Damage to blackberry flowers at 27°F

There are reports coming of damage to blackberry flower bud from the freeze on Feb 5/6.
Make sure you check your fields to assess damage.  Left  image above shows shoot damage, leaves and buds were killed. Right image above shows flower bud damage. The center part also called the receptacle is the part of the flower that eventually develops into the fruit.

What to look for:

• The buds will look green but if you cut them open, the center will be brown/black.
•  The leaves may look fine or if it was really cold the leaves will also show damage as in the figure above. 

Fumi Takeda, USDA-ARS in West Virginia gradually exposed blackberry buds to cold temperatures, and unlike other berry crops, found that the killing temperature was 27.5 °F for all stages of flowers. Here his data:

What he found:

• Critical temperature is between 27-28° F.
• Within a flower, organs that will comprise the fruit were more susceptible to freezing temperatures.
• Within an inflorescence, all open and unopen flower buds produced exotherm (were damaged) at the same time.  
• In spring, blackberry (flower) has little or no freeze tolerance.

What can be done for the upcoming weekend freeze to minimize more damage:

• Make sure any cover crop is mowed as close to the ground as possible to move the cold layer closer to ground

More information will be posted as we assess the situation.

For more information see links from previous years:
http://teamrubus.blospot.com/search?q=freeze

Help needed for SWD project!

Measuring spotted wing drosophila impacts – Your help needed!

— Written By Hannah Burrack (5 days ago)

Our recently funded USDA NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) project Sustainable Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) Management for United States Fruit Crops is surveying fruit growers with two goals:
1. To measure the impact of SWD throughout the United States, and
2. To guide our project activities over the next four years.

This five-year project, coordinated through the Burrack Laboratory at NC State University, is developing national research and extension projects to minimize the impacts of SWD. They include new management tactics and programs, improved insecticide efficacy for SWD, and information and training on SWD for growers, extension agents, and others. In order to achieve this and ensure that the research and extension efforts match the needs of growers, the project is collecting information on the impacts of SWD on small fruit growers, current management practices and preferences, and your requirements for better management of SWD. Participation is voluntary, and the survey does not collect personally identifying information, and the data will only be analyzed and reported in aggregate form.

We would like to get feedback from as many growers as possible! Please complete the survey here: https://survey.ncsu.edu/swd/

Contact Hannah Burrack for additional information.

Funding for this project is provided by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crops Research Initiative under Agreement No. 2015-51181-24252