University of Minnesota Day-neutral Low Tunnel Strawberry ...€¦ · non-low tunnel treatments,...
Transcript of University of Minnesota Day-neutral Low Tunnel Strawberry ...€¦ · non-low tunnel treatments,...
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Steve Poppe, Horticulture Scientist
Emily Hoover, Dept Head/Professor
Andy Petran and Jack Tillman, Graduate Students
Emily Tepe, Research Associate
Esther Jordan, Communications Specialist
University of Minnesota Day-neutral Low Tunnel
Strawberry Project
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Background
• Strawberries are an important part of a healthy diet
• Short MN growing season
• Day-neutral cultivars available to extend strawberry harvest
• Use of organic production methods
• Funding provided by the North American Strawberry Growers Association (NASGA) and the
MN Dept. of Ag, MN Specialty Crop Block Grant
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Long Term Impacts:
• Extend the harvest season and increase yields
• Aim to enhance profits
• Increase supply of locally produced organic strawberries
• Fruit available during a non-traditional time
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Why Low Tunnels instead of High Tunnels
In high tunnels:
• Space not used efficiently due to strawberry plant stature
• Increased incidence of diseases and insects
• Wind and snow damage
• Temperature gradient high between inside and outside
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2015-2016 Project Objectives
• Grow Albion day-neutral strawberry plants on a raised bed in an open field vs. in a low tunnel system
• Develop recommendations for nitrogen requirements
• Evaluate production, fruit quality, pest, weed and disease management throughout the season
• Educate and develop more strawberry growers in the upper Midwest region
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2015 Summary: Morris Albion yield and berry weight
Treatment Fertility RateAverage Yield/Plant (lb)
Average Yield/Acre (lb)
Average Berry Weight (g)
Low Tunnel
0x 1 ab 18450 ab 11.4 ab
0.5x 0.75 c 13710 c 9.2 c
1x 0.82 bc 14991 bc 9.8 bc
1.5x 1.12 a 20446 a 11.9 a
1-0x 0.94 abc 17228 abc 10.5 abc
No Low Tunnel
0x 0.95 17278 10.1
0.5x 0.86 15687 10.1
1x 1 18414 10.3
1.5x 0.92 16828 9.7
1-0x 0.9 16467 9.4
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2015 Summary: St. Paul Albion yield and berry weight
Treatment Fertility RateAverage Yield/Plant (lb)
Average Yield/Acre (lb)
Average Berry Weight (g)
Low Tunnel
0x 0.78 13263 10.1
0.5x 0.76 13933 10.9
1x 0.71 12991 8.8
1.5x 0.79 14393 10.7
1-0x 0.91 15493 9.6
No Low Tunnel
0x 0.55 b 9933 b 10.3
0.5x 0.79 ab 14330 ab 10.4
1x 0.61 ab 11081 ab 9.7
1.5x 0.61 ab 11164 ab 9.6
1-0x 0.85 a 15493 a 9.8
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Harvest
• Strawberry flowers removed 3 times
• Removed strawberry runners 3 times during the growing season
• Typically, harvest begins around the 3rd or 4th week of July
• Picked fruit until mid October
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A Noticeably Sweet Berry
• Brix is a measure of total soluble solids
• Albion has relatively high brix compared to other day-neutrals
• Our 2013 June-bearing variety trial had an average brix level of 7.7
• Brix content more influenced by harvest date than fertility of tunnel presence (St Paul)
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Brix Content, St Paul 2015
8.20.15
LT
0x 6.45
0.5x 8.01
1x 7.15
1.5x 6.73
1-0x 6.63
PL
0x 6.96
0.5x 7.24
1x 7.31
1.5x 7.01
1-0x 6.45
9.10.15
LT
0x 5.40
0.5x 5.45
1x 5.75
1.5x 5.54
1-0x 5.55
PL
0x 5.11
0.5x 5.83
1x 5.68
1.5x 6.06
1-0x 5.88
10.19.15
LT
0x 10.68
0.5x 11.08
1x 10.51
1.5x 9.52
1-0x 10.33
PL
0x 10.33
0.5x 9.24
1x 10.89
1.5x 9.93
1-0x 10.92
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Temperature and Humidity
• Temperature and humidity recorded in the low tunnel and non-low tunnel beds
• Data loggers suspended 12 inches above both beds
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Temperature and Humidity
2013 2014 2015
Low tunnel Non-low tunnel
Low tunnel
Non-low tunnel
LowTunnel
Non-lowTunnel
Average temperature
71.3 F 68.2 F 64.6 F 63.6 F 67.3 F 66.2 F
Average relative humidity
82.4% 74.1% 78.2% 70.7% 81.7% 56.1%
Average due point
63.5 57.8 56.4 51.8 60.3 54.9
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Variable costs
Total low tunnel
Treatmentper 100'
Fertilizer $70 $11.67
Pesticides $17 $2.78
Plants $125/1000 (w/o
shipping)
approx. 17,500
plants/acre$25.00
Irrigation - drip tape $13/acre $2.22
Mulch - Plastic (white on black) $112.00/9600’ of row $5.00
1.5 mil Clear Film Roll $176.00/1640” $11.00
Galvanized Steel Hoops placed
every 5” (Quantity: 20)$3.98 $79.60
Straw (for walkways) $56.00 $9.33
Hoops for beginning and end of
each row, anchor pipe, steel stakes
to anchor hoops and elastic bungee
53.44
Tractor Fuel (tillage, bed prep,
plastic laying)
approx. 1 gallon/hour
approx. 20 hours
per acre,
$3.50/gallon
$3.50
1 lb. plastic qt. containers
$0.05
approx. 1 lb per
plant & 200 plants
per 100' row
$10.00
Total costs (variable + fixed)$213.54
Expenses (labor not included)
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Projected Profit
Projected profit based on 2015 data
Average total yield/plant 0.831 lbs
Estimated marketable yield/plant (15% loss) 0.706 lbs
Average marketable yield/100’ row 141.2 lbs
Average selling price/pound X $5.00
Gross profit/100’ row = $706.00
10 hrs labor to pick 100’ row x $9.50/hr - $95.00
Total costs (variable and fixed, from last slide) - $213.54
Net profit/100’ row = $397.46
1 acre (660’ x 66’) ≈ 72.6 100’ rows*
Net profit/acre $28,855.60
* 6’ row spacing
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Low Tunnel Construction and Planting Steps- 2015
Materials needed:
• Bed shaper
• Mulch machine
• 4 foot wide, 1 mil white on black plastic mulch
• Drip tape irrigation
• Dormant day-neutral strawberry plants
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Creating a Raised Bed
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Creating a Raised Bed
• Once the bed is created, a 4 foot wide 1 mil white on black plastic mulch is placed on top of the bed
• The dry wheel puncher makes small holes in the plastic to act as a guide for proper plant spacing
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Creating a Raised Bed
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Planting
• Row spacing was 14 inches between rows, and 12 inches between plants in a staggered row
• Use a 1 inch x 12 inch wooden plant stake to transplant
• Place the blunt end of the wood plant stake at the tip of the roots and insert the transplant into the ground
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Low Tunnel Support
Use pipe to anchor plastic hoop at the beginning and end of each row
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Installing hoops and anchor stakes
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Installing Tunnel Plastic
1.5 mil clear film roll
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Securing Plastic Hoop with Elastic Bungee
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Fertilizer Injector
• At grower sites, fertilizer applied through Ez-Flo injector
• Applied AgGrand 4-3-3 water soluble organic fertilizer through drip tape
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Fertilizer Treatments
• Chilean Nitrate, organic
fertilizer, 16-0-0
• Perforated centrifuge tubes
‘planted’ in the soil next to
each plant
• Fertilizer solutions were
mixed for each treatment in
another centrifuge tube
• One ounce of solution is
poured into each perforated
tube beside each plant using
this funnel device
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Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)
• Very few, if any, SWD were detected in our traps at the Morris or St. Paul sites in 2013, 2014, or 2015.
• Applied Oxidate (OMRI Approved) for control at 1 oz./1 gallon water on a weekly basis at the Morris site
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Spotted Wing Drosophila Traps
• Clear plastic quart-size cup, with lid
• Drilled 3/16” holes around the cup • Wire handle inserted into the sides • Yellow sticky traps inside the lid • Trap cups monitored weekly • New bait each week
Recipe for SWD trap bait:• 12 fl oz water• 4 T sugar• 1 T active dry yeast• 1 T apple cider vinegar• 1-2 T whole wheat flour
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Tarnished Plant Bug• Damage occurs when the insects use
their sucking mouthparts to “drink” the sugars out of developing fruit
• Results in distorted, cat-faced berries at maturity
• Pressure was noticeably higher in 2015 than in 2013-2014 leading to a reduction in total and marketable yields
• Present in both low tunnel and non-low tunnel treatments, however the damage was more severe in the non-low tunnel in early season at St. Paul
• At both sites a variety of organic insecticides were applied on a weekly basis
• Insecticides used were Mycotrol, Purespray Green, Pyganic and Oxidate
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Strawberry Leaf Spot
• Infection is a continuous process with older lesions producing spores to infect young leaves during each season
• Spores are carried to new leaves by rain splash causing the disease cycle to begin again
• More prevalent on the non-low tunnel plant leaves versus the low tunnel
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Strawberry Leaf Spot Control
• Most organic fungicides and biocontrol agents are not highly effective against overall disease complex on strawberry
• Products containing sulfur or copper have little or no activity against most leaf spot diseases
• In order to apply sufficient copper to obtain control, the potential for plant injury is probably unacceptable
• Emphasis for controlling these diseases should be placed on selection and use of disease resistant cultivars
New alternative disease control materials for strawberries.
• Messenger
• Oxidate
• Trilogy
• Trichodex
Many of these products have great potential but under moderate to high disease pressure effectiveness is uncertain.
Information taken from Organic Small Fruit Disease Management Guidelines-Ohio State University
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Iron Chlorosis Issue
• Chlorosis in day-neutral cultivars due to high soil pH
• Yellow foliage indicates a lack of chlorophyll, the green pigment responsible for photosynthesis (sugar production) in plants
• This photo shows chlorosis on plants that are planted in a soil that measured 7.6 pH
• We have determined that these newer day-neutral cultivars will grow successfully in soils that have a pH of 7.3 or lower
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Dubois Retractable Tunnel System Advantages
• No wind damage issues
• Faster/simpler to install as compared to our original system
• Less costly than original system
Concerns
• Slight tearing of hoop plastic
• Our original 4 mil thick plastic provided better heat retention in October
• Sides tend to roll down
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What We Learned
• Skillful management required throughout entire growing season
• Fertility: Need 2nd year of data to make conclusions
• Multiple cultivars is better
• Faster installation of Dubois retractable tunnel system
• Insect and disease pressures posed significant challenges in 2015
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… this has the potential as a real production system
Special thanks to Nourse Farms for donating strawberry plants for the 2015 trial season
Portola
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University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center
Morris, MN
Steve Poppe
Horticulture Scientist
Andy Petran
Graduate Student
For more information visit our low tunnel blog
http://fruit.cfans.umn.eduAlbion