Fruit crops
Healthy crowns and roots, balanced nutrition and sustained harvest quality.
CROP PRIORITIES
Pests, diseases and growing conditions can produce similar symptoms. Connect field history and diagnosis with the crop stage before choosing an input.
Stunting, wilting and plant collapse warrant examination of the crown and roots. Phytophthora is an important cause, but similar symptoms require diagnosis. Healthy transplants, cultivar selection and well-drained root zones are central to prevention. Establishment and irrigation decisions should account for the site’s history of crown and root disease.
View biological products →Discuss this crop challenge →Botrytis may affect flowers before fruit symptoms appear and can continue to reduce saleable yield around harvest. Flower and fruit inspection, canopy ventilation and removal of diseased fruit support management. Protection should be organised around local weather and crop stage, with harvest hygiene maintained throughout repeated picking.
View biological products →Discuss this crop challenge →The strawberry crown is a short stem connecting roots, leaves and flower-bearing structures. Establishment therefore involves more than visible new leaves: transplant condition, crown integrity and root growth all matter. Soil-grown and substrate-grown crops need their own water and nutrient assessment rather than an identical establishment programme.
Discuss this crop challenge →June-bearing and day-neutral strawberries differ in flowering and harvest patterns. Where flowering and picking continue together, nutrition must support productive leaves without encouraging excessive vegetative growth. Use crop observations and tissue information to review nutrient balance; do not treat continuous harvest as a reason for unrestricted nutrient addition.
Discuss this crop challenge →Review fruit size, firmness and marketable output by picking date, alongside fruit load and weather. Calcium nutrition should be considered with water flow and existing supply. Irrigation, pollination, crop hygiene and harvest handling remain distinct parts of fruit-quality management and cannot be replaced by a single biological input.
Discuss this crop challenge →THROUGH THE SEASON
From establishment to harvest or renewal, the purpose of crop management changes with each stage.
Check transplant quality, crown condition and the establishment environment.
Follow crown and new-leaf development, distinguishing productive canopy growth from excessive runners.
Track flowering, fruit load and root-zone conditions through overlapping stages.
Record marketable quality across picking dates and follow new-leaf growth that supports the continuing crop.
BIOLOGICAL INPUTS
These products have distinct roles in nutrition, root development and crop management. For a pest or disease, product selection also requires evidence for the identified target and applicable market label.
Explore biological crop protection →
Seaweed biostimulant
Review seaweed-derived support during establishment or transitions in crop demand.
Glycine betaine biostimulant
Consider environmental support alongside appropriate root-zone and canopy conditions.
Mycorrhizal inoculant
For compatible production systems, review host, substrate and existing phosphorus before a mycorrhizal evaluation.
Chelated calcium nutrition
Assess calcium needs with fruit-development observations and the full nutrient programme.
Bacillus biological protection
Powdery mildew · Soilborne & root diseases · Botrytis & grey mould
Metarhizium biological protection · Nursery growing media
Soil-associated insect management
KNOWLEDGE & EVIDENCE
The move from nursery to field changes a plant’s water balance and root environment. A clear view of that transition makes product choices more useful.
Follow calcium from the root zone to developing fruit to understand blossom-end rot, bitter pit and the questions a useful nutrition programme should answer.
Explore the scientific background to biological inputs and their agricultural applications.
University extension resources support the agronomic context on this page. Product-specific technical information is available within each product page.
Strawberry
Share your growing region, crop stage and management priorities with our team.