University of Wisconsin-Extension Volume XXV Issue 5 July 20, 2012

Like all plants, cranberries need to produce ener-

gy, store energy, and then use energy to maintain

healthy growth and productivity. Photosynthesis, cap-

turing light energy and converting it to sugar energy in

the presence of chlorophyll (which is found in the

leaves) is how cranberries produce and store energy.

Respiration, the process of metabolizing sugars for

growth and reproduction is how cranberries burn the

energy. So, if the cranberries have a decreased rate of

photosynthesis, the stored energy will be reduced and

there won’t be enough energy for the plant to maxim-

ize health and vigor.

High temperatures can reduce a plant’s ability to

photosynthesize. In tomatoes, for example, at 96

degrees F the rate that the plant uses energy surpass-

es the ability of the plant to store energy (Respiration

is greater than Photosynthesis), plant growth stops

and the tomatoes loose their sweetness.

In 2011, researchers from Rutger’s University

found that under heat stress the cranberry plants

rate of photosynthesis decreased. Varieties looked

at were Demoranville, M. Queen, C. Queen and the

Stevens varieties. They found that the Stevens variety

had the lowest photosynthetic rate especially after 5

days of heat stress. The temperature where they

saw the most reduction of photosynthetic rate was

at 95 degrees F. They irrigated once for 10 minutes

and the leaf temperature went back up within 1

hour. When they irrigated the vines for 10 minutes

every half hour from noon to 4pm, both the air and

leaf temperature was significantly dropped compared

to areas not irrigated.

This year, I had some growers who were air condi-

tioning the vines during bloom and fruit set and oth-

er that did not. Those that did used a temperature

gun (infrared gun) to monitor the canopy tempera-

ture throughout the day. When the canopy temper-

ature reached about 95 degrees F, the pumps were

started for approximately 15-20 minutes. Canopy

temperatures were reduced by about 15 degrees

and stayed reduced for about 45 minutes to an hour.

These growers typically irrigated for heat stress

about 6 times per day from 11am until 6pm on the

hottest days. Other growers who heat stressed, just

wanted to give the vines some breaks throughout

the day and started their pumps for 15 minutes eve-

ry 1.5 hours as long as the canopy temperature was

95 degrees or higher.

Those that did not irrigate for heat stress said

that they never have and don’t see a need to do it.

For some, they just increased their normal irrigation

duration from ½ hour to an hour more than what

their normal program would require, but this being

more because fruit was present and not so much be-

cause of the air temperature.

Whose right? I walk acreage on both types of

programs/philosophies and cannot see any significant

difference between growers. But, every marsh is dif-

ferent and comparisons between marshes are not

really applicable. I did not have any growers who only

heat stressed part of their marsh, but it would be

interesting to do so if the opportunity arises in the

future. Can we relate a bbl/ac increase to preventing

photosynthesis shutdown? At suppressed cranberry

prices and lower fuel costs, it wouldn’t be hard to

economically justify. Or, if it doesn’t matter, we can

save time, fuel, and water.

AIR CONDITIONING--DO YOUR CRANBERRIES NEED IT?

By Suzanne Arendt RedForest Crop Consulting, LLC

Integrated Cranberry Crop Management for Wisconsin

Cranberr y Crop Management Newsletter

This Issue:

Air Conditioning—Do Your Cranberries Need It?

1

Observations from the Field

2

DANGER: Pesti-cides in Use

3

Terrapin (Cranberry) Station

4

UW-Madison Hires New Fruit Crops Entomologist/Pollination Ecologist

5

Irrigation….Timing is everything!

5

Wisconsin State Cranberry Grow-ers Summer Field Day

5-6

July 10, 2012. We are already seeing a bud devel-oping across most of Wisconsin Cranberry Growing are-as. Growers are wondering how to fertilize with this kind of phenomenon going on. In all honesty, if you have a healthy crop under that bud you need to feed it. We cer-tainly cannot afford to have the vines go dormant this ear-ly in the season. Over the years, I have seen a second bloom on top of a harvestable crop. I have yet to see an actual 2nd crop above. Then, again, I have never seen a

year like this one, so it could happen. In Hot Spots of BHFW, I expect to see a third gener-ation within the next week. On Tuesday, we were finding flight with some egg laying going on already. Keep a close eye out there as things are happening quicker than “normal” because of the HEAT. Everyone is asking when the flea beetles are going to invade our cranberry vines. Typically, we see them emerging late July. On some marshes, they are here al-ready; that is just how this season is going. Keep in mind that if we do not mow our dikes they may chose to feed there instead of inside the bed. They do like pigweed, smart weed, goldenrod, loosestrife, hardhack; stick tight and other tasty morsels that you may wish to allow to live within the bed instead of using roundup on all weed spe-

cies. In any event, it seems that this pest is one that keeps on coming we can see them from July until harvest. Look for a brown tint to the cranberry leaves as this pest feed on the tissue in a skeletonizing methodology- typically feeding on the underside of leaves and leaving the veins and the upper skin of a leaf. When the populations are intense, you will see a brown look to the bed almost like BHFW burn.

We have talked about Umbrella Hook, Umbrella Bloom and now I would like to show you Umbrella Set. Several of our marshes are showing injured Stevens vines with a set of three berries. I would not have believed this possible had I not seen it myself. Look at the con-sistent size! The other slide shows what we typically see

Observations from the Field

By Jayne Sojka

Lady Bug, IPM, LLC

Page 2 Volume XXV Issue 5 July 20, 2012

Address Correction If you have any address corrections, additions, or deletions, please let us know. Please call 715-421-8440 or e-mail: mspencer@co.wood.wi.us

Page 3 Cranberr y Crop Management Newsletter

References to products in this publication are for your convenience and are not an endorsement of one product over similar products. You are responsible for using pesticides according to the manufacturer's current label directions. Follow directions exactly to protect the environment and people from pesticide exposure. Failure to do so violates the law.

                      

It’s NOT ok to say:

“We thought you’d be here tomorrow”.  

Please comply with the Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides.

TIPS TO PREVENT HUMAN EXPOSURE:

Please post area BEFORE you spray. Please remove posts after the REI is expired.

No matter when you think people outside your operation will be on your marsh or off your marsh, the LAW states that you must post each entrance to your property prior to certain pesti-cide applications. Certain exposure risks may not matter to some, but it does matter too many people. It is really one of the nicest things you can do for the people who visit your property.

.DANGER: Pesticides in Use

Suzanne Arendt, RedForest Crop Consulting, LLC

 Painted turtles on a log

Page 4

Terrapin (Cranberry) Station By Suzanne Arendt

RedForest Crop Consulting, LLC

Volume XXV Issue 5 July 20, 2012

Geologists state that 200 million years ago, half the world died. It marked the end of the Tri-assic period and the end of Pangaea. The dino-saurs didn’t survive, but TURTLES did! And they reside in success on our cranberry marshes. I find that to be amazing and obscure. A piece of pre-historic history resides with us on our cranberry marshes. Although, the species are different to-day than in the Triassic period, the turtle has not change much in appearance and are one of the longest living creatures around.

There are 11 species of turtles found in the state of WI that represent 4 different families of turtles. WI cranberry marshes have turtles from 3 of the 4 families! I personally have seen almost 50% of the species found in WI on cranberry marshes, including the ornate box turtle, which is listed as Endangered and the Blanding’s turtle, which is Threatened. Our marshes provide excel-lent habitat for turtles which include terrestrial areas, swampy areas, wetland areas, and rivers, ponds or streams. We also have an abundance of food for turtles to dine on such as worms, crickets, minnows, crayfish, and leafy vegetation—(not in-cluding cranberry leaves ;-)).

All turtles lay their eggs on land. It takes about 60-90 days to hatch and the sex of the turtles is determined by the incubation temperature. At higher temperatures, females are produced and males at lower temperatures. I think we’ll have a

lot of female turtles this year! Turtles seem to love the sun and there is a good reason why. They are cold-blooded and need to get body heat from outside sources. Turtles also absorb vitamin D from the sun to aid in digestion and absorption of Calcium from food. Nearly all of WI turtles overwinter in WI turtles overwinter in the water. Some bury themselves at the bot-tom and others remain motionless on the surface of the bottom.

Habitat loss is the main threat to WI turtles. Wetland loss, shoreline development, urban sprawl and road construction has taken away nesting sites and habitat from the turtles. Foxes, raccoons, and skunk populations have increased over time, too, which has escalated the threat to the turtle survival. And, cars have also killed many turtles each year as they cross our roads to find nesting sites.

Cranberry growers have helped protect our WI turtle species by providing all things neces-sary for them to survive and thrive in this world today. I often see that growers will specifically place a fallen tree on the shoreline of their ponds/reservoirs to provide a warming spot for the turtles to enjoy. If you haven’t done this yet, please do. It’s great to see so many turtles on

our cranberry marshes!

Blanding’s Turtle

The Department of Entomology at the University of

Wisconsin will be hiring a new Fruit Crops Entomologist/

Pollination Ecologist this fall. Her name is Dr. Christelle

Guedot, and she comes to us from the Pacific Northwest

where she has been doing a postdoc with the USDA

(Yakima Area Research Laboratory). Her past research

has focused on pollinator biology and behavior, and

more recently on tree fruit IPM. She will start October

1st, 2012, and will be based in Madison.

It would just seem wrong to not write something

about irrigation given that I can hear the hum of the

pumps all the way down here in Madison! The high tem-

peratures and lack of rain have certainly created the

need for both evaporative cooling in addition to meeting

crop demands for water. There have been plenty of

days where the irrigation has been on multiple times

during the day resulting in several hours during which

the canopy is wet. If we couple that with the high tem-

peratures, we have rather ideal conditions for disease to

develop. While much of the conditions are beyond our

control, we can reduce the wetting hours by avoiding

evening/night irrigation when the water does not evapo-

rate from the canopy as quickly and results in a greater

number of hours the canopy is saturated. The ideal time

to irrigate is early in the morning.

The Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Summer Field Day Wednesday, August 8, 2012 presents an excellent op-portunity to visit with other growers and commercial exhibi-tors. Three mini sessions held in the morning will provide opportunity to update yourself on renewable energy, pest management and soil moisture monitoring.

The field day will be at:

Owen Rock Cranberries 561 County Hwy W

Hancock, WI 54943

Mini Sessions The WSCGA Education Committee and UW Extension Faulty will be conducting three mini sessions in the morning. They will be held in the lunch area. The third session is a bedside demonstration. The group will meet at the lunch room and then go out on the marsh.

9:30 a.m.

Renewable Energy Generation for Cranberry Farms Thinking Outside the Box – Tod Planer, WSCGA Project Specialist, Session Chair

This session will feature a poster presentation on recently completed hydro projects, small wind velocity systems and solar powered portable pumping stations. The workshop will discuss traditional wind and solar systems as well as low vol-ume wind systems, hydro and new solar technologies.

10:00 a.m.

Insect Pest Management in the 2012 Growing Season – Shawn Steffan, USDA Agricultural Research Service Cranber-ry entomologist

The session will cover the unusual spring temperatures of 2012 and how important Degree Days were in predicting insect emergence. A secondary topic will be the way that flooding physically removes insects (within the trash).

(continued next page)

Page 5 Cranberr y Crop Management Newsletter

UW-Madison Hires New Fruit Crops Entomologist/Pollination Ecologist

Irrigation….Timing is everything!

By Rebecca Harbut

UW-Extension Fruit Crops Specialist

Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers

Summer Field Day August 8, 2012

Jed Colquhoun Matthew Lippert, Agricultural Agent UW-Extension Fruit Crops Weed Scientist Wood County Courthouse 1575 Linden Drive 400 Market Street; P. O. Box 8095 Madison, WI 53706 Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495-8095 (608) 890-0980 (715) 421-8440 jed.colquhoun@ces.uwex.edu matthew.lippert@ces.uwex.edu Rebecca Harbut Shawn Steffan, Research Entomologist UW-Extension Fruit Crops Specialist USDA-ARS 297 Horticulture; 1575 Linden Drive UW-Madison, Dept of Entomology Madison, WI 53706 1630 Linden Drive (608) 262-6452 Madison, WI 53706-1598 rebecca.harbut@ces.uwex.edu (608) 262-3227 steffan2@wisc.edu Patty McManus Juan E. Zalapa, Research Geneticist UW-Extension Fruit Crops Specialist 299 Horticulture, 1575 Linden Drive 319B Russell Labs; 1630 Linden Drive USDA-ARS Vegetable Crops Research Madison, WI 53706 Madison, WI 53706 (608) 265-2047 608-890-3997 patty.mcmanus@ces.uwex.edu jezalapa @wisc.edu

UW-Extension Cranberry Specialists

Volume XXV Issue 5 July 20, 2012 Page 6

10:30 a.m.

The Latest on Soil Moisture Monitoring - Rebecca Harbut, UW Extension Fruit Crop Specialist Ses-sion Chair The session will begin with a discussion on the im-pact of the unusual spring weather and how it re-lates to plant physiology. Following the presenta-tion there will be a field demonstration of evaluat-ing irrigation uniformity using a catch can system as well as differ-ent technologies to track soil mois-ture. Leroy Kummer of Ocean Spray and Julie Am-mel of NRCS will be present at the bedside portion of the session.

Advance Lunch Ticket Order Deadline: July 27, 2012 Cost is $10 in Advance or $13 at the door. Please or-der tickets in advance to ensure a meal is available.

NAME_____________________________________

Address____________________________________

Phone______________________________________ Indicate number of tickets for appropriate time slot(s):

Time Period ___# of Tickets

11: 00 a.m. –11:30 a.m. ____________

11:30 a.m. —12 Noon ____________

12 Noon —12:30 p.m. ____________

12:30 p.m.-1 p.m. ____________

Send your check ($10 per ticket) payable to: WSCGA, P O BOX 365, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495-0365 by July 27, 2012

Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Summer Field Day (Continued p. 5) By Matt Lippert

Wood County UW-Extension Agricultural Agent

University of Wisconsin, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and Wisconsin counties co-operating. UW-Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming including Title IX and ADA.

Integrated Cranberry Crop Management for WisconsinCranberry Crop Management NewsletterThis Issue: Page 2Page 3Cranberry Crop Management NewsletterPage 4Page 5Cranberry Crop Management NewsletterPage 6

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