Maryland Fruit & Vegetable Farm Blog

The Maryland Food Safety Network will be hosting a hybrid Produce Safety Rule Grower Training on December 7-8, 2022. The training will be delivered over 2 half-day sessions (December 7, 2022 – 1:00 – 5:30 PM, December 8, 2022 – 12:30 – 4:45 PM). Cost $35. Attend online via Zoom or in person at the UMES Research, Education, & Extension Farm (10789 Stewart Neck Rd. Princess Anne, MD)

The training will cover:

• Role of Maryland Dept. of Agriculture and On-Farm Readiness Reviews
• Worker Health, Hygiene, and Training
• Soil Amendments
• Wildlife, Domesticated Animals, and Land Use
• Agricultural Water (Part I: Production Water; Part II: Postharvest Water)
• Postharvest Handling and Sanitation
• How to Develop a Farm Food Safety Plan

REGISTER ONLINE
https://MFSNproducesafety1222.eventbrite.com

Sensor Placement and Floating Row Cover Impact on Fruit Rotting Diseases in Strawberries

Scott D. Cosseboom and Mengjun Hu
Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland College Park

Various sensors can be used to monitor environmental variables in fields, including ambient temperature, relative humidity, rain depth, wind speed, leaf wetness (LWD), soil temperature, and soil moisture. These can be critical variables for decision making for crop protection or yield prediction. These data (namely ambient temperature and LWD) can also be useful for disease prediction models such as those used for Botrytis (BFR) and anthracnose (AFR) fruit rots of strawberry (Hu et al. 2021). A traditionally placed weather station at the edge of a field (see ‘elevated’ station below) may also not fully capture the conditions in the field. Floating row covers are a common tool in Mid-Atlantic strawberry fields for manipulating the crop microclimate for facilitating crop development under cold conditions and for protecting from freeze events. Therefore, covered strawberry plants should have a vastly different microclimate than would be reported from traditionally placed weather stations or non-covered plants. We evaluated differences in sensor readings based on placements either in the canopy or in the traditional, elevated setting. We also evaluated the effect of row covers on the sensor readings. Lastly, we evaluated how these different placements would affect disease prediction models utilized in a fungicide spray program.

Continue reading Sensor Placement and Floating Row Cover Impact on Fruit Rotting Diseases in Strawberries

Emily Zobel, UME; ezobel@umd.edu & Jerry Brust, IPM Vegetable Specialist, UMD; jbrust@umd.edu

If you had plants in high tunnel this season that were showing drought and salt stress in the form of poor growth, thin canopy, excessive leaf drop, poor fruit set, poor yields, necrotic leaf margins, especially on older leaves that can curl, then you might want to consider testing your soil for high soluble salts. These excess soluble salts often come from compost, manure, or fertilizers frequently applied without sufficient water (rain) to leach them through the soil.  

High soluble salt levels in the soil can harm crops via drought stress in several ways. First, they can draw water away from plant roots resulting in wilted foliage and damaged roots (fig. 1). The plant roots can also absorb the excess soluble salts in the soil but cannot metabolize them. The soluble salts enter the roots and are moved through the water-conducting tubes to the leaves, where the water evapotranspires, gradually concentrating the salts to toxic levels. 

Some vegetable crops are much more sensitive to soluble salts than others. Crops such as green beans, onions, and peas are the most sensitive, while cabbage, cucumbers, peppers, and potatoes are a bit salt tolerant. Broccoli, squash, and tomato are moderately salt tolerant. 

Some possible remedies for high salts include having adequate drainage to help move salts out of the root zone and flushing the soil with as much water as possible for several days. When doing this, slowly apply the water, so it seeps into the soil and does not runoff. After the season, it may be best to take the plastic off the high tunnel and allow rain and snow to move the salts out of the growing zone, but you need to know if you have high soluble salt levels first, so it’s best to that soil test. 

RMA Offers Virtual Workshops on Improvements to the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection and Micro Farm Insurance Options 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is offering virtual workshops on Nov. 15 and Dec. 13 for agricultural producers and stakeholders to learn about the latest updates and improvements to the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and the Micro Farm insurance options. WFRP and Micro Farm are two of the most comprehensive risk management options available. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) will announce in-person events later this fall. These insurance options are especially important to specialty crop, organic, urban and direct market producers. Policy improvements and these workshops are part of RMA’s efforts to increase participation in crop insurance.

“We want to make sure farmers and ranchers know about these very important insurance options. We invite specialty crop, organic, urban and direct market producers to join the virtual ‘RMA Roadshow,” RMA Administrator Marcia Bunger said. “The RMA Roadshow will include me and leadership to highlight important improvements to Whole-Farm and Micro Farm and answer your questions.”

Improvements include:

• Doubling the maximum insurable revenue under WFRP, now up to $17 million
• More than tripling the size of farm operations eligible for Micro Farm to $350,000 in approved revenue
• Reducing paperwork requirements for WFRP.

More information can be found on the RMA Road Show website here: https://rma.usda.gov/Topics/Outreach-and-Education/RMA-Roadshow

UMES Extension’s 19TH Annual Small Farm Conference will be held in-person on the UMES campus, on November 4-5, 2022. The main objective of this two-day event is to equip farmers and landowners in Maryland and along the Delmarva Peninsula with tools and strategies to increase farm profitability and promote farm sustainability. Registration is $70 for both days or $35 for only one day. More information and registration can be found here: https://wwwcp.umes.edu/extension/small-farms-program/conference/

The Mid-Atlantic Crop Management School well be in-person in Ocean City, MD on November 15-17, 2022. Registration is $325 until October 15 and will increase to $375 until registration closes at midnight on November 7th.The Princess Royale will have discounted room rate till avaible till October 14th. More information and registration can be found here: https://go.umd.edu/crop22registration.

The Agriculture Law Education Initiative (ALEI) at the Maryland Carey Law School is working on a grant proposal that would help direct marketing farmers in Maryland diversify revenue streams and increase market opportunities.

Please fill out their farmer interest survey to share your opinion about their proposed education and technical assistance, which would help farmers accept payments from customers using supplemental nutrition benefits. Your input will help to inform resource development and training opportunities to support your direct marketing farm operation, and to increase access to local, fresh food for Maryland shoppers.

Maryland farmer respondents will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card. Winner selected by random drawing. One prize available. Limited to residents of Maryland. Survey closes 10/24/2022. Winner will be notified no later than 10/28/2022.

Your individual survey responses will remain confidential.

Fungicide Resistance in Botrytis from Strawberry Fields,
2021-2022 Season

Mengjun Hu, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture

Strawberry Botrytis fruit rot, also called gray mold, is a common disease that typically drives fungicide sprays throughout a season. Flowers are considered the gateway for the pathogen, and some flower infections can stay latent until fruit ripening while some may show up earlier at green berry stage under wet and cool conditions. The disease is relatively easy to manage with fungicides, but resistance has been a concern for most single-site fungicides labelled for gray mold control. During the 2021-2022 season, we obtained and processed a total of 75 Botrytis isolates originated from flowers from 8 commercial farms in the region (most of them are in Maryland). We tested for resistance to thiophanate-methyl (Topsin M), pyraclostrobin (one of two components of Pristine or Merivon), cyprodinil (one of two components of Switch), fenhexamid (Elevate), iprodione (Rovral), boscalid (major botryticide component of Pristine), fludioxonil (major botryticide component of Switch), penthiopyrad (Fontelis), benzovindiflupyr (Aprovia), isofetamid (Kenja), and pydiflumetophen (one of two components of Miravis Prime). Except for Aprovia, all products (in parenthesis) are labelled for strawberry production.

Continue reading Fungicide Resistance in Botrytis from Strawberry Fields, 2021-2022 Season