Soft fruit IPM Toolbox
Resistant and tolerant varieties
Using resistant and tolerant cultivars is an important tool of any IPM toolbox. The James Hutton institute has been researching the use of resistant and tolerant soft fruit varieties for several pest species and diseases for over 40 years. Read more....
Monitoring and alternative control strategies
Monitoring provides a way of alerting growers to potential problems and allows control measures to be applied before the situation becomes harder to control. Alternative control measures are an important part of an IPM strategy and often these alternatives, such as biocontrol, work best if applied early. Read more...
The toolbox is constantly modified as changes in agronomic practices (protected environments and reduced reliance on chemicals), climate change and accidental introductions of pests alter the relative importance of different pests and diseases. Being able to fill in knowledge gaps of significant pests (e.g. report on soft fruit aphids) and availability to keep these pests alive in collections helps us undertake research that is vital for sustainable soft fruit production (e.g. Graham et al., 2019).
Graham J, Karley A, Dolan A, Williams D and Jennings N. 2019. Advances and challenges in sustainable raspberry/blackberry cultivation. Chapter 13 In: Achieving sustainable cultivation of temperate zone tree fruits and berries Volume 2: Case Studies (Ed. Prof. Greg Lang), Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, USA. Doi: 10.19103/AS.2018.0040.28
