On farm control of strawberry powdery mildew using a decision support system

Abstract

Strawberry Powdery Mildew, caused by Podosphaera aphanis is a serious epidemic disease of strawberries grown under protection in the U.K., with growers often spraying weekly, using 20 or more fungicide sprays in a season. The study aimed to develop a system to predict when fungicide sprays are needed, as a way of sustainable disease management. A decision support system has been developed using wi-fi enabled temperature and humidity sensors which measures risk in ‘disease conducive hours’. This data is used to predict in real time when fungicide sprays are required. The use of this system has enabled the disease to be controlled whilst the number of fungicide sprays used in a season has been reduced by up to half when compared to the weekly spray programme. Growers have demonstrated increasing confidence in the system as it has been used in successive years on some farms, and the number of sites per farm has increased year by year. Delivery of the decision support system in real time onto a PC or smart device enables growers to access the benefits of the system.