Stella Otto: The Backyard Fruit Gardener

Today's Tip: Mow vegetation short around the base of fruit trees and bushes to reduce winter habitat for rodents.

Tag Archives: raspberry

Raspberries Now and Later

By Stella Otto | Published August 4, 2014
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The sum­mer berry har­vest sea­son is bit­ter­sweet. We love all the fresh, ripe fruit while we have it, but the sea­son is over in no-time. One thing I like about grow­ing rasp­ber­ries; beyond just plain old lik­ing rasp­ber­ries; is they can be a “have your cake and eat it too” sit­u­a­tion. Thanks to pri­mo­cane fruiting […]

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What Makes Spotted Wing Drosophila Such a Problem?

By Stella Otto | Published June 23, 2014
Bait traps for spotted wing drosophila are an easy, cheap DIY project.

Spot­ted wing drosophila (SWD) (Drosophila suzukii) made its first appear­ance in orchards and fruit plant­i­ngs in the con­ti­nen­tal United States in 2008. Observed early-on in Cal­i­for­nia, it was  soon also noted as a prob­lem in the Car­oli­nas, Florida, Michi­gan, Utah, Wis­con­sin, and Ver­mont; and con­tin­ues to spread. Most fruit flies that infest soft fruit do so […]

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