Project Overview
Commodities
- Fruits: berries (brambles), berries (other)
Practices
- Crop Production: alley cropping, cropping systems
- Pest Management: physical control, row covers (for pests)
- Sustainable Communities: infrastructure analysis
Proposal summary:
Crop loss due to bird pressure is a critical issue faced by fruit
farmers with substantial economic impacts. As well,
spotted-winged drosophila (SWD) has become a growing insect
concern for fruit producers. For both birds and insects,
exclusion netting has been demonstrated to be one of the more
effective ways to mitigate the problem, but not without its own
implementation challenges. This includes: high installation cost,
need for proper timing after pollination, requirement of multiple
workers for deployment, human/vehicle access concerns, and
ability to survive high winds/winter storage.
This research project seeks to explore a novel netting system
that utilizes the concept of a zip-line/double curtain to prevent
crop loss due to birds and SWD while addressing the primary
issues farmers face implementing netting systems. We will build
18 of these trellises on the farm using various hardware and
netting materials readily available to farmers. This will include
two 180' fall-bearing thornless raspberry rows and two 180'
thornless blackberry rows for testing its effectiveness at
excluding SWD, and 14 of our 28 200' honeyberry rows to test for
bird exclusion.
Data and information to be collected includes: design and
material successes/failures; system costs, labor costs in
construction and in operation; yields and yield loss;
temperature/humidity differences between netting options, and
qualitative feedback on materials and the design.
Outreach will be conducted through online social media, two
on-farm events, through conversations with customers during
u-pick season, and - if of interest to MOFGA - an article written
for the organization's newsletter.
Project objectives from proposal:
This project seeks to:
- Construct and compare a set of plans for a post and wire
zipline trellis support structure. It will be made from
materials that growers can readily purchase through building
and farm supply companies, as well as through 3D printing. - Compare varying material option combinations for project
construction to offer feedback to farmers looking to replicate
the system. (See attached chart.) This will include qualitative
observation as well as material cost/labor analysis. - A 3D-printed model will be tested, and refined designs will
be made freely available on the Internet for others to use. - The efficacy of the system will be tested. Yield/yield loss
data will be collected comparing SWD damage in the farm's
raspberry and blackberry rows covered with 70g Proteknet and
Typar T-518 against open field conditions. Yield/yield loss
comparison will be collected in the honeyberry block comparing
the various netted rows and open-field control rows for bird
exclusion. - Temperature/humidity data will be collected under the
different netting materials and considered for correlation with
crop yield differences. - I will teach growers how to construct their own support
structures through social media posts, two on-farm field days,
and a MOFGA newsletter article in the second year.