Strawberries and Caneberries

I made a visit to a beautiful blackberry field a few days ago and was shown this example of sunscald, in this case on mature Ouachita blackberry. Notice these are not tunneled, and also one observes immediately that only the part of the fruit facing the sun is affected.

Just to let you all know we completed our move from our office we've been at for 56 years into a new facility at 500 Westridge Drive which while on the other side of town.

In case any of you missed the talk (or missed a point, I went rather quickly) I gave last week for the UC Experts Talk on lygus bugs in strawberry, it is now on YouTube.

My UC colleagues, including Emeritus Advisor Laura Tourte with whom I have worked together with so well on these studies for many years, and I have been working at a blistering pace over the past few months and completed updating three more studies for Central Coast Berry Production.

The rain on Saturday (about 0.6" total by my gauge), did present a setback for area strawberry growers. Not too much, but still damage has been evident, it is worth noting that that for many varieties grown on the Central Coast water accumulation over 0.5" inches means damage for mature fruit.