Things to Do / Things to Think About This Month - June 2018

• Maintain good straw cover on all strawberries, as this reduces the incidence of disease
• Apply 3-5 cm (1 –2 inches) of straw to newly planted Day-neutrals
  • 3 – 5 cm (1 – 2 inches) = 40 small square or 3-4 large round bales per acre
• Initiate applications of nitrogen to Day-neutrals – 10-20 lbs actual N/ac/month – may be split into weekly or bi-monthly applications

• Consider trellising options for primocane types

• Application of nitrogen and phosphorus (2^nd of 2 – split application) – 15-25 lbs actual N/acre; 10-20 lbs P/acre – adjust rate when banding
• Arrange harvesting, refrigeration and sales outlets of Saskatoon berries

• Transplanting of most warm season plants should / be completed in the first part of the month (if it wasn’t done late last month)
• Complete any additional staggered-date plantings of crops

• Ensure that irrigation and spray equipment is ready to go
• Monitor and maintain optimum soil moisture conditions in all crops (pay close attention to critical moisture stages – see Water Requirements in Horticulture Crops - FAQ)
• Maintain good weed control in field and headlands
• Final arrangements for marketing of crops, e.g. pails, buckets, training of field personnel, advertising, etc.
• Put honeybee colonies in field at start of flowering (~2 hives per acre)

• Continue regular and thorough scouting / monitoring of fields for disease and insect pest problems
• Remove diseased plant material
• Use appropriate control measures if necessary
• Adhere to “Days to Harvest / Pre-Harvest Interval” and “Re-entry Intervals” (for worker and customer safety)
• Strawberries
  • Monitor strawberry fields for aphids, Tarnished Plant Bug, bud/clipper weevils, root weevils, leaf rollers
  • Botrytis fruit rot control sprays at bloom stages are most effective; apply at 5-7 day intervals
• Saskatoon berries
  • Application of insecticides (Decis/Poleci) and fungicides (Topas / Mission / Jade / Fitness / Prozol / Propi / Propi Express / Pristine / Switch / Kumulus / Cyproflu, etc. ) at later bloom stages (petal drop, green fruit) – depending on development of crop – see Saskatoon berry Bloom/Bud Stage FAQ
• Black Currants
  • Monitoring (and control if necessary) of aphids, sawfly (imported currant worm or currant fruit worm)
• REMEMBER – DO NOT APPLY DISEASE/PEST CONTROL SPRAYS DURING FULL BLOOM (Saskatoon berries, currants, raspberries) – most insecticides are toxic to pollinating insects and some fungicides have repellent qualities