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Sticky Sweet Sunset at Cornell's Small Fruits Twilight Tour
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July 8, 2002
CONTACT: Linda McCandless, llm3@cornell.edu, 315-787-2417
By Peter Seem
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| Suggested
caption: Participants sampled 20 varieties of strawberries during Cornell University's Small Fruit Twilight tour at the end of June. CREDIT: Price/NYSAES/Cornell |
GENEVA, NY: Hundreds of sticky red-stained fingers marked the success of Cornell University's Small Fruits Twilight Tour at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, in Geneva, NY, on June 25. By the time the sun set on the Darrow Farm, off Gates Road in Geneva, approximately 30 growers, along with extension personnel and researchers, had heard various presentations, seen ongoing Cornell research, and tasted 20 varieties of strawberries. Although some presenters during the three-hour tour covered all small fruits, they primarily focused on strawberries, New York's most valuable small fruit. Strawberries were a $6.85M industry in New York in 2000.
Small fruit breeder Courtney Weber, who organized the tour, presented the results of a field trial at the Experiment Station that evaluated and compared 10 varieties of strawberries. Three of the strawberries were industry standards, Earliglow, Jewel and Honeoye. Five more, Darselect, Eros, Cabot, Brunswick and Sable, were recently released varieties. The last two were soon-to-be-released, as yet unnamed, varieties developed at the Station-NY1829 and NYUS304B.
"Most of these varieties are new and growers haven't had a chance to evaluate them for themselves, so we provided a side-by-side comparison in the field," said Weber.
To complement the variety trials, Weber set out fruit from each of the trial varieties, plus 10 other varieties, so growers could compare look, feel and taste. Weber was able to show the early stage development of several varieties of raspberries and blackberries, although it was too early in the season for most of the plants to be bearing ripe fruit. One variety of raspberry was ready for sampling-Prelude, developed at Geneva, which is the earliest commercial raspberry available.
Cornell entomologist Greg English-Loeb presented his work on plant sensitivity to the two-spotted spider mite and the strawberry sap beetle, an emerging pest in the Northeast. Management of anthracnose-a fungal disease that is becoming more problematic in New York fields-and foliar diseases were the subjects of a presentation by plant pathologist Bill Turechek. Graduate student Rebecca Loughner discussed the results of a sap beetle survey she had conducted with the help of William Smith College intern Lisa Newel, investigating where the beetle appears and how abundant it is in those locations.
Marvin Pritts, chair of the horticulture department at Cornell in Ithaca, presented research on alternatives to fumigation based on a joint project among Cornell, Michigan State and the USDA. "Cornell's research is targeted at using cover crops to reduce soil-borne pathogens," said Pritts, who discussed crop rotation, composting, and soil management on the tour.
The presenters were all pleased with the tour, and many commented positively on the collaborative effort involved in its success-both the cooperation among presenters and the level of grower interaction.
"These were many of the good New York growers," said English-Loeb. "They came with a lot of questions, and offered their own insights. Many brought pest samples for identification."
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