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CapitalPress.com
October 2, 2015
Putting berries to bed key to next year’s crop
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
Though winter work is a
bit slower than the summer
push, there’s still plenty to
do, growers say.
“Winter is definitely low-
er key, lower pressure,” Bri-
an Martin of G&C Farms
said. “There’s planting,
pruning and harvesting all
summer; winter gives us a
chance to do more mainte-
nance on the vehicles and
equipment updating; general
repairs to things that have
worn out. They get a lot of
use in the summer.”
G&C Farms, northeast
of Salem, Ore., is owned
by Martin, Paul Roth, Doug
Roth and Jeff Roth and com-
prises about 1,100 acres in
blueberries,
blackberries,
grasses, wheat and hazel-
nuts. The crew includes Bri-
an’s sons Taylor and Jason
Martin and Oswaldo Barrera
and Marcilino Dominguez.
Other tasks include go-
ing over 200 acres of berry
posts and wires for repairs,
flushing irrigation lines and
continuing to address untir-
ing mouse and weed popula-
tions.
“We try to get out there
as late as we can to prevent
winter weeds; we’ll disk and
till between rows and use
cover crops,” Martin said.
“Most of the time I plant
permanent cover crops you
Taylor Martin, left, and his father, Brian Martin, look over the blue-
berry plants at G&C Farms near Salem, Ore. Winter preparation
includes flushing irrigation lines, soil analysis and fertilization.
can mow like grass between
the rows.”
G&C Farms works in co-
WSG15-4/#5
operation with field agrono-
mist Paul Borgen of the Pra-
tum Co-op for soil analysis
and fertility recommenda-
tions.
“Blueberries tend to set
their fruit buds in the fall
so we’ll go out with some
foliar nutrients; usually
phosphorus, potassium, bo-
ron and zinc, mostly for
foliage development; and
put a little phosphorus and
potassium in the ground for
root uptake,” Borgen said,
adding that blueberries are
more winter hardy than cane
berries.
“I don’t really know
what’s made it so bad but
Marionberries are notorious
for freezing in low tem-
peratures; when we have
multiple days under 20 de-
grees you can see some real
damage,” he said. “Things
we’ll do on Marionberries
include cutting the irrigation
and getting all the fertilizing
done by the end of August to
get them to shut down. You
don’t want them real lush
when you go into winter.”
Marionberries bear fruit
on one-year-old wood so the
canes that grew last spring
are next year’s berries. The
old vines are cut out and the
new ones wrapped up on the
wire, but all of this needs to
be done by the end of Au-
gust.
“Going beyond that will
damage the cambium layer
Photos by Kali Ramey Martin/For the Capital Press
Brian Martin, left, and his son Taylor inspect mice damage in their
blueberry fields. They work to reduce the rodent population before
winter sets in.
of bark, opening them up
to damage in cold weather.
If you don’t have all your
training done by the end of
August then you need to
wait until March.”
Some berry growers
attempt to stave off win-
ter’s ravages by employ-
ing a spray similar to a la-
tex and fortified with pine
oil.
“If you spray that on a
cane berry or blueberry plant
prior to a frost it can pre-
vent moisture loss through
evapotranspiration,” Borgen
said. “It’s not like it’s a hard
and fast rule. Some farmers
are big believers in it —
there are guys who want to
have some sense of control.
You’ve got a lot of money
invested in those things and
if there’s anything they can
try they want to do it. The
biggest issue is when you
have low temperatures with
wind; it desiccates the plant
and dries it out.”