Schedule
7:45am: Log On to Zoom for DEC Credits
8:00am: Welcome and Sponsor Information
8:05am: Choosing Bramble Varieties for Your Situation
Dr. Courtney Weber, Cornell
Understanding the management of bramble varieties along with the fruit quality and pest tolerance are all very important considerations to growing raspberries and blackberries. Dr. Weber will discuss how managing these plants for pests and market will be impacted by the variety you are growing.
8:30am: Rotating Cross Arm Trellis for Blackberries
Laura McDermott, ENYCHP
RCA trellises offer growers that ability to manage the fruiting portion of the plant more efficiently for both pest control purposes and harvest. RCA also helps reduce stress caused by winter overwintering – thus supporting more healthy vigorous growth less prone to disease and insect pressure.
9:00am: Raspberry Virus Update
Dr. Juliet Carroll, Cornell
Dr. Carroll will report on the 2019 NYS virus survey findings that were part of a larger US virus survey. What do those findings mean to growers? Are viruses a bigger problem than we thought? What can growers due to reduce the risk?
9:30am: Adjourn
Dr. Courtney Weber
The primary goal of Dr. Weber’s research program is to develop improved berry varieties to better serve the needs of the New York industry by integrating new technologies with traditional breeding practices. His work examines the fundamentals of disease and insect resistance and fruit quality through collaborative projects with food scientists and human health specialists. His program is identifying superior varieties containing beneficial phytochemicals that also have improved pest tolerance. Consumers look for berry varieties that have enhanced health benefits and superior eating quality, and growers need varieties that with improved yield and pest resistance. Dr. Weber’s work will help keep New York berry growers competitive in the changing marketplace.
Laura McDermott
Laura McDermott works for Cornell Cooperative Extension’s regional Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture program as the berry specialist, covering 17 counties along the Route 87 corridor. Shas long been interested in horticulture, completing her undergrad degree at Cornell University and her master degree at the University of Florida. Laura joined Cornell Cooperative Extension in 1990 and, through the years, has fine-tuned her expertise in commercial small fruit and vegetable production including pest identification and management, soil fertility, food safety, and season extension techniques.
Dr. Juliet
Carroll
Dr. Juliet Carroll is responsible for promoting the adoption of IPM practices for arthropod, plant disease, weed, and vertebrate pests by fruit growers. She invented Trac Software, a pesticide spray record-keeping program for market traceability and pesticide reporting requirements. Under her leadership, the Network for Environment and Weather Applications (NEWA), a weather mesonet providing weather-based pest forecast models, grew from 45 weather stations in NY to over 500 in 12 states. Her collaborative research currently focuses on the destructive invasive insect spotted wing drosophila (SWD).