By Clint Thompson
Alabama’s strawberry crop has progressed this year with minimal disease impact. Yes, diseases have been present in some fields, but their severity has been lessened this year.
Ed Sikora, professor and Extension plant pathologist in the department of entomology and plant pathology at Auburn University, believes the lack of consistent rains have made certain diseases less impactful this year, especially when compared to other seasons.
“We haven’t been as wet as South Georgia, the best I can tell. We’ve been seeing a lot of problems with spider mites in just about every strawberry field that I’ve been in. Early on we did have some leaf spot problems. We saw some neopestalotiopsis building up back in January and February. It never really exploded, because I don’t think we’ve had consistent rainfall,” Sikora said.
“We’ve seen this gnomonia leaf spot, in the fall and early spring. We’ve seen some leaf scorch recently in a few fields but nothing severe. I’ve seen a little bit of gray mold but just a few fruit here and there. There is a little bit anthracnose but nothing severe, either. The foliar fruit diseases are out there, but they haven’t taken off yet, because I think it’s just the lack of consistent rainfall.”
Sikora said he has visited fields in central and southern Alabama. Every field has had some level of spider mite infestation.
“I think that’s probably our biggest issue right now,” Sikora said. “I always think of hot and dry conditions and the mites will start to build up quickly in the lower leaves and start to move up the plant. They’ll dry out those leaves and suck out the sap.
“When they’re bad, they’re bad.”
The mites’ impact can leave plants stunted and off colored.