2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Innovations in fruit production increasingly involve technologies that modify the plant’s microclimate, often resulting in multiple impacts on developmental physiology (as well as related issues like pest management). Two such innovations in perennial fruit crop production are high tunnels and protective netting. Both technologies are usually employed to protect fruit crops from specific climatic events, such as hail or rain, but secondary climatic components also are altered, such as light quantity and quality, wind, relative humidity, and air and soil temperatures. Optimization of protective production technologies requires consideration of the range of potential microclimatic modifications and the plant’s reproductive and vegetative responses. High tunnels are plastic-covered steel arches that have been applied to a diversity of horticulture crops including vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. High tunnels can extend growing and harvest seasons, accelerate vegetative growth and fruit maturity, minimize impacts from unfavorable climatic events like low temperatures, wind, rain, hail, and high light intensity, and protect crops from some pests and diseases, all resulting in increased marketable yields and quality. Protective netting was originally used to protect horticultural crops from hail and bird damage. The net have a great impact on light quantity and quality, as well as temperature and wind. This expands the potential to optimize growing conditions for canopy and fruit development as well as potentially mitigate abiotic stresses associated with climate change (e.g., increased temperatures, less atmospheric haze resulting in higher light intensity, higher UV light with depletion of the ozone layer, etc.). In the past, net colors were primarily white, black or grey. In recent years, new dyes and types of plastic have provided a wider range of colors, more durability, and greater resistance to UV radiation. Photoselective protective netting represents a new frontier of light microclimate manipulation since net colors can be chosen to specifically modify components of the light spectrum that may alter distinct physiological responses, such as vegetative growth, flowering, and fruit development. We propose a 1.5 hour Workshop comprised of 6 presentations at 10 minutes each and 30 minutes of audience-interactive round table discussion. This Workshop will offer the opportunity to interact with the ASHS Professional Interest Groups of Viticulture and Small Fruits and Plasticulture (PLAST). They are secondary sponsors of the workshop.

Workshop topics include:

• Fruit microclimate modification with photoselective netting and plastic-covered high tunnels;
• Light spectrum modification using photoselective protective netting and photoselective plastic covers;
• Perennial fruit plant responses to altered light spectra.

Workshop speakers include:

• Greg Lang, MSU
• Kathy Demchak, Penn State University
• Stefano Musacchi, WSU
• Sara Serra, WSU
• Giverson Mupambi, WSU
• Sahap Kaan Kurtural, University of California Davis

SHORT BIO OF THE SPEAKERS AND ORGANIZERS

Stefano Musacchi

Dr. Stefano Musacchi, Associate Professor and Endowed Chair of Tree Fruit Physiology and Management in the Department of Horticulture at Washington State University. Musacchi was the National coordinator in Italy of a project on the effect of netting on tree physiology and how to mechanize the netting system. Dr. Musacchi is involved in two projects on photoselective netting funded by Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) and Washington Tree Fruit Commission (WTFRC).

Tom Kon

Dr. Tom Kon joined the Department of Horticultural Science at North Carolina State University in 2016. His program seeks to improve orchard practices and enhance the economic and environmental sustainability of the southeastern apple industry (NC, SC, and GA). Tom’s research program is focused on apple crop load and canopy management and developing new tools and technologies to maximize fruit quality and storage potential.

Greg Lang

Dr. Gregory Lang, Professor of Tree Fruit Physiology at Michigan State University, has been conducting research on tree fruit production in high tunnels and other orchard covering systems since 2005, including sweet cherries, tart cherries, apricots, nectarines, and plums. Greg’s research teams have been instrumental in advancing space- and labor-efficient, high density canopy training systems for stone fruits that are particularly suitable for production under covering structures, utilizing both dwarfing and vigorous rootstocks.

Sara Serra

Dr. Sara Serra, Assistant Professor at the Department of Horticulture at Washington State University, joined WSU in 2013. She is involved in two projects on photoselective netting funded by WSDA and WTFRC. In recent years, she study the effects of netting on light quality.

Giverson Mupambi

Dr. Giverson Mupambi started work as a postdoctoral research associate at Washington State University in 2016. He has a PhD in Horticultural Science from Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Giverson’s expertise is in apple ecophysiology. His current research focuses on the ecophysiological response of apple under photoselective shade netting.

Lee Kalcsits

Dr. Lee Kalcsits is an assistant professor of tree fruit physiology in the Department of Horticulture at the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, Washington, USA. Lee’s research program works towards understanding the interactions between the environment, horticultural management and genetics of tree fruit.

Kathy Demchak

Kathy is a Senior Extension Associate in the Dept. of Plant Science at Penn State University. She’s been growing a berry crops in high tunnels since 2000, most recently as part of the USDA-NIFA-SCRI project “Optimizing Protected Culture Environments for Berry Crops”, led by Dr. Eric Hanson at Michigan State University. She and her colleagues are comparing the effects of plastic films with different UV and IR transmitting characteristics on raspberry and strawberry plant growth, insect pests, and the plant microclimate in high and low tunnel environments.

Sahap Kaan Kurtural

Dr. Kaan Kurtural is Professor and Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist in viticulture with the Department of Viticulture and Enology at University of California Davis and is the Director of Oakville Experiment Station, a 40-acre University of California research facility in the heart of Napa Valley. Dr. Kurtural’s research has been instrumental in advancing vineyard mechanization and its related effects on flavonoid biosynthesis in wine grape cultivars. He has recently completed two projects in photoselective netting to mitigate the effects of climate change on the high-value wine grape crop in California’s Napa Valley.