Permaculture Research Digest

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Organic control of strawberry diseases (#journal)

Soil biosolarization for sustainable strawberry production

Strawberry diseases are commonly controlled by soil fumigation with toxic chemicals. However, we have tested soil biosolarization, a new technique combining soil biofumigation and soil solarization, to cultivate the Camarosa strawberry in southwestern Spain. Soil was biofumigated by amendment of fresh chicken manure at 12,500 kg/ha; chicken manure at 25,000 kg/ha; Brassica juncea pellets at 2,000 kg/ha; sugar beet vinasse at 15,000 kg/ha; or dried olive pomace at 12,500 kg/ha. Soil was then solarized for 30 days by covering with a clear plastic mulch. The highest yield averaging 70,543 kg/ha and the lowest percentage of 12.6 % of second-class fruits were obtained by amendment of fresh chicken manure. Yields were similar to yields reported for chemical fumigation. In addition, biosolarization is about 20 % cheaper than chemical treatment.

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