Keeping Quality Forecast

For more information on Keeping Quality Forecast, contact Debbie Cannon or Frank Caruso Plant Pathologist.

Historical Keeping Quality Forecasts

2013 FINAL KEEPING QUALITY FORECAST

The Keeping Quality Forecast for June 2013 is for VERY POOR keeping quality.

We calculated 2 of a possible 16 points to arrive at this forecast. We were awarded 1 point for February sunshine hours and 1 point for April precipitation.

What does this mean?  If you take no steps to manage fruit rot disease, you could end up with a high incidence of fruit rot at harvest and particularly during storage of the fruit.  Inoculum produced during the current growing season might exponentially increase during the following year, meaning that more fungicide applications will be required to reduce the inoculum load for subsequent crops. Careful disease management this season can overcome this prediction.

This is a year that you should definitely not reduce your fungicide rates and/or the number of fungicide applications. If you have a bed that had late water held this spring, you can still reduce your fungicide inputs in spite of the forecast.

If you have any questions, you can call me at 774-238-0698 or email me at fcaruso@umass.edu if you have any specific questions or concerns about a particular bed. I'll be driving cross-country from July 3-9, and I'll be moving westward in time zones, concluding in the Pacific Zone (3 hours difference).

Frank L. Caruso, Extension Plant Pathologist

2013 PRELIMINARY KEEPING QUALITY FORECAST

As of April 1, there is only 1 point out of a possible 10 that favor keeping quality for the 2013 Massachusetts cranberry crop. The sole point was awarded for favorable sunshine hours in February. Consequently, the forecast is for POOR keeping quality. The final keeping quality forecast (issued after June 1) could be upgraded if we have a cool and dry April and May. Based on the present forecast, fungicide applications and the rate of fungicides applied should NOT be reduced, and close attention should be paid where fruit rot has been a major or regular concern. This should be a good year for holding late water because we have had a more typical winter, avoiding severe temperatures along with adequate water for the winter flood and sufficient snow cover over long stretches of time. Minimal ice sanding was done this winter due to a lack of sufficient ice thickness beyond a few days. Sanding is one of the best cultural control strategies, as it covers overwintering inoculum, so the lack of sanding resulted in a minimal reductive effect. At any rate, expect the worst regarding fruit rot in what appears to be a much more typical growing season than we had in 2012. If you have any questions, please contact me (extension 18) or Carolyn (extension 25).

FRANK CARUSO,
EXTENSION PLANT PATHOLOGIST