AJ and Amy MacArthur of AJ's Berry Farm here, writing to our friends and customers. In many cases, those two words have become synonymous over the years. We would like to share with you some of the struggles we have been experiencing over the past few years.
We have been raising strawberries for over 25 years. During that time, we continuously work to educate ourselves on all aspects of the growing and caretaking of the crop.
The problem: We have been fighting a root disease, black root rot, in our strawberries. This disease takes strong, healthy plants and reduces them to a black, shriveled stub of a plant. There is no cure, except to rotate out of strawberries in the affected fields for 5-7 years.
The disease had gotten so devastating that by the end of our 2023 season, we did not know if we would be able to continue growing strawberries at all.
Read more at The Alpena News
