Strawberry Plasticulture - 17-Dec-02
Volume 3, No. 75

In this issue:

- 1. Question from VA-Beach on vetch 16-Dec-02
-2. Winter strawberry, muscadine and direct marketing meetings (Jan-March)
-3. Tissue testing option for out of state growers – note from MMI
-4. At the Oxford Produce Auction…
-5. Golden Leaf Awards $52,853 Grant to Oxford Wholesale Produce Auction
-6. Don’t miss the 2003 Specialty Crop School in Oxford!
-7 . What’s happening Iodomethane? (possible Methyl Bromide replacement)
-8. Update from a USDA representative at the Greenville Meeting on MeBr
-9. Promise of lable change for Acramite (new miticide for strawberry growers)
-10. Are you looking for equipment that brush off dead leaves in January?

-1. Question from VA-Beach on vetch:

Dr. Poling,

We are disappointed to be observing vetch emerging from some of the plant holes in our plasticulture Chandlers. It is spotty around the field, but in some places we're seeing vetch 2-4 inches long (the part visible outside of the holes).

Should we attempt to remove the vetch now by hand? As you know, it is very hard to get it all out by the roots. Some of the vetch plants are rooted 2-3 inches under the plastic from the plant hole and many of the plants break off and the root remains, under the plastic, which I think may be better than making a big hole in the plastic.

Or should we Christmas shop now and attempt to pull the vetch later? Or should we spray the vetch now or later (without pulling first)?

If spraying is the recommendation, what product/rate should be used? Has "Stinger" received a strawberry label?

We had a pretty bad clover problem last spring but have observed little if any clover so far this year.

Thanks!

Tom & Anne Baker, Virginia Beach, VA e-mail: brookdale.farm@cox.net

Answer: I suggest that you pull as we do not know if Stinger will be registered in time for use this year....

David Monks, Ext. Leader and Weed Specialist, Dept. Hort. Sci., NCSU

-2. Winter Meetings – Strawberries and Direct Marketing (compiled by E. Barclay Poling)

Winter Meetings – Strawberries and Direct Marketing (compiled by E. Barclay Poling)

-3. Tissue testing option for out of state growers – note from MMI at Thanksgiving
Editor’s note: Just before the Thanksgiving holiday I received this note from Dr. Harry Mills, MMI (DrHAMills@aol.com)

Barclay,

Hope you are planning on having a relaxing thanksgiving. I thought I would update you on MMI and the services we offer to our strawberries clients. For those customers who would like for you to review their results, we can fax, e-mail or post to the web. If they would like to post to the web we can give the client access to the data and also post the results on your MMI site so that you can review their data and make recommendations to them. I have made the web very basic in order that clients with slow computers will have faster access to their data (no pictures etc. to load when going to web site.
Harry

Editor’s second note: I am planning to support Dr. Mills in this endeavor, but please realize that at times it gets quite hectic around here in March and April and my turnaround may be the biggest issue! I will give it my best shot. I think this is really a great service for out-of-state growers who cannot access our NC system.

-4. At the Oxford Produce Auction, growers are buying into the concept of selling their fresh fruits and vegetables using the same method employed for selling tobacco.

Fig. 1. Agent Carl Cantaluppi, center and growers observe an early produce auction at Yeargin’s warehouse. The auction offers an alternative market for selling fruits and vegetables (Photo credit: Natalie Hampton).
See this article about the Oxford Produce Auction: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/agcomm/writing/2002/auction.htm

-5. Golden Leaf Awards $52,853 Grant to Oxford Wholesale Produce Auction

The Golden Leaf, Inc. (Long-Term Economic Advancement Foundation) has
awarded a grant of $52,853 to the Oxford Wholesale Produce Auction,
according to Carl Cantaluppi, Horticulture Agent with the North Carolina
Cooperative Extension Service in Granville and Person Counties.

Cantaluppi applied for the grant in July. The grant will be used to
purchase a fork-lift truck and two 20' X 20' walk-in refrigerators that
will greatly enhance the capability of the auction to function more
efficiently and to help increase the volume and flow of produce through
the auction.

This will be accomplished by using the fork-lifts to load and unload the
produce quickly on pallets so that there is no delay in starting the
auction or getting the produce onto the buyers' trucks.

The walk-in refrigerators will serve to keep the produce fresh if
growers want to bring in produce in advance of the sale date or between
sale dates. Workers can drive the fork-lifts containing the produce on
pallets, into the refrigerators. Produce placed in bulk bins can also
be stacked on top of each other in the refrigerator, thereby saving
space.

The refrigerators should be installed in early 2003 to be fully
operational when the auction opens later in the year.

-6. The 2003 Northern Piedmont Specialty Crops School will be held on
Friday, February 28, 2003 at the Regency Inn (formerly Ramada
Inn) at the junction of I-85 and NC 96 (Exit #204 off I-85) in
Oxford, NC, according to Carl Cantaluppi, Horticulture Agent with
the NC Cooperative Extension Service in Granville and Person
Counties.

The program will start with Mrs. Wendy Wright of Hill High Farm
in Winchester, VA who farms with her husband on the western edge
of the Shenandoah Valley. Wendy will be talking about the
specialty crops she grows on the morning program, including the
pumpkin patch and apple orchard, as well as value-added products
that she sells, that include cider, pumpkin fudge, and homemade
pies and cakes at her farm market. Indian corn, chrysanthemums,
and corn shucks are sold for outdoor fall decorating. Hill High
Farm also offers school and church groups tours of their
operation.

Listen to Wendy as she talks about the successes of their corn
maze and haunted house and how they use them to attract more
customers to their farm on the afternoon part of the program.

Next, Carl Cantaluppi will report on the success of the Oxford
Wholesale Produce Auction, after the completion of its first
year. Carl will show video of the produce auctioneer in action,
selling the produce and "clowning around" with the growers and
buyers. A report of the kinds of produce and the total sales for
the year will be given.

For those growers who wish to cut back on the use of insecticides
and would like to follow a "sustainable agriculture approach",
Debbie Roos, Agricultural Extension Agent in Chatham County will
speak on "Encouraging Beneficial Insects on Your Farm".
Beneficial insects feed on the destructive insects that attack
your crop. Learn where you can purchase beneficial insects that
can be released on your farm to reduce the number of crop
destroying insects.

John J. Whitmore, a farmer-entrepreneur, grows fruits and
vegetables that he sells at Farmer John's Roadside Stand outside
of Leesburg, VA. The stand sits in front of Whitmore's historic
Prosper Well Farm home, off the busy two-lane James Monroe
Highway, running past other farms, a local vineyard, and
expensive housing developments in horse country, that connects
the cities of Leesburg, VA and Frederick, MD.

John sells all kinds of produce, including pumpkins and apples.
He also has a large Asian clientele that buys specialty cucumbers
and white eggplant. John plants his vegetables on raised beds,
using drip irrigation and growing them on top of black plastic
mulch. Come hear John talk about his operation; how it got
started and how it has grown over the years.

Finishing off the one-day school will be Mr. Andy Hankins,
Alternative Agriculture Specialist from the University of
Virginia in Petersburg. Andy has many years of experience
growing alternative crops and has studied different ways to
market them.

Andy will speak about growing cut flowers on your farm as a niche
market crop to generate impulse sales for customers that are
already buying your fresh fruits and vegetables.

The cost of the one day school is $25.00 for the first person in
the family or business and includes lunch and a copy of the
school's proceedings, which is compiled after the school is over.
The cost is $15.00 for each additional person in the family or
business which does not include a copy of the proceedings.

Enclosed is a copy of the program. Pre-registration is needed to
guarantee you a seat and a lunch. For a copy of the pre-
registration form, program, and a list of local motels, please
contact:

Carl Cantaluppi
Granville County Extension Center
P.O. Box 926
Oxford, NC 27565

Telephone: 919-603-1350
FAX: 919-603-0268
E-Mail: carl_cantaluppi@ncsu.edu

7 . What’s happening Iodomethane? (possible Methyl Bromide replacement)

check out his article (forwarded by W.I. Yerby, VA): http://westernfarmpress.com/ar/farming_methyl_bromide_replacement/index.htm

-8. Update from a USDA representative at the Greenville Meeting on MeBr

It was interesting to learn at the Strawberry Expo in Greenville (Nov. 7-9) that we were only 1 of 3 applications received by the EPA on pre-plant strawberry uses (others were FL and CA). When I say “we” I am referring to the Southeastern Strawberry Consortium: States represented - AL, AR, GA, NC, SC, TN and VA(Application Authors - Barclay Poling, Steve Toth, and David Monks). The representative who flew down from Washington, DC, to join us was Mr. Burleson Smith, Special Assistant, Pest Management Policy. His comments to the Association indicated that our application appeared to be in good order. The initial Methyl Bromide (MeBr) request for 38 different preplant soil uses (including strawberries – CA, FL and Southeastern Strawberry Consortium), and for 18 post-harvest structural uses, was a total of 32 million lbs. In our application for 7 Southeastern States we applied for three years of exemption (2005, 2006, 2007) and the amount we are requesting is 541,360 lb of of MeBr (active ingredient), or about 808,000 lb of methyl bromide + chloropicrin (67:33). The initial application for MeBr Critical Use Exemption was due 9-Sep-02. The US Nomination package due to Ozone Secretariat is for 31-Jan-03, and the Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee (MBTOC) and Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) is due in the early summer 2003. There will be another opportunity in 2003 to apply (for states or groups who missed the 9-Sep-02 deadline). We will keep you posted on any news we receive from Hodoya Finman, EPA Global Programs Div., who is currently handling our application. Our consortium owes a great debt of thanks to Burleson Smith, as well as Nancy Kokalis-Burelle, Ph.D., USDA, Fort Pierce, FL for her exceptional help in advising our team of scientists at NC State on research papers and literature sources that were needed to complete a very in-depth application.

-9. Promise of label change for Acramite (new miticide for strawberry growers)
After receiving information from Dr. Clyde Gorsuch, Professor, Clemson University, on 22-Nov-02 reminding us that the Acramite label states that you may only use one application per harvested crop year (http://intra.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/berrydoc/nov22_02/index.htm),
I began to make some inquiries about how “set in concrete” this restriction might be?

Here is a note I received in late Nov. from Dr. Rich Moore:

Our Acramite label permits two applications per season on strawberries with a 21 day interval between sprays when more than one crop is harvested each year. When there is no crop on the plant it is not clearly stated on the label what to do. Our intent is to allow two applications 21 days apart. The reason we have limited the number of applications is for resistant management. We encourage growers to use other miticides between applications of Acramite.

Moore, Rich - Middlebury, CT" Rich_Moore@cromptoncorp.com

------

Follow-up question from B. Poling to Dr. Moore…

I fully support the limit of not more than 2 sprays per strawberry season (our season begins with planting in late Sept/early Oct and ends with the final picking in late May/early June). There is no fruit present on the crop until early to mid-April. I wonder if the label could be re-worded to allow 1 spray in the non-bearing period (Oct-March) and one spray during bearing (April-May)?

Dr. Poling, We will try to change the label to read " Two sprays are permitted within a 12 month period. Growers should not need to use another miticide for 21 days after an applications Acramite, provided they get good coverage. If they need to make an application within they 21 days we want them to use another miticide.

Richard Moore
12/2/02

-10. Are you looking for equipment that brush off dead leaves in January?

At the recent Strawberry Expo in Greenville, Rusty Leffingwell, Rusty Ag’s Sales, 412 N. Seventh St., Fairbury, IL, 61739, 815-692-3895, Fax 815-692-4213, identified the possibility of making one of his “brooms” available for further evaluation in our region this winter. We actuall did an equipment demonstration of this rotary brush for dead leaf removal in Bunn, NC, Feb. 21, 2001, and it gave us a few surprises! The main thing that we discovered was that we were at least a full month late in using this type of mechanical brush (go to this issue now: http://intra.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/berrydoc/feb26/).

As I said, Rusty made this offer, and I would encourage you to contact him if you are looking for ways to mechanize dead leaf removal!

E. Barclay Poling, Small Fruit Specialist
Campus Box 7609
Kilgore Hall - Office 252
NC State University
Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7609

click HERE to return to strawberry advisories page

| advisories | events | berrybeat q&a | agent info | proceedings | weather | pest info|special reports | regional experts |

all material © Barclay Poling
site designed and maintained by: LiquidSun d e s i g n

back to home page