Faculty contact:  Marvin Pritts

Our berry crop research looks at ecological and cultural approaches to weed control and pest management in berry crops, methods of season extension, crop response to environmental stress, and nutrient management.

Recent topics include:

• Weed thresholds in strawberries.
• Management of strawberry replant disease.
• Season extension, including high tunnel and greenhouse bramble production Interaction of soil compaction and replant disease in strawberry.

Recent grad student research in berry crops has included:

• Carbon dynamics in red raspberries.
• The importance of water and its management in strawberries.
• Micropropagation of blueberries.
• Dynamics of foliar fertilizer applications in raspberries.
• Weed management in raspberries.
• Mycorrhizae-aluminum interactions in blueberries.
• Nutrient interactions in strawberries.
• Raspberry pruning.
• Biological control of Phytophthora root rot in raspberry.
• Soil management effects on raspberry and strawberry root rots.
• Carbon dioxide enrichment in the field to enhance strawberry productivity.
• Economics of greenhouse raspberry production.
• Assessing the importance of fall carbon and nitrogen reserves in strawberries.
• Effects of cover crop rotations on ameliorating strawberry replant disease.
• Changes in the biochemistry of the photosynthetic process in strawberries across the last century.