February 2023 - 25

PLANT & SOIL HEALTH
the disease, " Pitts said. " It's just so
complex and lead to challenges in
diagnosis and management. "
These species are often isolated
from healthy root systems. They
can occur together and behave
synergistically. Genetic differences
in tolerance exist, but ratings of
cultivar resistance vary depending
on the location of the study.
Strategies to manage biological
factors include:
* Eliminating the pathogens
with fumigation/fungicides,
but is difficult to do in a
perennial system.
* Preventing the introduction
and proliferation of pathogens
by managing the chemical and
physical environment, as well
as the soil biology.
* Managing the physical
environment can be done by
using raised beds, mulching
and addressing compaction.
Soil compaction may not be
detrimental in the absence of
pathogens, he said.
" Plant health, yield and fruit size
are greatest in uncompacted soils,
but in the absence of poor drainage
and a virgin site, strawberries
are remarkably tolerant of soil
compaction (up to 1.7 g/cm3). "
Marvin Pritts, director of undergraduate studies for the SIPS Horticulture
Section at Cornell University. Photo: Cornell University
Biological approaches may
include tillage, cover crops,
composts and soil amendments.
Long crop rotations are desirable,
Pritts said.
When the crop sequence
is changed from continuous
strawberries to the use of a cover
crop, the " plants do a lot better.
You don't have to fumigate. You can
just rotate out with some cover
crops and those plants will do
well. It's maybe not quite as good
as a fumigate, but pretty close,
certainly better than continuous
strawberries. Doing something is
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better than doing nothing.
" You may not be able to cure
all, but you can do a lot better
simply by breaking things up and
just rotating with almost anything
that's unrelated to strawberry, "
Pitts said.
Pritts said preemergent
herbicides may be more
problematic in young plantings
than generally thought.
Researchers confirmed that
raised beds almost always improve
root health. Compost amendments
help under most, but not all
conditions.
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VEGETABLEGROWERSNEWS.COM | 25
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February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2023
