Weekly Field Update – 2/21/22

Coming up this week we have an in-person irrigation meeting and Part 1 of our virtual Brassica series. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our lineup of winter/spring meetings here.

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see this week’s Question of the Week and check back on Thursday for the answer!

Midlands

Justin Ballew reports, “Last week we saw a few nice, warm afternoons and about a half-inch of rain Thursday night. In strawberries, the warm weather will soon have plants pushing out new blooms. A few have already popped out. Growers have row covers set out and are ready to start protecting blooms from any future cold events. I expect to see some berries ready to pick around the end of March. Folks are planting brassicas for spring harvest now. Be sure to look your transplants over really well and do not plant any that look diseased or generally unhealthy. Also, be sure we aren’t bringing diamondback moth caterpillars (DMB) to the field on transplants. We’ve seen some recent instances where we strongly suspect DMB populations with resistance to multiple MOAs were brought in on transplants.”

Phillip Carnley reports, “Warmer weather in Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties is spurring on a few fungal issues, mainly Angular leaf spot, and a little sclerotinia in the field margins. To treat angular leafspot, copper tends to work well. Usually, angular leafspot is a non-issue, just keep an eye on it as it can affect the fruit.  Sclerotinia has been found in strawberries before hanging around the crown. Make sure to check the soil line, especially in lighter sandy soils. Typically, preplant fumigant will control sclerotinia.  Aphids are also making themselves known. If you find them at greater than 10 per leaflet, it’s time to treat.”

Sarah Scott reports, “Most of the area got a good rain last week (1/2 – 1 inch). Crews are busy laying irrigation in 3rd year peach orchards and still pruning/ mulching.  We will most likely see trees really start to progress with budding due to the warm temperatures in the forecast.”

Pee Dee

Bruce McLean reports, “What a difference a week can make. Last week, I discussed where we were in relation to buds and blooming on a few blueberry cultivars and how much cold the different stages of bloom in blueberries could tolerate before they began to experience cold injury. Well, this week’s discussion is a side-by-side comparison of the pictures from last Monday and pictures taken yesterday afternoon… a mere six days apart.”

Upstate

Andy Rollins reports, “A few early plum blooms are poking out in the upstate. A few growers are finishing up large tree plantings of peach and some re-plants on pecan are still to go in. Many are at least halfway through pruning and are doing their dormant sprays. On peach, most are using 1.5-3% spray mineral oil, 3-4 lbs of 50% copper, and Lorsban(chlorpyrifos) at 1 quart/A.  This will be the last application of chlorpyrifos as all labeled food uses of this active ingredient insecticide have been removed from all labels, at least in the US. Strawberry plants are beginning to wake up and grow. Growers with smaller plants have begun fertilization. This is the time to do your “orchard leaf” strawberry samples and first petiole samples. You will want to slowly increase nitrate nitrogen to 3000 ppm before harvest begins. Frost protect blooms on 2 conditions: 1. If you have avg 3-4 blooms per plant AND 2. If temperatures will be at or below 30 degrees.  Cover when the highest temperatures are reached on that day.  Lastly,  take covers off when the cold has passed.  Keeping them on will force blooms out prematurely.”

Question of the Week

For this week’s question, take a look at the photo below. What happened to this turnip?

Answer in the comments below and check back on Thursday to see the answer.