MeBr alt. in FL strawberries?

llengnic@asrr.arsusda.gov
Sat, 18 Feb 1995 15:55:00 -0500 (EST)

I'm an agronomist looking for basic information about strawberry and
tomato/pepper production in Florida. I'm beginning a program to
develop cultural alternatives to the use of methyl bromide as a soil
fumigant in the commercial production of these crops.

I need to get up to speed on the agronomics of these systems....
fertility, productivity, pests and disease, common rotations, economics,
etc.

I'm also interested in what kinds of organic systems have been successful
in FL, as well as any low-input or IPM approaches that reduce or eliminate
MeBr use.

So....all you FL netters! What's going on with this in your part of the
world? I specifically would like some help with good, general references
to managing commercial systems, references to common practices used by
commercial growers, contacts from research/extension folks working on this
issue.

I'd also like to hear about field experience with MeBr alternatives in
these crops.

Please email directly. If there's interest, I'll post a summary of
responses in a few weeks.

Thanks,

Laura Lengnick, Soil Scientist - ARS Beltsville, MD