Virus devastates strawberry fields in Quebec
Strawberry farmer Louis Marineau explains at his family’s Marineau Farm in Laval north of Montreal, how the strawberry blight is affecting this year’s crop on many Quebec farms.
Photograph by: Peter McCabe, The Gazette
MONTREAL — These days, Martin Marineau is out of bed and working the fields just after sunrise. No matter what the day throws at him, whether it’s sweltering heat, rain or some man-made obstacle, he’ll likely only punch out at around 10 p.m.
Marineau will keep this routine up seven days a week for the next month. It’s the height of strawberry picking season in Quebec and the longtime farmer knows he only has a small window of time to get his harvest in crates and ready for customers.
But like so many of the province’s 700 strawberry farmers, Marineau’s crops have been devastated by the mild yellow edge virus and the strawberry mottle virus.
“I’ve lost a good 50 per cent of my yield, easily half,” Marineau said from the three acre family farm in Ste-Dorothée. “It’s a terrible year, the strawberries we’re getting are good, it’s just that we’re not producing nearly enough.”
Experts say the viruses likely originate from Quebec plant nurseries that sold the infected seedlings to farmers across the province. The head of Quebec’s strawberry growers’ association says farms that bought their seedlings from Ontario aren’t nearly as affected as those who purchase plants locally.
“It’s unclear exactly what the extent of the damage is but I’ve spoken to people who lost as much as 75 per cent of their crops,” said Michel Sauriol, president of the Association des producteurs de fraises et framboises du Québec (APFFQ). “We sent out a survey to farmers across Quebec Monday and should begin to get a better grasp of the situation. ... We’re also lobbying the government to see if there’s anything they can do to help. People are losing their livelihood.”
The viruses don’t affect the fruit itself, which remains safe for consumption, but they do cripple the growth of the plant.
Valérie Gravel, a plant science professor at McGill University, says two factors led to the outbreak.
“A lot of plant nurseries clone their plants instead of using pollination. So if you’re cloning an infected plant then the virus spreads to all the plants you’ve made,” Gravel said. “In the fields, the virus is likely being spread by aphids (parasites). The aphids feed on an infected plant, move on to feed on a non-infected one and contaminate it.”
The humid, warm summer has created the ideal conditions for aphids to thrive, Gravel said.
For the farmers who rely on strawberries to make a living, this season has been a writeoff. Sauriol says the association will try to standardize testing at nurseries to insure no more infected seedlings are sold to farmers. And, as a silver lining amid the crisis, he says the fall strawberry harvest shouldn’t be affected by the viruses.
“Next year will be better, these plants were in their last cycle anyway,” Sauriol said. “But a lot of people are hurting.”
Over on the Marineau farm, the family business has had to turn away customers looking to take their children strawberry picking.
“We would open, people would come and soon enough there’d be nothing left for them to pick,” Marineau said. “It’s not exactly a good business practice to have to turn customers aside.”
Lately, however, the farm has been able to accommodate visitors and with the raspberry picking season beginning early Saturday, things are starting to look up. Still, the virus has complicated things for Marineau and his brother Louis, who both own the farm.
The farm, Marineau says, employs about 25 people at the fruit stand and another 15 to pick the fields. Because his crops aren’t insured, the virus will have significant ramifications for Marineau’s bottom line.
“Some of my pickers had to go work elsewhere because there’s not enough for them to do here,” he said. “It’s been hell, it’s been just awful. But we keep working, keep our heads down, keep grinding away. We have no other choice.”
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Berry Bulletin for June 20, 2014
Day neutral harvest is tapering off as growers move to June-bearing varieties. There is a tremendous amount of green fruit in the June varieties, almost too much for good size.
Warm and humid weather has set up good conditions for fruit rot. Already growers are reporting Botrytis symptoms on fruit, and I have seen anthracnose at several sites. Where fields have been through heavy rains, leather rot may also be a problem.
Botrytis: Fungicides during bloom are the best defense against this disease. Resistance to many fungicide families is being reported in the USA, a serious omen for Ontario growers. So far, no resistance has been reported to group M fungicides (Captan, Maestro,Thiram) and these should be used in combination or in rotation with the more selective products for Botrytis control. Fungicides for Botrytis may be necessary during harvest. Pristine (group 7 +11) is often the fungicide of choice for growers during harvest, because it controls several diseases and has a short phi. However, Pristine should not make up more than 30% of your total fungicide program. Switch (group 9 + 12) is a fungicide that is excellent against Botrytis and has activity on anthracnose as well.
Anthracnose (Figure 1): Warm (20-32C), humid conditions favour anthracnose fruit rot. The spores of the fungus, Colletotrichum actuatum, are spread from plant to plant by splashing rain, and also moved with workers and equipment through the field. Varieties in the "Summer" series are very susceptible to anthracnose, as are Annapolis, Gov Simcoe and day neutral varieties. Anthracnose fruit rot has been devastating in recent years, especially on day neutrals. While Pristine and Cabrio are registered for anthracnose, it is important not to depend on these products alone. Make sure that you spray fungicides for Botrytis that also has activity on anthracnose. These include broad-spectrum group M fungicides (Thiram, Maestro, Captan) and Switch
Figure 1: Anthracnose fruit rot causes orange-black circular lesions on ripe fruit.
Leather rot: This rot occurs when soil is splashed onto strawberry bloom, green or ripe fruit. Infected fruit develop soft patches of dull, off-colour areas, and a terrible taste and smell. Phostrol is registered for leather rot control with a 3 day phi and should be considered if heavy pounding rain exposes fruit to soil. However, areas of the field where fruit has been submerged during heavy rain events should not be harvested, as they could be a food safety concern.
Strawberry virus update: Many strawberry fields have patchy, weak stands of plants. While these plantings may have multiple problems, virus diseases are typically present and contributing to the lack of vigour. Some of these fields will produce much less than ½ a crop- very discouraging to see (Figure 2).
Diagnose virus diseases at the pest diagnostic clinic for ½ price ($155 for a 5-vius screen) between now and July 4. For more information, contact me, (see above) or the PDC at 519-767-6299.
Control of strawberry aphid is very important to keep virus diseases from moving around the farm.
Figure 2: Patchy field June 15 with virus diseases.
Strawberry aphids: Winged aphids are active now which means aphids are flying to new plantings. In established plantings aphids are building up quickly. All growers should make aphid control a priority at this time. Protect new plantings every 10 days or so with Beleaf, Assail, Admrie or Cygon/Lagon. In fruiting fields control aphids with a product with a short phi such as Beleaf or Assail. For more information, restrictions and other details on each product see:www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/hort/news/hortmatt/2013/20hrt13a2.htm
Strawberry green petal disease (Figure 3): This disease has been observed in the cultivar Summer Dawn in the past and again this year. Green petal is a virus- like disease caused by a phytoplasma, and spread by the aster leafhopper. It is best to remove plants like this from the field.
Figure 3: Green petal is a virus-like disease, but it is not a virus. Remove plants like this from the field.
Blueberries
Blueberries are in the green fruit stage and harvest will begin on schedule in early-mid July. Blueberry growers must have plans in place for spotted wing drosophila control. Malathion, Exirel, Delegate are registered on blueberries for SWD control, and Ripcord will provide suppression. Each product has pros, cons and specific restrictions. See: www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/swd-registrations.htm
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