Performance of Berries in Field and High Tunnel

Production SystemCurt R. Rom

Luke Freeman, Jason McAfee, Heather Friedrich

Spencer Fiser, Julia Stover

Donn Johnson, Jennie Popp, Elena Garcia

Berry Problematic

• Berry production season is short: 4-6 weeks

• Rain can reduce summer floricane cropping harvest

• High temperatures limit raspberry production in South

• High late summer temperatures limit flower formation and fruit set of primocane fruiting blackberry and raspberry cultivars

• Early fall freezes (20-Oct) limit fruiting of primocane cultivars

WHY High Tunnels?

Why Tunnels?

Environmental Modification with A. Temperature ModificationB. Precipitation and Moisture ModificationC. Light modificationD. Wind reduction

Thereby allowing the grower to

1. Extend the growing season• Advance the Spring Season• Extend the Autumn Season

2. Minimize impacts of weather (hail, wind, etc.)

3. Mitigate Pest Problems

The Opportunities and Benefits from Tunnels

• Reduced Risk of High Risk Crops

• Never a “lost day” due to rain• You will always have crop to sell

• Increase Value of Crops

-Increased yields; size, total yield

-Out-of-season production

-Reduced costs

• Extended Season means Extended Cash-Flow for the farm

• Potential Reduced use of Pesticides

• Opportunity for Sustainable and Organically Produced

• Possible better Economics

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Growing Season

Harvest Seasons

Potential Total Berry Harvest Season

Tunnels may extend the summer harvest season from 4-6 weeks during summer to 16-20 weeks during the year

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Traditional Season

Early Tunnel Crop

Early Tunnel Crop

Opportunities

• With the combination of appropriate cultivar selection and use of high tunnels• Extend the season an additional 8-10 weeks per year

• Protect the crop from inclement weather

• Produce fruit when there are limited fresh fruit available in the market place. • Chance to capture high value early and late markets

A Place for Tunnels

Tunnels have a place

in the production system

to compliment

field production

Our Projects

Sustainable/Organic Berry Production in TunnelsA. 2006-2010

Blackberries and Raspberries1. Advancing Spring Production

Blackberries: Navajo, Ouachita, ArapahoRaspberries: Dormanred, Prelude, and Encore

2. Extending Fall ProductionBlackberries: Prime-Jan, Prime-Jim, APF46Raspberries: Dinkum, Caroline, Autumn Bliss

3. Double-Cropping Primocane Cultivars

B. 2012-2014 Studies1. Advancing Spring Production

• Blueberries: Earliblue

• Blackberries: Natchez

2. Extending Fall Production• Primocane Raspberries: Nantahala, Josephine, Autumn Bliss

• Primocane Blackberries; PrimeArk 45; APF#

Overall Project Goal

The overall project goals are1. To extend the berry production season from 4-6 weeks (June-July) to 4-5

months (May – November) with double cropping primocane fruiting genotypes

2. To allow for production of Raspberries in hot climates

3. To develop sustainable and organic production systems for southern fruit

4. To have products to capture high value markets

Hypotheses

• Extend the traditional summer seasons by advancing production of floricane berries in the spring with tunnels

• Establish a autumn harvest season and extend it with tunnels

• Growing fruit out-of-season reduces potential pests

• Growing fruit out-of-season in tunnels may reduce incidence of disease

• Use tunnels to improve fruit quality and marketable yield

Research Objectives

Develop production systems in order to :

I. Advance spring floricane blackberry production

(Study 1)

II. Extend autumn primocane harvest season of

blackberries and raspberries

(Study 2)

HT Environments

• HT reduce total PAR ~17-20%

• In the spring season, HT increases Growing Degree Hour (GDH) accumulation by about 50-60GDH• Advanced phenology approx. 2-3 wks• Frost Protection Required in HT:

• Spring averaged 4 nights frost protection

• In the autumn season, HT prevented frost and continued fall fruiting for 3 – 4 wks after field • Field ended between 15-Oct and 25-Oct (past 3 years) by freezes• HT ended 28-Oct and 18-Nov by freezes

• Autumn averaged 2 night frost protection

• HT can “supercool” on some nights• Requires frost cloths for both advancing the season and protecting crop

Do Tunnels Advance Bloom?

Treatment

Date of Full Bloom

2013 2014 AVGDays

Advance

Field 1-May 6-May 4-May 0

High Tunnel 18-April 14-April 16-April 18 days

HT+ Tunnel in Tunnel 12-Apirl 8-April 10-April 24 days

CV: Natchez

Do Tunnels Continue Harvest?

Treatment2013 2014 AVG

Days Extension

Field 15-Nov 1-Nov 8-Nov 0

High Tunnel 15-Nov 12-Nov 13-Nov 5

HT+ Tunnel in Tunnel 27-Nov 14-Nov 21-Nov 13

CV: PrimeArk 45

19296 lbs/A

15529 lbs/A

10030 lbs/A

14777 lbs/A

19363 lbs/A

28334 lbs/A

0

5000

10000

15000

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30000

2012 Yield 2013 Yield 2014 Yield

Yiel

d p

er 1

0 f

tp

lot

(gra

ms)

FD HT

Field vs Tunnel Yield

*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.*lbs/A calculated at 8 ft row spacing

Yield increase result of fall pruning management

Late frost

CV: Natchez

NOTE: Pollination Problem

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

Field High Tunnel

Cu

mu

lati

ve Y

ield

(Lb

s/

acre

)

Production System

2012 2013 2014

39% Increase

NOTE: Pollination Problem

CV: Natchez

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

5/28 6/2 6/7 6/12 6/17 6/22 6/27 7/2 7/7 7/12 7/17 7/22

Dai

ly Y

ield

(gr

ams

per

10

ft

plo

t)

FD HT

Field vs Tunnel Daily Yield2014

*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.

CV: Natchez

Late frost

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

5/28 6/2 6/7 6/12 6/17 6/22 6/27 7/2 7/7 7/12 7/17 7/22

Cu

mu

lati

ve Y

ield

(gr

ams)

Date

2014 Natchez Blackberry Cumulative Yield

FD HT

Field vs Tunnel Cumulative Yield

*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.

Last HT harvest 7/11

Date of 50% of Harvest

CV: Natchez

Field vs Tunnel Yield PrimeArk 45

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

2012 2013 2014

Yiel

d p

er 1

0 f

tP

lot

(gra

ms)

FD HT*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.*lbs/A calculated at 8 ft row spacing

High HT temps due to insect screen

CV: PrimeArk45

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

Field High Tunnel

Cu

mu

lati

ve Y

ield

(Lb

s/

acre

)

Production System

2012 2013 2014

206% Increase

CV: PrimeArk45

Field vs Tunnel Daily Yield

*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.

0.00

200.00

400.00

600.00

800.00

1000.00

8/1 8/4 8/7 8/10 8/13 8/16 8/19 8/22 8/25 8/28 8/31 9/3 9/6 9/9 9/12 9/15 9/18 9/21 9/24 9/27 9/30 10/3 10/6 10/9 10/1210/15

Dai

ly Y

ield

(gr

ams

per

10

ft

plo

t)

FD HT

CV: PrimeArk45 2014

Field vs Tunnel Cumulative Yield

*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8/1 8/5 8/9 8/13 8/17 8/21 8/25 8/29 9/2 9/6 9/10 9/14 9/18 9/22 9/26 9/30 10/4 10/8 10/12

Yie

ld (

gram

s)

FD Tot HT Tot

CV: PrimeArk45 2014

Field vs Tunnel Raspberry Yield

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Tota

l Yie

ld (

gram

s p

er 1

0 f

t p

lot)

Autumn Bliss FD Autumn Bliss HT Josephine FD Josephine HT Nantahala FD Nantahala HT

*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.*lbs/A calculated at 8 ft row spacing

2013

Field vs Tunnel Raspberry Yield

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000A

vera

ge Y

ield

(lb

s/ac

re)

Field Tunnel

137% Increase

*lbs/A calculated at 8 ft row spacing

2013

Field vs Tunnel Daily Yield

*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

7/26 8/2 8/9 8/16 8/23 8/30 9/6 9/13 9/20 9/27 10/4 10/11 10/18 10/25 11/1 11/8 11/15

Dai

ly Y

ield

(gr

ams

pe

r 1

0 f

t p

lot)

Autumn Bliss FD Autumn Bliss HT

CV: Autumn Bliss 2013

Field vs Tunnel Cumulative Yield

*Error bars represent standard error from the mean.

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

7/26 8/2 8/9 8/16 8/23 8/30 9/6 9/13 9/20 9/27 10/4 10/11 10/18 10/25 11/1 11/8 11/15

Cu

mu

lati

ve Y

ield

(gr

ams

pe

r 1

0 f

t p

lot)

Autumn Bliss FD Autumn Bliss HT

CV: Autumn Bliss 2013

Conclusions

• Spring Tunnels advanced yield 2-3 weeks• Greatest benefit was with TNT

• Need to manage pollination and frost control

• Spring Tunnels increased cumulative yield ~200%• Some problems pollination in TNT

• TNT had significantly better frost protection

• Fall Tunnels extended yields 2-3 weeks

• Fall Tunnels increased cumulative yields ~200%

• Fall Tunnels increased raspberry yields ~135%

Other Observations

• Screening tunnels reduced SWD significantly (~95%)

• Screening increased tunnel temperatures

• Screening increased severity of mite problems on raspberries

Questions?