Raspberries in a high tunnel need to be sprayed for spotted wing drosophila or other insects at night when it is dark in order to avoid contacting pollinators with pesticides. We have been working on setting up a fixed-spray system demonstration for raspberries in the high tunnel. We used the Cornell University Extension guidelines to construct a fixed spray system that would automatically apply a pesticide at night operating off of a timer. Dr. Andrew Landers, who helped develop the fixed-spray system for raspberries at Cornell University, is consulting on this project. Jeremy Emery and Randy Stout, SFES Field Supervisors, are engineering the demonstration which is funded by the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and the USDA.

Today Jeremy and Randy tested out the timer and system – so far so good. We will continue to work with Dr. Landers and hope to present information on our system in an October webinar. We also plan to produce a guide sheet for growers who wish to construct one of these systems.