Strawberries and Caneberries

To concentrate people's minds on what Fusarium tolerance in strawberry can and can't do, consider the first photo below which is part of a crop termination trial I set up with a grower collaborator last fall and now coming into production this year.

Below is a picture of what hail can do to strawberry. A friend forwarded me these pictures of what a freak hailstorm a few days ago over his field left behind. Shredded leaves, pitted and bruised fruit right down to pretty undeveloped green ones, even on the flower.

I wouldn't assume many of the readers of this space are enthusiasts of the game of Go, a game popular in Asia that has some pretty simple rules but is remarkably complex partly because of the large board and consequently a huge number of possible moves.

Interesting farm call here that at first piqued my attention as a possibly serious disease situation but in the end turned out to not be. See the photos below. Affected strawberry plants presented with discolored leaves and stunted growth typical of nutrient deficiency or viral infection.

Waaaay too early to be seeing Fusarium infecting strawberry plants, but here it is. I was contacted two weeks ago by the grower who was seeing some plant collapse in his field (Photo 1) and had him submit samples and then went out personally to check it out.