There is more to life than SWD so I’m literally forcing myself to not put SWD front and center for yet another newsletter. Instead let’s do what we do best: complain about the weather and project fruit impacts related to said weather.

It’s kind of awkward to be quickly surrounded by folks at a field day after someone hands me a bruised strawberry asking what the problem might be. I’m automatically opening and finding larvae like it’s a first grade show and tell experience gone wrong.

The thick layer of rainy clouds are finally moving away from the region. I wonder what we’re going to see from this near inch (25mm) rain? Soft strawberries, some fruit rot, some split fruit in the colored blueberries perhaps? Maybe a slight break from irrigation?

A slight heat up in the weather earlier this week but otherwise we’re staying in a moderate weather window. The rain last week was patchy with 1/4 to a 1/2 inch (6-12mm) keeping the dust down. Honestly, the ground is extra dry right now so hopefully everyone is consistently watering.

Ugh, the dreaded blueberry virus conundrum continues. Undoubtedly you’ve all been seeing funky symptoms in your fields by now and wondering if it’s Shock, Scorch, some new virus or all of the above.

In two days, we will be officially seeing a new face in the PNW breeding program. WSU has officially announced the new Endowed Chair of raspberry breeding, Dr. Germán Sandoya, will be joining the team on May 15th! This has been a long time coming (since 2020) and I can confidently say we’re lucky to add Germán to the industry.

We’re starting to get back on track for plant development after the decent weather over the weekend. The cool weather did indeed drop SWD counts down some. I’m hoping that means they were faced with some natural selection but maybe their flight just slowed down temporarily. I’ll keep you posted as the count trend begins to take shape.

We’re starting to get back on track for plant development after the decent weather over the weekend. The cool weather did indeed drop SWD counts down some. I’m hoping that means they were faced with some natural selection but maybe their flight just slowed down temporarily. I’ll keep you posted as the count trend begins to take shape.