Strawberries and Caneberries

Great article here from Growing Produce about how researcher Hannah McIntosh out in Wisconsin obtained serious reductions in SWD in raspberries by underlaying the crop with plastic mulch (three colors tested: metallic, black and white).

Good article here from the Wall Street Journal. I provided a good amount of info to Jesse over the past couple of weeks, in particular walking her through some of the financials and cultural practices of the business.

Introduction: As of three years, Lewis mite (Eotetranychus lewisi) has become an issue in Central Coast strawberries, and to some extent on caneberries.

Finally got the shot of twospotted spider mite and Lewis mite close to one another in the same picture for comparison. I've shared this with others, but these two mites tend not to be found together, and rather form colonies on different parts of the leaf. However, here we go.

This one doesn't show too much in strawberry here on the Central Coast, so I was glad when the sample was brought in to me. Complaint was fairly significant numbers of a reddish mite mixed together with a mess of twospotted mite. Are these going to cause a problem was the question.