are made up primarily of this bearing-age wood.

• Prune in late winter while they are dormant, before buds swell.

• Prune mature (5+ years) plants to remove diseased and dead wood, old canes. • Remove canes after five years.

• Pruning cuts - to the ground or to low-growing lateral. • Allow one to three new canes to develop each year.

Maintenance

• Winter protection (WP)• Winter injury at -25 ºF to -30ºF

• WP strategy suggested if snow is less than 12 inches

• WP strategies:• Wind Breaks

• Mulching

• Row covers

• Netting

© Boro

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Harvesting

• Hand harvest promotes longer post harvest life

• Ideally:• Picked,

• Cooled (50 ºF),

• Graded,

• Refrigerated (23-37 ºF)

• Maturity: fully blue and firm

Post Harvest

• Store at 31-32 ºF • 90+% RH

• Can be stored for up to 2 weeks

• Shelf life: displayed as close to 32 ºF

• Do not store with apples, pears, peaches, melon, grapes, etc.

©Evan-Amos

Weed Management

• As blueberries are poor competitors, do not allow weed or cover crop plant growth within 2 to 3 feet of the base of the young plant within the first 2 to 3 years

Most Common Pests

• Phomopsis• early and late dormant

applications of lime sulfur

• MSU has shown that one application only kills 50% of the over-wintering pathogen

• Making a later application beneficial in problem areas

Pimple-like pycnidia contain infectious conidiospores

Bird Predation

© Beatrice Murch

Brambles

BlackberriesRubus sp.

RaspberriesRubus ideaus L.

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Brambles (Rubus)• Raspberries

• Red

• Black

• Purple

• Yellow

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Black Raspberries- look for no receptacle

Red Raspberries Purple Raspberries

Cross between red and black raspberries

Yellow Raspberries Planting

• Typically 1 year old plants are planted

• Obtain certified virus free plants

• Plant in early spring

• Water in well

• Conventionally propagated red raspberries should be pruned leaving about 10-12”

• Tissue culture plants need no pruning at planting

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Planting

• Grown in hills or in hedgerows• Red and yellow spread by root suckers

• form a hedgerow

• Black and purple do not

Mulching• Mulched raspberries grow better, produce more, and have larger berries

Bark CultivationFabricStraw Weedy CtrlHand Weed Ctrl

Summer Bearing vs. Everbearing Raspberries

• Summer bearing:• One crop of berries on 2 year old canes in early to mid-summer

• Commercially available varieties of purple and black raspberries are all summer bearing

• Reds and yellows may be either summer or everbearing

• Everbearing:• 2 crops of fruit on each cane

• 1st crop at tips of cane in fall of 1st year

• 2nd crop on rest of cane following summer

Blackberries

• Erect

• Semi-erect

• Trailing

• Thorny

• Thornless

Blackberries

• Erect, Thorny Blackberries• Arching, spiny canes

• Winter hardy

• Large, flavorful fruit

• ‘Illini Hardy’ good for Northern IL

Blackberries

• Semi-erect thornless types• Smooth canes

• Erect to trailing habit

• Large fruited

• Productive late

• Less hardy

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Planting

• Best in early spring

• Establish from certified virus free plants

• Cut back top to 6” at planting• Tissue culture plants need no pruning

• Similar cultivation and mulching to raspberries

Irrigation

• Water thoroughly after planting

• Maintain good soil moisture

• Do not water every day

• Plants should receive 1-2’’ of rainfall or equivalent each week

• Drip Irrigation recommended

Trellising and Pruning Brambles• Essential for maintaining quality and

productivity over the long term.

• Proper trellising and pruning allow a grower to:• Positively influence:

• Plant growth rate,

• Fruit quantity and size,

• Soluble solids (sugars),

• Disease susceptibility,

• Ease of labor (harvest and spraying efficiency).

Trellising and Pruning Brambles

Primocane

Floricane

Floricane

Trellising and Pruning Brambles

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Trellising and Pruning Brambles

Maintenance

• First year: Cultivate only deep enough to destroy weeds

• Mulch (6-8in) may be used to suppress weeds

Weed Control• Prepare your site prior to planting

• Controlling perennials and minimize annual weed seed bank before planting

• Spring use a contact herbicide

• Use herbicides and cultivation (Shallow RS)

• Weed control before planting – Perennials/Annuals

• Stage of growth is important• Fall application best

• Effective Weed control• IPM Techniques

Blackberries - Rubus sp.

Fertilization

• Early spring when growth starts and again just after harvest. • 10-10-10

• Rate of 5 pounds (pints) per 100 feet of row.

• Year 1 & 2: 12-inch circle fertilizer around the plant. • Older plants, broadcast down the row

Harvesting

• Easily Damaged

• Maturity: fruit color, gloss, and ease of detachment. • Ripe berries pull easily from the pedicel yet be firm

• Lose acidity with ripening

• Quite astringent - harvested partially colored.

• After picking, cool to 41ºF within 4 hours • best shelf-life

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Post Harvest

• Store at 31-32 ºF • 90+% RH

• Can be stored for up to 2 weeks, cultivar depending

• Shelf life: displayed at the coldest refrigeration temperature possible and with no mist. • 1 day at room temperature = gray mold growth

• Do not store with apples, pears, peaches, melon, grapes, etc.

© DeGroot, Inc.

© Hedwig Storch

Raspberries - Rubus ideaus L.

Fertilization

• Heavy feeders • Need to be fertilized

• Broadcast fertilizer in the row:• Spring before growth begins in March and in May.

• Apply 2 to 3 pounds of a 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100 feet of row in each application.

Harvesting

• Easily Damaged• One of the most fragile and perishable of all fruits

• Maturity: fruit color, and ease of detachment. • Ripe berries pull easily from the pedicel yet be firm

• Shake off easily

• After picking, cool to 12ºF within 12 hours • best shelf-life

Post Harvest

• Store at 31-32 ºF • 90+% RH

• Can be stored for up to 2-5 days, cultivar depending

• Shelf life: displayed at the coldest refrigeration temperature possible. • 1 day at room temperature = gray mold growth

• Do not store with apples, pears, peaches, melon, grapes, etc.

New Invasive PestSpotted Winged Drosophila

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Spotted Wing Drosophila

SWD Maggots in Blackberry

FEMALE

two rows of serrations on ovipositor

no dark spots on wings

dark spot on each wing

two dark bands

on each foreleg

SWD identificationMALE

M. Hauser, UC

M. Hauser, UC

Fruit affected by SWDHighest risk

Strawberries

Raspberries

Cherries

Nectarines

Blueberries

Blackberries

Moderate riskPeachesGrapes

Pears

Apples

Tomato

Alternate hosts

Wild plants with berries,such as…

Snowberry

Elderberry

Pokeweed

Dogwood

Checking fruit for SWD

• To see eggs on fruit surfaces• Look for pits in fruit surface or egg tubes• Use a 30x hand lens, also available

with LED light for better viewing

• To check fruit for SWD larvae• Start as fruit begins coloring• Sample 1-2 lbs, ripest suspect fruit• Place in a shallow pan• Pour solution over: 1 Tbsp salt per 1 cup

waterLook for mature larvae

• Eggs and smallest larvae difficult to detect

How do I monitor for SWD larvae in fruit?

• Monitoring should begin once fruit starts to color and/or adults appear in traps.

*Salt Extraction of SWD

• Sample ~2 lbs fruit from close proximity of adult traps.

– Preferentially sample suspect fruit

• 1 Tbs of salt to 1 cup of water poured over fruit in shallow pan.

Works best to locate mature larvae. Eggs will

not be detected; very small larvae are difficult

to see.

Guidelines:

How do I monitor for SWD larvae in fruit?

• Monitoring should begin once fruit starts to color and/or adults appear in traps.

*Salt Extraction of SWD

• Sample ~2 lbs fruit from close proximity of adult traps.

– Preferentially sample suspect fruit

• 1 Tbs of salt to 1 cup of water poured over fruit in shallow pan.

Works best to locate mature larvae. Eggs will

not be detected; very small larvae are difficult

to see.

Guidelines:

Stinkbug

• Piercing-sucking mouthparts cause damage on drupelets of fruit and leave the fruit tasting like stink bug

• Eliminate seed heads and flowering broadleaf weeds in and around plantings will minimize the amount of stinkbugs found in the plantings

Common Stink Bugs

Over 45 stink bug species occur

commonly throughout North

America. Euschistus servus (upper

left), Euschistus variolarius (upper

right), and Euschistus conspersus

(lower left), all of which are

brownish, are often-cited pests of a

variety of crops.

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Brown Marmorated Stink BugBrown marmorated stink bug

• Severe damage to apples, peaches, tomatoes, sweet corn, many other crops

• Many noncrop hosts serve as reservoirs for population buildup

• Very difficult to control … pyrethroids kill nymphs and adults present at the time of application

• Trials ongoing to identify effective insecticides

Rednecked Cane Borer

• Canes infested with larvae develop galls, usually within 4 feet above the soil surface (July and August).

• Canes wither and die above the swellings.

• Destroy infested canes in late fall or early spring.

• Insecticides can be applied just prior to bloom• Just emerging adult

1 to 3 inches long

Adult ¼ inch long

Larvae ¾ inch long

Japanese Beetle• Raspberries are a favorite of

Japanese beetles.

• Leaves are skeletonized and fruit destroyed.

• Prefer to feed in full sunlight.

• Plantings near turf are particularly susceptible

• One generation per year—adults emerge in June and July.

• Milky Spore to control grubs

• Insecticides to control adults.

½ inch long

Yellowjackets

• Adults are attracted to ripe or injured fruit.

• Source of moisture and sugar for them.

• Extreme annoyance and danger to pickers.

• Harvesting practices to reduce attractiveness

• Prompt harvesting

• “Clean” harvesting

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Tarnished Plant Bug• Problem especially on

blackberries and late-ripening summer-fruiting raspberries.

• Adults and nymphs (green) suck juice from developing fruits.

• Cluster of seeds on an unevenly developed berry.

• Whitening of the damaged druplet.

• Stink bugs and other plant bugs cause similar damage.

Raspberry Crown Borer

• Adult often confused with a yellowjacket.

• Is actually a clear winged moth.

• Eggs are laid July through September.

• Larvae burrow into the crown the following spring.

• Remain in the crown for two years.

• Where they pupate and emerge as adults.

• Causing weakening, wilting, and perhaps death of the plant.

½ to ¾ inches first summer

1¼ inches when fully grown second summer

Anthracnose• Can infect red and black raspberries,

and blackberries

• Destructive on black and purple raspberries.

• Most striking symptoms are on the canes.

• Purple spots enlarge and turn gray, surrounded by a red border.

• As the canes dry in late summer and early fall, diseased tissue often cracks.

• Leaf symptoms appear as yellowish white spots that gradually enlarge and develop a reddish-purple margin around a light-gray center.

• Sometimes producing a “shot hole”

Fungal – Elsinoe veneta Cane Blight• Infections through wounds

• Common on black and purple raspberries after primocanes are summer tipped.

• A dark infected area may develop and extend up and down one side of the cane.

• Wood of infected canes breaks easily and becomes covered with tiny black fruiting bodies.

• Fungi overwinters on infected canes.

• Spread in water splashed from rain or overhead irrigation

Fungal – Leptosphaeria coniothyrium

Spur Blight• Only on red and purple

raspberries, can cause wilting of individual fruiting laterals.

• Look for a purple discoloration where the lateral attaches to the cane.

• Can infect leaves, causing browning.

• Begins at the leaf tip

• Wedge-shaped dead region between the veins.

• Fungi overwinters on infected canes.

• Spread in water splashed from rain or overhead irrigation

Fungal – Didymella applanata Grey Mold• Usually more of a problem on

red than black raspberries.

• Can kill laterals back from their tips.

• Infection during bloom can cause berries to die and dry up as they begin to form.

• Appears as a fuzzy gray mold on infected fruit.

• Overwinters in dead tissue of strawberry, raspberry, and many annual weeds.

Fungal – Botrytis cinerea

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Cane and Leaf Rusts

• More common on blackberries than raspberries.

• Often mistaken for Orange rust.

• In late spring, infected floricanes develop large lemon yellow uredinia that split the bark.

• In early summer, small yellow uredinia can be found on leaves.

• Severe infection can cause defoliation.

• Reduces vigor, and increases susceptibility to winter injury.

Fungal – Kuehneola uredinisOrange Rust

• New canes are weak, spindly, and thornless

• Lower leaf surface of new leaves become orange in spring.

• Infected leaves drop and are replaced by deceptively normal leaves.

• Disease is systemic.

• Does not attack red raspberries.

Fungal – Gymnoconia peckiana

and Kunkelia nitens

Fire Blight

• Occurs more frequently in blackberries.

• Similar in appearance to gray mold, but no moldy gray growth.

• Can kill the laterals back from their tips which gives it a “torched’ appearance.

• Infected berries do not mature.

• They become brown, dry, and very hard and remain attached to the pedicel.

Bacterial – Erwinia amylovora Phytophthora Root Rot • Associated with excessive soil

moisture.

• Red and purple raspberries are more susceptible than black raspberries or blackberries

• Often causes floricane leaves to turn prematurely yellow before the cane wilts and dies.

• When scraped away, the epidermis of the crown and main root will show a distinct transition from reddish-brown tissue (diseased) to white (healthy) tissue.

Fungal – P. spp.

Verticillium Wilt

• Serious in black raspberries, less so in reds.

• Leaves turn yellow and fall off from the bottom up.

• Plants begin to wilt.

• Especially black raspberries.

• Infected canes are usually stunted.

• Streaks of blue may appear in the bark before the canes wilt and die.• Usually occurs on one side first.

Fungal – V. albo-atrum Heat Damage

• High temperature and direct exposure to the sun can result in off-color and malformed fruit.

• Blackberries in general, tolerate heat stress better than raspberries.

• Plants can suffer from both drought (soil) and desiccation (air).

• Wilting, death of plant tissue, and/or death of the entire plant are symptoms.

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Outline

• Planning the Site

• Pruning/Training

• Irrigating

• Fertilizing

• Maintenance

• Harvesting

• Post Harvest

• Pest/Disease Issues

• By plant:• Strawberry• Blueberry

• Brambles• Blackberry

• Raspberry

• Bramble Management

• Midwest Small Fruit Pest Management Handbook

• http://extension.osu.edu/topics/agriculture/fruit-crops

• Pesticide Application

• Small Fruit and Grape Spray Guide

• http://pested.osu.edu

• http://urbanext.illinois.edu/strawberries/

• http://urbanext.illinois.edu/fruit/

• http://urbanext.illinois.edu/raspberries/

Resources

Resources cont.• USDA Handbook 66:

• http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/hb66/contents.html

• University of Illinois Extension:• http://extension.illinois.edu/fruit/

• University of Minnesota Extension:• http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/fruit-

vegetable/blueberry-production-in-mn/• http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-

garden/fruit/strawberries-for-the-home-garden/

• Cornell Extension:• http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/index.html

• Modern Fruit Science by N. Childers, J. Morris & G. Sibbett

Michigan State Blueberries (blueberries.msu.edu)

Managing Pests in Home Fruit Plantings (Purdue)

Univ of WI/MN Pest Mgt

Midwest Small Fruit Spray Guide

Cornell Fruit (http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/berry/index.htm)

Wisconsin SWD (http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/swd/ )

Pest & Disease Resources

What Questions Do You Have?

Contact Information

• Bruce J. BlackHorticulture Educator

• Mailing:

• University of Illinois Extension12923 Lawrence RoadSterling, IL 61081

• Email: brucejb@illinois.edu

www.facebook.com/UofIExtensionCLWwww.facebook.com/U4ANR