Organic Harvest Treatment And Crop Destruction

If the crop is to be grown for more than one season, it is important to give the plants some attention after harvest. The foliage should be cut off or mown to 2.5cm above the crown and the debris removed and burned to reduce the spread of diseases such as mildew and botrytis and to keep.

HARVEST

Once the berries begin to ripen, plants should be picked over at least every other day in hot weather (daily under protection) since the berries will ripen very quickly. The berries will be at their best if harvested early in the morning, before temperatures rise, and will keep well if placed into trays of dean, dry punnets and kept cool, if not refrigerated, after picking. Many large-scale growers find that sourcing enough labor to get the crop picked is the biggest headache of the growing season, so it is worth investing time and effort before the fruit is ripe, in sorting out a supply of labor for the harvest. The berries are usually picked and graded simultaneously, with pickers removing Class II and rotten fruits to keep the rows clean.

plants compact. This should be done immediately after harvest so that the plants can

begin to produce fresh leaves and build up their reserves, as the flowers for the next

year's crop start to develop by August in outdoor crops. Remove any runners that

have appeared so as to keep the crop rows clean and avoid stressing the plants.

Runner removal will promote more flowering for the following year. For vigorous

varieties such as Florence, crown thinning in August may be required to prevent the

plants becoming congested. Vigorous varieties should be thinned to three crowns

per plant. Irrigation should be applied to encourage new leaf growth. If the plants have come to the end of their cropping life, they can be removed by handand burned to reduce the risk of disease spread, or incorporated deep into the soilto prevent regrowth. If incorporated, there is a risk that diseases such as coreand Verticillium wilt will persist for longer and affect subsequent rotations, as the

plants can take a long time to break down..