tumana
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Location: Westchester County, NY

Strawberry Skin Splitting (alliteration not intentional)

Hello,

I'm growing four strawberry plants in my yard this year. Some of the strawberries turn a beautiful red and are delicious to eat. Others seem to suffer from something that causes the fruit's skin to crack and wither away before the fruit is even ready.

Image

The weather has been nice with several days of rain. I googled this issue before posting here and found some people had a bug infection. Proof could be seen based on the leaf health, white fuzz around the plant's base, or simply spotting bugs.

But I don't see any of these signs on my plants... Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Ian

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Lindsaylew82
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Heavy, long rains can cause cracking like that, especially after a dry spell.

Thrips can cause cracks too. But the berries usually take on a bronzed look and have an off flavor. Thrips are tiny and if you inspect your plants, you'll see them around the flowers and immature berries, and you can pick them off and crush them or drown them in a cup of soapy water.

JONA878
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I too think that that berry looks as if it has been 'grazed' by something leaving the seeds rather proud of the surface flesh.
The two likeliest culprits would be either Red Spider mites or Thrips.
Both are extremely small and are best looked for with a 10X lens.
They both will also cause mottling of the leaf in a bad attack and the Spider will cause webbing if it is a heavy infestation.

tumana
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Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:31 pm
Location: Westchester County, NY

Thank you, Lindsay and Jona878.

Re: Long rains
Sounds like I should move the plants somewhere not exposed to all the rain? I can certainly try that.

Re: Red Spider mites or Thrips
If this is the problem, I might try pest control. I prefer to avoid chemicals but I have some nettle leaves I can use to create a natural insecticide... It might smell a little (and probably impact the taste) but I'm willing to give it a try on the worst of the strawberry plants.

Thanks, again!

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Lindsaylew82
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Look your plants over closely and just pick them off.



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