Organic Blackberry Production: Tips Learned from an Ongoing Research Study

Watch the webinar on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0_jHpm45Ps

About the Webinar

The learning objectives of this webinar include the impacts of weeds on blackberry growth and yield; methods for weed control; fertigation for planting establishment; the effects of post-harvest irrigation on productivity, plant water status and soil moisture; and root growth in blackberry. While this webinar focuses on trailing blackberry, grown predominantly for a machine-harvested, processed market, the outcomes of this study are also of importance in the production of other types of blackberry.

PDF Handout of the slides for this webinar

About the Presenters

Dr. Bernadine Strik is a Professor of Horticulture and Extension Berry Crops Specialist at Oregon State University. She does research on whole plant physiology and production systems of all berry crops. Dr. Strik’s areas of focus include improving yield and quality, machine harvest efficiency, alternative production practices, plant nutrition, pruning and training, season extension or manipulation, and organic production systems.

Dr. David Bryla is a Research Horticulturist at the USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Research Unit in Corvallis, Oregon. He does research on variety of small fruit crops, including blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, and wine grape. The overall goal of his research is to understand the physiological response of these crops to environmental limitations and to use the information to develop improved and sustainable production practices.

Dr. Luis Valenzuela is a postdoctoral research associate at Oregon State University. He got his PhD in Horticulture at Penn State in 2008. Since then he has been working studying the root dynamics of several berry crops in the Pacific Northwest.


 

Published January 23, 2014

This is an eOrganic article and was reviewed for compliance with National Organic Program regulations by members of the eOrganic community. Always check with your organic certification agency before adopting new practices or using new materials. For more information, refer to eOrganic's articles on organic certification.