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POSTERS: Cultural Control II

P-152 - Effect of soil moisture on Botrytis cinerea incidence in cold storage for strawberry bare-root transplants

Tuesday, August 5, 2025
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM HST
Location: Exhibit Hall 3
Abstract Text: Strawberry nursery producers have long faced challenges with the pathogen Botrytis cinerea, which affects plant viability at planting. When B. cinerea is present during long-term cold storage, high levels of plant mortality can occur. Nursery growers have focused on ways to prevent B. cinerea from developing during cold storage of bare-root transplants and subsequent transportation to fruit growers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the soil moisture plays a significant role in the susceptibility of plants to B. cinerea during cold storage. Nursery growers have experimented with irrigating close to harvest to improve bare-root plant quality and reduce B. cinerea incidence, but the optimal amount of irrigation and relative harvest timing is not well documented. To better understand how soil moisture status affects disease incidence and to provide nursery growers with effective recommendations, an experiment is currently in progress at Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo. ‘Portola’ bare-root transplants were harvested at 0, 1, and 2-day intervals after the last precipitation event and placed in cold storage at -2°C from January to June 2025. After storage, 100 bare-root transplants will be randomly selected from treatment and visually assessed for the presence of B. cinerea. Bare-root transplants will be planted in a complete randomized design, and plant establishment will be recorded over the course of four weeks. This experiment will enhance industry understanding of how soil moisture status influences B. cinerea development and bare-root transplant quality.