Small Fruit News

Blueberry Scorch Virus Prevention: Beyond Chemicals

2022/03/01

Blueberry Scorch Virus is a serious disease that threatens blueberries throughout British Columbia. Currently, there is no cure for the virus, so prevention is the only defense. A proactive strategy is critical as plants typically do not show symptoms until 1-2 years following initial infection.

pH and Limestone

2022/02/15

The uptake of nutrients into plants depends on the acidity of the soil (pH). This is more important to the well-being of a planted crop than most people think. If your plants are not growing within the optimum pH range, nutrients will be inefficiently taken up by the plants, having a detrimental effect on not only the health of your plants, but the size and quality of the harvested produce.

How to Acidify Your Soil

2022/02/15

Blueberries for example require lower soil pH, or acidity, than is required by crops such as raspberries, corn, forage grass and vegetables. Typically, highbush blueberries must have soil pH between 4.5 and 5.5. If your soil test shows a higher pH, what can be done to decrease it?

Fall is the Best Season

2021/07/09

The best time of year is Fall. Is it because the air is cooler, the leaves are changing colours and falling, and Hallowe’en is on its way? Not even close. Fall is the best time of year because it is the right time to take care of so many field operations. Some of them cannot be done anytime else.

Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)

2021/07/09

First found in BC in 2009, SWD is now distributed over all fruit production areas of the Fraser Valley and the BC Interior. Unlike our regular fruit fly which only infests fallen, over-ripe or decaying fruit, SWD lays eggs in harvestable fruit while still on the bush.

Educated Farming Practices Help Bees

2021/07/09

When using insecticides in either conventional or certified organic production systems, it is important to use them selectively. Use should be based on careful monitoring...

Update on Japanese Beetle

2021/07/09

This article is about a new invasive insect pest that we talked about last fall; Japanese Beetle or Popilaria japonica. On April 8, recently, CBC News informed the public that...

Managing Fungicide Resistance in Blueberries

2021/07/09

Fungicide Resistance refers to an acquired reduction in sensitivity of a fungus to a specific fungicide. Fungicide resistance often develops due to repeated application of fungicides from the same Group on a particular crop.

Another New Pest?

2021/07/09

t seems like every year there is one new insect pest to worry about – usually an invasive species that has found its way here from elsewhere in the world. This time, we are concerned with a beetle; the Rose Stem Girdler, a potential pest of caneberries such as raspberries and blackberries.

Controlling Horsetail

2021/07/09

Horsetail is well known as one of the hardest weeds for any crop producer to manage. There are actually more than 15 species of horsetail to be found in BC, and the most problematic one is Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense).

A New Micronutrient Technology

2021/07/09

Micronutrients including B (Boron) and Zn (Zinc) are required by plants in very tiny amounts. In past years micronutrient ingredients have been added as independent particles separate from macronutrients.

Rethinking Stabilized Nitrogen

2021/07/09

Controlling the release of nitrogen usually takes the form of the slow diffusion of nitrogen through a polymer or sulphur coating, or the break-down of large complex molecules, like urea-formaldehyde, by microbes.

New Environmental Management Regulations

2021/07/09

On February 28, 2019, the Code of Practice for Agricultural Environmental Management (CPAEM) replaced the Agricultural Waste Control Regulation (AWCR). What does this mean, and how does it affect us?

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