Strawberry Advisory System

The Strawberry Advisory System is a plant disease decision support system for strawberry fields in Florida. This management tool helps growers assess the risk of epidemics from anthracnose and Botrytis on their farms. The use of the system enables growers to apply fungicides against these diseases only when conditions are favorable for disease so that they can avoid unnecessary sprays and reduce production costs.

Equations to predict anthracnose and Botrytis fruit rots based on temperature and leaf wetness duration were evaluated in field trials during four strawberry seasons. Results have shown that fungicide applications could be reduced by half in some years by following the recommendations of the system without affecting disease control or fruit quality.