Strawberry Bed Renovation Review

The first step in the bed renovation process is to determine which beds should be carried over for another year and which should be plowed down and put into a crop rotation.  Beds that do not appear to have suffered much from winter injury, had good production, and a good plant stand with no major weed, insect or disease problems should be carried over for another year. 

Renovating a strawberry bed is basically a thinning process to promote healthy new growth that can support a heavy crop next spring.  While some of the general renovation scheme may need to be modified for individual situations, all beds should undergo the following steps once harvest is complete.

1.    Leaf mowing: mow off the leaves of the strawberries about 1 1/2 inches above the crowns.  If the planting is weak, it is recommended that this step of the renovation process be skipped this year.

2.    Fertilization:  Apply 20 pounds of 10-10-10 (or organic equivalent) per 1,000 square feet. 

3.    Plant thinning: After mowing off the leaves, rototill  the sides of the rows to narrow the beds back to a width of 12 to 18 inches. Set the tiller so that it incorporates the mowed leaves and spreads about one inch of soil over the remaining crowns at the same time.  This will reduce leaf disease and mite problems, and help stimulate new root growth on the remaining plants.

4.    Weed control: Regular cultivation, before weeds are more than 2" tall, will be needed throughout the summer. 

5.    Irrigation:  To encourage rapid plant growth and get the most out of fertilizers and herbicides, irrigate the beds regularly.  Strawberries will grow best if they receive 1 1/2 inches of water per week during the growing season.

6.    Observation: Don't forget your plants once these renovation steps are completed.  Check the strawberry fields regularly during the summer for pest problems.  Finding and managing problems early can prevent major problems next spring.

Source: Handley, D., Strawberry IPM Newsletter, No. 6, July 2009

Featured Bulletins: 

Steps to Organizing Your Community Garden
 Item #4300  Publisher: UMaine Extension.  Learn how to set up a community garden project, recruit volunteers and establish a garden plot, for family gardens or food pantries and shelters. 4 pages, 1998, 2011. Food for ME is a citizen action series for community food recovery. Series includes items 4300-4304. See 4315 for entire series. Download it for free: Download it for free, or buy a printout.  $0.75

Food for Your Community: Gleaning and Sharing
 Item #4301  Publisher: UMaine Extension.  Gleaning-the act of gathering unwanted crops from farmers' fields-is one tool that can be used to redirect unwanted crops to those in need. This 4-page fact sheet describes how to set up a field gleaning project and collect crops to benefit your community. 2004, 2011. Food for ME is a citizen action series for community food recovery. Series includes items 4300-4304. See 4315 for entire series. Download it for free: Download it for free, or buy a printout.  $0.75

Food Safety for Food-Pantry Donations
 Item #4302  Publisher: UMaine Extension.  Use the following checklist to decide whether foods are unsafe to give to food pantries, cupboards, and shelters. 2 pages, 2004, 2011. Food for ME is a citizen action series for community food recovery. Series includes items 4300-4304. See 4315 for entire series. Gleaning-the act of gathering unwanted crops from farmers' fields-is one tool that can be used to redirect unwanted crops to those in need.Download it for free: Download it for free, or buy a printout.  $0.50

A Donors Guide to Vegetable Harvest
 Item #4303  Publisher: UMaine Extension.  Produce from your garden is welcome at most food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters. Learn how to best harvest and safely store common Maine crops to maintain crop quality for donation to community groups. 3 pages, 2000, 2011. Food for ME is a citizen action series for community food recovery. Series includes items 4300-4304. See 4315 for entire series. Download it for free: Download it for free, or buy a printout.  $0.75

Food Pantry Wish List
 Item #4304Publisher: UMaine Extension.  This chart will help you choose food to donate to food pantries, or help guide donations in a community food drive. 3 pages, 1998, 2011. Food for ME is a citizen action series for community food recovery. Series includes items 4300-4304. See 4315 for entire series. Download it for free, or buy a printout.  $0.75

Bacteria in Water Supplies, Part 1: Problem Bacteria and How to Test for Them
Item #7114  Publisher: UMaine Extension.  Bacteria is the most common well water contaminant in Maine. Bacteria can carry diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and cholera. Learn how bacteria enters your well and how to test for it. Use with item 7115 below. 4 pages, 2002, 2011. Download it for free: Download it for free, or buy a printout.  $0.75

Bacteria in Water Supplies, Part 2: How to Disinfect Your Well
Item #7115  Publisher: UMaine Extension.  Bacteria can carry diseases. Learn how to safely disinfect your well. Use with item 7114 above. 4 pages, 2004, 2011. Download it for free: Download it for free, or buy a printout.  $0.75

Featured Videos: 

• How to compost:  A compost recipe
• Native plants in Maine

Maine Forest Service - CALENDAR

July 9, 2011 (Saturday) - Unity.  The Maine Forest Service Forest Health and Monitoring and Forest Policy and Management Divisions are partnering with Unity College to present a workshop on hemlock woolly adelgid and hemlock management planning.

This workshop is geared toward landowners, foresters, loggers, and others who are involved in maintaining & managing forests in coastal and central Maine. Hemlock woolly adelgid is a non-native, invasive insect pest that has done considerable damage in the eastern U.S. In Maine it has been found in several towns along the coast, as far north as Bristol. The workshop will address how to identify this pest, describe its potential impacts on a variety of resources, and discuss possible management strategies for dealing with its effects in the forest.

The workshop is planned for 8:30 through 12:30, and will meet at Unity College, with a field session nearby.  Snacks and van transportation to the field site will be provided. There is no cost for the workshop but please register so that we can plan for the group size. Please register by email to MFS District Forester Morten Moesswilde, morten.moesswilde@maine.gov , or call (cell phone 441-2895.)

June 21 thru August 26 - Augusta, Maine State Museum.  Off Limits: Pine Trees, Politics, and the King's Broad Arrow.  The story of the King's Broad Arrow policy and associated white pine artifacts will be on display at the Maine State Museum.  This year marks the 300^th anniversary of the first British Parliamentary Law that reserved large white pines in the New England colonies for use as masts for the British Navy.  An original printing of the Law and the processing methods, culture and policies surrounding the use of white pine as ship masts and other items in colonial New England will be featured.

July 22-25, 2011 - The National Park Service, Maine Forest Service, Maine Entomological Society, University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, and the SERC Institute are pleased to sponsor the 9^th annual bioblitz at Acadia National Park. This year, we will be targeting the Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies. The event is open to professional entomologists, amateur naturalists, and other interested persons.

As in the past, the event will be based at the park's Schoodic Education and Research Center and collecting will be focused in the Schoodic section of the park.  Lodging at the Schoodic Education and Research Center will be provided to participants at no charge; however space is limited, and will be available on a first-registered, first-served basis. Participants will only need to pay a small registration fee and food costs - meals will be provided by the SERC Institute.

The event will begin with dinner on Friday evening followed by presentations about ongoing research or emerging issues of interest to the entomological and natural history community. Saturday morning will feature a workshop on collecting and identifying moths and butterflies. The official bioblitz will commence around noon and continue 24 hours till noon on Sunday. The remainder of Sunday and Monday morning will be focused with sorting, pinning, and identifying collected specimens.  Lead taxonomist for the event will be Dr. Brian Scholtens from the University of Charleston.  We are now accepting registrations for this summer's Lepidoptera bioblitz, July 15-22, 2011. Registration for the event will close on June 24, 2011.

For immediate questions, please contact David Manski at Acadia National Park, e-mail us or 207/288-8720.

Bee-a-thon buzz starts in Washington D.C.

YourGardenShow met with pollination experts in Washington D.C. last Friday at the USDA's Pollinator summit to present Bee-a-thon 2011 as part of the 5^th annual National Pollinator Week (June 20-24) declared by the U.S. Senate. 

"Bee-a-thon" is a 12-hour, worldwide interactive "town-hall meeting" happening on July 16 to "get out the count" with the Great Sunflower Project, a Citizen Science effort to count bees and help shape bee conservation efforts.  Bee-a-thon will feature experts talking about the challenge we face with dwindling global bee populations and ways to take action.  A live, online broadcast dedicated to bees and other pollinators has never been done before, and we know it will be both informative and fun.  We hope you'll join us - and if you or your organization would like to participate with us online, please let us know.

Our goal for 2011 is to have one bee counter in each of the 43,000 U.S. zip codes. We think that seeing the bee count will encourage others to join the effort, so we've designed widgets that show how many bees were counted recently in each area. The widget can be downloaded and displayed on your blog or website. Let us know if you do, and we will post it to social media and on our site. The bee count continues until Nov. 1.

Download your bee-counting widget and "spread the buzz"-http://www.yourgardenshow.com/news51

YourGardenShow.com is a free social network for global 'neighbors' to share their gardens and exchange growing tips and sustainable practices, while practicing stewardship of the planet. The website features a database of 14,000 plants, a "Glog" (a custom timeline garden journal), regional almanac tips, videos and plant photo-tagging. YourGardenShow is a San Francisco-based company and was singled out as one of five "social networks and wikis that have quickly developed an extraordinarily active, multi-user community and an exceptional following of users," at the 14^th Annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Awards in the 2011 Community category.

For more on the Great Bee Count and Bee-a-thon, please see:

http://www.yourgardenshow.com/news24

For more on Citizen Science, please see:

http://www.yourgardenshow.com/news4

To RSVP for Bee-a-thon 2011, visit our newly created event page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=230589970287258