The Empire State Growers Expo, January 23-24, will have a full day of berry programming on January 23. Moderated by Laura McDermott of CCE ENYCHP and Anya Osatuke of CCE HNY, the Berry Sessions will be held in-person at the On Center in Syracuse. 1.5 DEC credits will be available for each session.
Session 1 – Brambles – 9:00– 10:30 a.m.
9:00 Courtney Weber of Cornell will provide an update on new raspberry and blackberry varieties. Disease
resistance and horticultural characteristics that are important to insect management will
be included.9:30 Novel Approaches to Cane Berry Production. Dr. Pritts will explain some of the newer production practices being used across the country. These practices will help growers better manage disease and insect pests, while also improving productivity. The focus of the talk will be on pruning and trellising
practices that improve airflow and sunlight.10:00 Growing Blackberries in NY – Is it Worth Trying? Tim Stanton of Feura Farm in Feura Bush, NY, presents his experience in working with blackberries for the first time. By employing a version of the rotating cross-arm trellis, along with cultivar choices, he has been able to reliably produce blackberries on his farm.
10:30 Adjourn
Session 2 – Blueberry – 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
11:00 Fruitworm Review – Maggots, Fruit Flies and Worms. Anna Wallis, NYS IPM and Cornell, will review fruit worm life cycles and management strategies for controlling these families of blueberry pests.
11:30 TracCloud – Improving Berry Pesticide Management. Juliet Carroll, NYS IPM and Cornell, and the original designer of TracBerry, will introduce and guide growers through the updated version of this pesticide tracking software.
12:00 Blueberry Disease Management Review – Kerik Cox of Cornell will discuss the major diseases for NYS blueberry plantings and explain control strategies. Diseases likely to be covered include cane blights, fruit rots and viruses.
12:30 pm Adjourn
Session 3 – Strawberry – 2:00– 3:30 p.m.
2:00 Strawberry Research Update – Anya Osatuke, CCE Harvest, NY, and Laura McDermot, CCE ENYCHP, will update growers on recent research results focused on 1) Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation, an organic soil fumigation method; 2) new approaches to winterizing strawberries in the northeast; 3) using low tunnels with June bearing strawberries to reduce pesticide applications; 4) organic fungicide materials for strawberry disease control.
2:45 Preventing & Managing Strawberry Anthracnose Resistance – Scot Cosseboom, Cornell, will discuss ongoing research looking at managing fungicide resistance in anthracnose disease on June bearing and day neutral strawberries.
3:30 Adjourn