A smartphone app created to help peach and strawberry growers combat disease now is available for iPhone.
Now available on iPhone, the MyIPM app helps fruit growers manage disease.
Created by a Clemson fruit specialist and a computer software engineer, MyIPM (Integrated Pest Management) is the first smartphone app of its kind. The Android version was released on Google Play in January. The iOS version hit the App Store this month.
“With MyIPM, growers are able to pick effective and safe fungicides for conventional and organic production of strawberries and peaches,” said Guido Schnabel, the fruit specialist who worked with software designer Roy Pargas. “The app, in a nutshell, tells you with audio, pictures and text what you need to know about a particular disease and its management. I think it is an awesome supplement to our southeastern spray guides.”
The app includes detailed information on around a dozen diseases for each fruit, as well as tips on managing the disease and information for southeastern growers to submit pathogen samples to be analyzed for resistance profiling.
Fruits are a major crop in the U.S. and in South Carolina. Palmetto State growers produce more than $64 million in peaches each year, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Strawberry growers, meanwhile, harvested 429 acres of strawberries in 2012. That’s more than $18 million in strawberries based on the average U.S. prices that year
Source:clemson.edu