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Ladybird on Blue 7/12/2019, Tomm Peerbolt

WEEK 29
JULY 18,2019

THIS ISSUE TOM PEERBOLT

Northwest Berry Foundation
Field Reports
Industry News
Industry Calendar First—Welcome to Heather Fara, the new Northwest Berry Founda-
tion Project & Communication Coordinator. Heather is one that will
Disease/Pest Alerts ‘keep the trains running on time’. Which means we’ll get the Small
Fruit Update back to it’s usual posting time of early Wednesday
mornings—starting next week. She comes with a lot of experience,
enthusiasm and new ideas. Great to have her here.

SUBSCRIBE SWD—Ideal conditions continue for spotted wing Drosophila to

thrive. More ripe fruit in the fields means continuing high risk. Stay
with it!

Fruit Sampling for SWD larvae—This is the primary tool we use in

checking fields to determine SWD status.

• Here’s the 'official' method:

»» A filter Method for Improved Monitoring of
Drosophila suzukii Larvae in Fruit
• Here are two links from B.C. demonstrating variations on the
protocol that are a little less formal:
»» Testing fruit quality in the field (one minute video)
»» Saltwater assessments for SWD larvae in fruit
Northwest Berry Foundation
is a 503c with the mission to I’m heading up to Whatcom County for the Raspberry Harvesting
support a more sustainable Field day on Thursday (See the schedule below). Hope to see some
NW berry industry through of you there!
research, education, and
reducing food waste. Busy times. Have a great week and a good harvest.
Small Fruit Update is an
industry newsletter produced
Tom
weekly and supported entirely
by the region’s growers
through their regional berry
commissions.
 REGIONAL FIELD REPORTS 2
FRASER VALLEY, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Tuesday July 16th
Blueberries:Most everybody is into first pick machine harvest of Dukes this past weekend with significant
volumes hitting the packers now and for the next week. Quality is very good and berries are heavy. From
those I've talked to SWD issues haven't been too troublesome so far. But the I suggest that nobody let their
guard down as conditions are very ripe for big population increases. Some Reka will machine soon (and a bit
has already) and there may be some Draper machined this coming weekend in the eastern end of the valley.
But I suspect most Draper is 10 days or so from machining. The weather has produced a very good blueberry
crop so far and plant growth, even with the crop on, has been significant.

Raspberries: Raspberries continue to produce better than expected considering the damage to Meekers
from the winter weather. Rudi raspberries are slowing down significantly and will be through soon. Meeker
is peaking or just past depending on the condition of individual fields. A fair bit of berry size compensation
in Meekers where lateral numbers were negatively affected by winter kill. SWD control has been a bit more
problematic in caneberries than blues so far. The moderate mild weather has really been a help in sustaining
the raspberry crop as well. But a little too much rain is giving us some mold issues to contend with.

Monday July 15th

Eric Gerbrandt, Research Director, BCBC/RIDC/CSGA:
The weather has continued to be very moderate, except for a big Click here for BC
dump of rain last week. Some areas of the Fraser Valley barely Blueberry Council's
got any rain while others received more than an inch over 36
hours. The same is predicted for the middle of this week. Latest field report
Blueberries: Processed ‘Duke’ harvests started ramping up
at the end of last week. With good fruit size, there’s a lot of
volume coming in now. Hand pick on ‘Draper’ and ‘Bluecrop’
is also underway. I haven’t seen a large amount of splitting in
‘Bluecrop’, so either the rain was short enough in duration or
the fruit just couldn’t suck up any more water to be able to split.

Raspberries: Wakefield™ harvests started late last week.

Strawberries: Heavy re-bloom in ‘Albion’ right now, with
some early green fruit developing. Should see large volumes
coming in when August arrives.

WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OREGON

Wednesday July 17th
Blueberries: We’re past peak with Dukes with peak probably taking place right now. A whole slew of
varieties are now coloring with harvest now going in Draper, Bluecrop, Reka, Patriot, Bluegold, Top Shelf,
Spartan…even Liberty and Legacy are very close to starting. A little color showing now even in Aurora and
Last Call. Just rabbiteyes completely green yet. Quality excellent. Labor seems to be adequate but there are
quickly changing dynamics going on between hand harvesting, machine harvesting, fruit quality, economics,
processor acceptance…Can’t tell the players right now even with the numbers. Hoping that once we all get
through the Duke tidal wave, things will settle down. This might be the best Liberty harvest we’ll see. Seems
the mild spring and early summer have led to (finally) proper pollination conditions in most fields. Wow.
What great fruit it can produce. Isolated SWD finds in some fields. Haven’t heard of any large numbers yet.

Caneberries: Having SWD issues, as forecast, with some early loads rejected. Also having ‘finding a home’
issues with fewer options for taking thorny cultivars.

Some of the bottom lines: Great fruit quality this year. Terrific harvest weather. Harvesting resources are
adequate. Processing resources are being strained. Economic/market dynamics are ‘unsettled’.
 BLUEBERRY BUD DEVELOPMENT 3
Willamette Valley, Oregon: Week 28
Photos are from the same fields and taken close to the same day each year.

aurora bluejay draper last call liberty patriot top shelf

2019: Week 28, July 12th

2018: Week 28, July 14th

2017: Week 28, July 15th

2016: Week 28, July 15th

aurora bluejay draper last call liberty patriot top shelf

 INDUSTRY NEWS 4
Highlight The West

Peak berry season in British Columbia
(7/15, Fresh Plaza)
Specialty Crops: 8 more precision
technology companies we’re keeping an eye
on (7/16, Precision Ag)
Maine calls for the feds to provide more
support for (wild) blueberries (7/14,
Bangor Daily News)
BC: Province blinks on Agricultural Land
Reserve regulations (July, Country Life in
BC)
Technology
Using drone mapping for crop insurance
(7/15, Precision Ag)

FSMA inspections begin (7/12, Good Fruit

Grower)

As El Nino fades, winter forecast a ‘crap

shoot’ (7/11, Capital Press)

Companies

Gourmet Trading seeing growth in organic

asparagus and blueberries (7/12, The
Produce News)

Labor Department proposes changes to

H-2A program (7/16, Western Farm Press)

Fall Creek Nursery sees big blueberry

potential across Africa (7/10, Fresh Plaza)

China

Peach, blueberry planting industries boost

rural economy in China’s Chongqing (7/11,
Xinhuanet) Photos 9-16 are of blueberries.

North America

North Carolina: Blueberry growers

struggle in aftermath of Hurricane
Florence (7/16, Sun Journal)

Plant Breeding

California: Five new strawberry varieties

ripe for growth (7/10, Growing Produce)

Pollinators

Study: Combination of factors causes

bumblebee death (7/16, Capital Press)

Pest Management

BC: Japanese beetle fight continues (7/3,

Country Life in BC)
Top Shelf 7/12/2019, Tom Peerbolt
 INDUSTRY CALENDAR 5
JULY 18: MACHINE HARVEST TRIAL FIELD DAY 1 - 3pm. Honccop Farm.
Go here for information.

AUGUST 7: OSU CANEBERRY FIELD DAY 1pm - 3pm. North Willamette

Research and Extension Center, 15210 NE Miley Road, Aurora, Oregon. For more information
contact 503-678-1264 x110. Go here for the agenda

SEPTEMBER 4: WASHINGTON RED RASPBERRY COMMISSION MEETING 1pm

- 5pm. 204 Hawley St., Lynden, WA.

SEPTEMBER 10: OREGON RASPBERRY & BL ACKBERRY

COMMISSION MEETING 10:30am - 2:30pm. Hayden's Lakefront Grill, 8187 SW
Tualatin-Sherwood Rd, Tualatin, OR 97062

SEPTEMBER 27 - NOVEMBER 10: ONLINE BLUEBERRY

PHYSIOLOGY, PRODUCTION
SYSTEMS & MANAGEMENT. 6-week
course taught by Bernadine Strik For more
information and to register, go here.

OCTOBER 17: RASPBERRY &

BLUEBERRY RESEARCH REVIEWS
10:00am - 4:00pm. To be held at Mt Vernon
WSU. For more information contact Henry
Bierlink or Alan Schrieber.

DECEMBER 4-6 SMALL FRUIT

CONFERENCE & LYNDEN AG
SHOW Go Here for more information and
to register.

DECEMBER 4 WASHINGTON
RED RASPBERRY COMMISSION
ANNUAL MEETING Go Here for more
Evergreen blackberries 7/15/18, Bill Dinger

INSECT & DISEASE PEST ALERTS

• ALTERNARIA FRUIT ROT As

blueberry bloom starts to finish, it's time
to consider whether you need to prevent
Alternaria and Anthracnose problems from
showing up in the fruit. Alternaria can infect
the fruit beginning at the end of bloom and
throughout the fruit development stage, up
until harvest. Infections remain latent until the
fruit ripens. Infected fruits exhibit a shrive-
ling or caving-in of the side of the berry and
become watery in storage.
 INSECT & DISEASE PEST ALERTS 6

• ANTHRACNOSE RIPE ROT If you've

had problems with Anthracnose, prevention
of a reoccurrence begins at petal fall. Symp-
toms: First, blighting of shoot tips; then, a few
flowers turn brown or black. Leaf spots, when
they occur, are large or small and roughly cir-
cular. As infected berries ripen, the flower end
may soften and pucker. Under warm and rainy
conditions, salmon-colored spore masses form
on infected berries. After harvest, spore masses
form rapidly on infected fruit when in cello-
phane-covered baskets clamshell packs.

• YELLOW RUST In raspberries yellow

rust is now changing spore stages from black
overwintering spores (teliospores) to yellow/
orange colored ‘blisters’ (spermagonia) on the
top surface of leaves. This is followed closely Anthracnose Ripe Rot, Caroline Teasdale
by a very visible, almost day-glow orange/
yellow spore stage (aecia). The fourth spore
stage (uredinia) appears later in the season as
yellow ‘dust’ on the bottom of leaves. This last
stage is the one that multiplies quickly & can
quickly defoliate canes if left untreated. Eval-
uate disease incidence and stage to determine
whether (& when) fungicide applications are
warranted.

• SCORCH VIRUS In blueberries.vector

(aphid) management (From an April, 2011 B.C.
Pest Alert). Blueberry scorch virus is trans-
mitted by aphids. An effective aphid control
program should be used by all growers. Fields
should be treated before bloom with a regis- Shock virus 5/27/19, Jason Myer
tered aphicide to control the over-wintering
aphids before they reproduce and disperse.

• SHOCK VIRUS In southern blueberries.

symptoms should be visible in many fields
starting this week.This disease is vectored
by pollinators.There is no treatment or cure.
Infected bushes generally display symptoms for
one year and then return to productivity.

• POWDERY MILDEW In southern straw-

berries dry, warm, humid conditions favor
powder mildew in strawberries. We’re seeing
the disease beginning to get going in some area
fields.

• SILVER LEAF DISEASE In blueberries

this is a recently identified disease. Draper
seems to be particularly susceptible but other
varieties have also tested positive.

Powdery mildew on both leaves and fruit of Sweet

Sunrise 2015, Bernadine C. Strik
 7
SMALL FRUIT UPDATE
IS SPONSORED BY
THE REGION'S BERRY
COMMISSIONS & COUNCILS

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