The Rural Voice, 1986-06, Page 77COMPUTERS &
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76 THE RURAL VOICE
RURAL LIVING
Strawberry
Season
is early
The Ontario strawberry season
is early this year and is fast ap-
proaching. Jam, jelly, juice, and
fresh strawberry lovers will soon
be able to visit Ontario's pick -
your -own farms for strawberries,
or buy ready -picked Ontario
strawberries at your local store.
Strawberry growers support the
Ontario Berry Growers Associa-
tion, formed in 1978, to represent
the interests of growers of raspber-
ries, blueberries, strawberries,
cranberries, currants, and
elderberries.
The association promotes
research, advertising, plant pro-
pogation, and most important,
work with the California Straw-
berry Advisory Board to mutually
reduce imports during Ontario's
busy short season. No other com-
modity enjoys such close liaison.
To maintain strawberry fields,
and provide a high quality fruit,
some growers use a variety of crop
protection materials for weed, in-
sect, and mould control. These
materials are recommended by
OMAF. However, if you are con-
cerned, ask the farm operator to
relate his or her spraying program.
Some berry farmers use irriga-
tion. It is a system of aluminum
pipes, a pump and sprinklers
designed to cover the berry patch
with water, for the purpose of
frost protection, crop cooling, or
to increase soil moisture. An ir-
rigation system is expensive to pur-
chase and very labour intensive.
The sweetness or sugar content
of a strawberry is determined by
the variety and the amount of
sunlight and heat, not on whether
it was irrigated or not. The control
of BOTRYTIS fruit rot is based on
application of a number of
fungicides. Spraying must start
very early during bloom, and in-