Recent News
MS Student Cooper Calvin receives APS travel award
Mar 6, 2024
Congratulations to Cooper Calvin (M.S. Candidate, Agriculture, Environmental Horticultural Sciences, Cal Poly) who received a graduate student travel award for the upcoming joint meeting of the APS Pacific Division and the 69th Conference on Soilborne Plant Pathogens. Cooper is the first Cal Poly student to receive this award. He will be participating in the graduate student competition presenting his latest findings for his research project "Systems Approach to Macrophomina Root Rot Management of California Strawberry". The joint meeting will be held on March 26-28 in Corvallis, Oregon.
Congratulations Cooper!
Results of Center fungicide trials published in PDMR
Mar 4, 2024
JUST PUBLISHED!
The results of two fungicide trials conducted in 2022 and published in Plant Disease Management Reports in 2023 are presented in our latest research blog post. Read full article @ https://strawberrycenterblog.com/2024/03/04/just-published-fungicide-performance-against-botrytis-fruit-rot/
Subscribe to the Strawberry Center Research Blog @ https://strawberrycenterblog.com/subscribe/
Center hosts congressional staffers
Feb 29, 2024
We recently hosted two members of U.S. Congressperson (California's 24th District) Salud Carbajal's team for a tour of our Center. Staffers Greg Haas (Senior District Representative) and Ruth Vasquez (Agricultural Staffer) toured our administrative offices, entomology lab, and research field.
Photo (L to R): John Lin (Center Automation Program Leader), Greg Haas, Ruth Vazquez and Gerald Holmes (Center Director).
Happy National Strawberry Day and Center's first harvest
Feb 27, 2024
HAPPY NATIONAL STRAWBERRY DAY!
Join us and the nation today in celebrating the beloved heart-shaped, juicy strawberry. This is an additionally exciting occasion for us here at the Strawberry Center as our team harvested late last week our debut set of berry-filled clam shells for the 2023/24 season. Berries will be sale soon locally at Cal Poly Meats, Vista Grande Market (Cal Poly campus) and Vons.
https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/national-strawberry-day-february-27
Botrytis fruit rot season is upon us :-(
Feb 8, 2024
In this blog article, Center Director Gerald Holmes discusses optimal conditions for establishment of our most economically important fruit disease.
Temperatures between 60F and 75F and wetness lasting over 16 hours are ideal for infection and disease development. These conditions are most likely to occur during the winter and early Spring, when fruit supply is low and prices are high.
[Read More…] https://strawberrycenterblog.com/2024/02/08/its-botrytis-fruit-rot-season/
Subscribe to the Cal Poly Strawberry Center Research Blog @ https://strawberrycenterblog.com/subscribe/
New Center program leader Mohammad A. Aghaee introduces himself
Feb 6, 2024
Explore our most recent blog article! Our new Cal Poly Strawberry Center Entomology Program Leader MOHAMMAD AMIR AGHAEE tells us a bit about himself.
The Bug Man Cometh
Two months have flown by faster than I realized. Leaving the South and coming back to the West Coast after almost a decade is a bit jarring. Gone are the slow dusty beats of the corn, cotton, and soy tractors traversing the field filled with Ford F-250s and secondhand RAM 2500s. Now I stand on sandy soils producing some of the juiciest fruit lined with the workers’ Toyotas and Hondas. In some ways the processes are the same and in other ways they are different.
Read full post @ https://strawberrycenterblog.com/2024/02/06/the-bug-man-cometh/
Cal Poly Strawberry Field Day set for Thursday, August 8, 2024
Jan 31, 2024
SAVE THE DATE!
Thursday, August 8, 2023
7:30 am – 1:30 pm
Join us this summer at Cal Poly for our annual Strawberry Field Day!
Hundreds of strawberry growers, researchers and industry representatives from all over California (and beyond) gather annually for Strawberry Center Field Day. Participants rotate through Automation, Entomology and Plant Pathology stations, hearing from Cal Poly students and staff about the latest research taking place at the Strawberry Center. Topics range from the newest automation technology to predatory mites to soil-borne pathogens of strawberry, and much more. Lunch will be provided. See video produced by CA Strawberry Commission for scenes from last year's Field Day event: https://www.facebook.com/CAStrawberries/videos/670674565109049
Lygus bug vacuum featured in Vegetable Growers News
Jan 23, 2024
Vegetable Growers News' managing editor Chris Koger talks with Center Automation program leader John Lin about how an ongoing collaboration between the California Strawberry Commission, Cal Poly Strawberry Center, C&N Tractors and growers has greatly improved the efficiency of the Lygus bug vacuum. The vacuums operate without use of any chemicals, assisting both organic and conventional growers in reducing Lygus bug populations, estimated to cause $200 million in lost sales throughout the state each year.
http://tinyurl.com/lygus-bug-vac
Stop by our table at the Centers and Institutes Fair
Jan 16, 2024
Stop by our table at the Centers and Institutes Fair tomorrow (Wednesday)!
All faculty, staff and students are invited to the Cal Poly Centers and Institutes Fair on Wednesday, Jan. 17, from noon to 2 p.m., being held on Mustang Way (the pedestrian walkway between Mott Athletics Center and the Univ Union. Come learn what our Center and many other Cal Poly centers and institutes do and how you can get involved. We look forward to seeing you there!
MS student Samantha Simard participates in SCRI Exchange Intern program
Jan 9, 2024
Listen in as our Center Research Associate and Masters Student Samantha Simard describes her experience as an Academia-Industry Student Exchange Intern with Driscoll's in Watsonville, CA. This is part of the USDA Specialty Crops Research Initiative grant that funded Sam's project. She particularly enjoyed her experiences and interactions with raspberry industry leaders and growers as this was a new area for her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWMYcXgdUh4
