By Clint Thompson
Row covers are an effective management strategy for strawberry production in the Southeast. Especially as temperatures drop below freezing in some areas across Georgia and Alabama, producers need to protect their young plants from frost damage.
Growers also need to continue their management strategy for Neopestalotiopsis (Neo) if they are contemplating applying row covers at any point. Phil Brannen, University of Georgia (UGA) Cooperative Extension fruit disease specialist, discussed what strawberry farmers must remember when considering row cover applications amid Neo management.
“The thing to do and this is what we would advise growers to do, if you’re going to put row covers on, especially if you have Neo, you want to make sure you put on a fungicide that’s active before you put the row covers on. So you’re trying to prevent the infection from occurring,” Brannen said. “Once you get the row covers on, for whatever period of time you’ve got them on, you can’t really get a spray in to penetrate unless you take them off and put them back on. People sometimes have difficulties doing that.”
Row Cover Description
According to UGA Extension, row covers are “simply miniature greenhouses placed directly over the row of crops.” Producers mostly implement row covers to protect plants from the adverse effects of cold winds and frost.
Brannen also reminded growers that spider mites could make the Neo problem worse in strawberry fields that are using row covers.
“People put on row covers to protect blooms and protect the plants at different times, and that warms up everything underneath. It makes it more humid, and that could be a problem,” Brannen said. “We’ve seen an association when you have more spider mites, which get up under those row covers. They move things around. The neopestalotiopsis gets stuck on their feet, and they move around and probe everything. It becomes even more of a problem when you have row covers and spider mites and Neo. Everything can blow up pretty quick.”