I'm asking you as my readers to participate in a survey concerning soilborne pathogens in strawberries and caneberries.  There's a few questions about what your expectations are in managing these, as well as a number of questions concerning how and where you normally obtain information on these matters.

I've taken it already, and find it to be a well thought out survey which takes about 5 minutes to do.  I'd really appreciate your participation if not only for the two reasons given below.

A few years someone was trumpeting a survey he was party to that determined that UC Cooperative Extension wasn't even in the top five sources of information for growers.  That always struck me as pretty strange, because my colleagues and I spend a good part of every day answering agriculture questions, and our meetings usually have a lot of people attend.  Our websites don't lack for traffic (I think the UC IPM website alone gets like one million views a month) and we do a brisk business out of our offices distributing pamphlets and selling publications.  Something doesn't match up with what that survey from a few years ago said, and so hopefully the survey here will help clarify what is going on and give us an idea of where we can improve our services.

Second, because I'm welcomed on to most ranches (not all though), I think I have a pretty good feel for what is going on with berries on the Central Coast.  Quite frankly from what I have seen with my colleagues (especially Steven Koike from the Monterey CE office) over the past two years on the advance of soil pathogens is concerning, and we aren't even completely post methyl bromide yet.  And that's the other big part of the survey  which explores what you think matters most in soilborne pest management  and what you think the scientific community should be doing about it.

But if you don't do the survey, we aren't going to know very much more about either of these. 

Here's the link:

http://ucanr.edu/sites/Strawberry_soil-borne_diseases/

Growers and agricultural professionals in the berry business are to be reminded that the USDA light brown apple moth (LBAM) regulatory program is still going strong. Additionally, LBAM is very much a presence here - I get calls about them, and have found some myself.  Do not let one of these be cause for a business busting field closure!

Mating disruption twist ties absolutely should be in place now in caneberries (see below) and probably a very good idea in organic strawberries as well.  Remember that the free distribution program is now over and the ties are obtainable from private vendors.  Any leafrolls should be removed, and presence of a suspect LBAM larvae cause for making a decision about making an application to reduce their numbers. 

Interesting article from the Investor's Business Daily below concerning the use of spider venom to enhance insecticide specificity.  Article cites spider venom as being toxic to one species of cockroach and not another.

http://news.investors.com/071414-708698-adding-a-dash-of-spider.htm?ntt=insecticide

What I disagree with however is the idea that insecticides are currently used in a form of indiscriminate "carpet bombing" making them sometimes harmful to humans.  Not really the case at all over here.

The IBD is a great newspaper for stock speculators and investors, but probably not the first place I would go for pest control information.

2014 strawberry alert: Statewide, the California strawberry industry is grappling with two soilborne diseases that are spreading throughout the state: charcoal rot and Fusarium wilt. Both problems have been found in the Monterey-Santa Cruz region, and until recently most outbreaks were caused by the charcoal rot pathogen, Macrophomina phaseolina. However, in 2014 a number of new plant collapse cases were confirmed to be Fusarium wilt; overall, more Fusarium has been detected in 2014 than Macrophomina, a switch from previous seasons.

Symptoms: Symptoms of Fusarium wilt in strawberry consist of wilting of older foliage, plant stunting, and eventual collapse of the plant (Figures 1, 2, and 3). When plant crowns are cut open, internal vascular and cortical tissues are dark to orange brown (Figure 4). Disease is often most severe if the infected plant is subject to stresses such as weather extremes, water stress (excess or shortage of water), poor soil conditions, or heavy fruit loads. It is important to note that Fusarium wilt symptoms are virtually identical to those caused by charcoal rot.

Biology: Fusarium wilt is caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae.This pathogen is host specific to strawberry and apparently can only infect this crop. The fungus survives in soil for long periods by producing resilient, microscopic structures called chlamydospores. The development of Fusarium wilt has been associated with changes in the practices of pre-plant soil fumigation. The fungus is spread within and between fields mostly by the transport of contaminated soil during soil tillage and preparation operations. 

Current year management: For planted fields currently in production, there are no reliable control options for this disease. Because Fusarium wilt is more severe and develops more rapidly if strawberry plants are stressed, growers should manage the field so as to reduce stress; such steps include proper irrigation scheduling and the controlling of mites and other pests. Applying extra water will not help symptomatic plants. Even in the absence of stress, plants showing collapse symptoms eventually become non-productive.

Long term strategies: Integrated disease management strategies for subsequent crops involve the following: (1) Crop rotation. Do not plant strawberry in fields having a known history of the problem and avoid back-to-back strawberry plantings in infested locations. (2) Pre-plant fumigation. Such applications remain a useful tool for managing Fusarium and the other soilborne pests, even though most currently available fumigants are not completely effective. If fumigants are bed-applied, the level of control may be further reduced because of incomplete treatment of the soil. Measures that improve distribution of fumigants such as increasing the number of drip tapes may be beneficial. (3) Avoid stressing the plants. Stress will hasten the development and increase the severity of symptoms, so use appropriate growing and irrigation practices to reduce stress. (4) Sanitation. Growers with Fusarium infested fields need to be concerned with limiting the spread of the fungus from infested to clean fields. Being a soilborne pathogen, F. oxysporum can readily be spread by mud and dirt adhering to equipment and tires. Note that the pathogen may be resident in a field for several years before any plants show symptoms. Therefore limiting movement of soil between fields is a good practice even where no disease is evident. (5) Resistant or tolerant cultivars. UC cultivars show significant differences in susceptibility to Fusarium wilt, although none are completely resistant. San Andreas, Ventana, and Portola appear relatively resistant but reaction to the pathogen may differ year-to-year, which may be due to the variable effects of stress. Camarosa and Albion are both highly susceptible to Fusarium wilt.

Diagnosis and disease trends: Because Fusarium wilt symptoms are identical to charcoal rot symptoms and are similar to those caused by Verticillium wilt and Phytophthora root & crown rot, field diagnosis is impossible to accurately achieve. Submit strawberry collapse samples to the UC Cooperative Extension diagnostic lab in Salinas, which is supported jointly by UC and the California Strawberry Commission. Our research and extension team is closely following these disease developments; contact us if you see new outbreaks of these important problems.