The October issue of Specialty Crop Industry Magazine focuses on strawberries, one of the top fruits produced in the Southeast. Jeff Cook and Garrett Hibbs, county Extension coordinators for University of Georgia (UGA) Cooperative Extension, along with Phillip Brannen, UGA Extension fruit disease specialist, provide tips for managing different fungal diseases which pose the biggest threat to production, other than spider mites.
Vance Whitaker, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) strawberry breeder, provides an update on the Florida Pearl™ pineberry. It’s a newcomer to the berry market in the past two years.
Kristen Van Gelder, a postdoctoral researcher in the Horticultural Sciences Department at UF, describes how strawberry scent matters more than sugar content. Consumers tend to favor fruit with a fragrant, fresh and fruity aroma rather than one with a green and earthy aroma.
Ayanava Majumdar, an Extension professor and entomologist at Auburn University, along with Chip East and Eric Schavey, Alabama regional Extension agents, discuss strategies that growers need to implement in transitioning from summer to fall vegetable crops.
The magazine also provides specialty crop producers an event guide for the upcoming Florida Ag Expo, which is scheduled for Nov. 2 at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma, Florida.