Organic Slugs and Snails Fruit

Slugs and snails can be a problem on some soil types, especially in damp areas. Straw mulches can encourage them, but they also tend to benefit natural predators such as carabid beetles. Eggs are generally laid in the soil during late summer and autumn and hatch the following late winter to early spring. There is usually one generation each year. Holes in leaves and flowers are characteristic of damage, with holes in the fruit making the crop unmarketable.

Control

Cultural prevention methods can include the use of poultry to forage for slugs and snails up until flowering. Individual slugs and snails may be picked off when seen and beer traps can be used in small problem areas. Cultivating the soil around the plants in autumn will help to expose over- wintering eggs to birds and other predators. Some biological-control companies offer nematode species to treat problem areas, although to be effective they must be used when soil temperatures are warm enough (>5°C). Slug pellets based on the active ingredient ferric phosphate, in cereal-based pellet form, are now available to organic growers.

Red Core (Phytophthora fragariae var. fragariae)

This is a soil-borne disease with potential to cause plant losses on a large scale. It is a notifiable disease for propagators, but not currently notifiable for berry producers. Affected plants appear stunted and develop a dull blue-green leaf color. Roots have a characteristic 'red core' if cut open longitudinally and are affected from the root tips upward. 

Persist in the soil for well over fifteen years and is encouraged by compacted, cool, wet soil conditions. Surface water and run-off is the main method of spore dispersal, but spores can also be transmitted via infected planting material, machinery, shoes and so on. Infected plants can appear to recover partially during the summer if the weather is dry.