Wild Blueberry Newsletter

April 2009

Integrated Crop Management Field Training Sessions

Field training sessions will be offered at three locations to demonstrate and discuss the Integrated Crop Management (ICM) field scouting techniques in Wild Blueberry Fact Sheet No. 204.  The first and second session will cover mummyberry and blossom blight identification and monitoring, insect sweeping and identification, and weed identification and management.  The third session will cover blueberry maggot fly trapping, leaf and soil sampling, and weed identification and management.  One recertification credit per session will be offered for certified pesticide applicators.

Mummyberry blight forecast - 2009

Background About Mummberry Disease
Mummyberry blight requires three factors to develop: susceptible buds on the blueberry plants, the spores of the mummyberry fungus, and suitable weather to get infection.  Each of these factors can be easily monitored to determine how likely it is the mummyberry fungus has infected blueberry plants in a particular field. 

Blueberry leaf and flower buds are susceptible to the mummyberry spores once the bud scales have separated (bud scales are the brown protective hard leaves that cover the buds in winter).  About mid-April, mummyberries in the field start to develop small cups that produce the infective spores.  These spores are carried by the wind and land on developing blueberry leaf and flower buds.  The buds continue to be susceptible to this fungus as they develop and until the mummyberry cups stop producing spores.  The spores do not survive for long on the buds and require a long enough period of wetness on the buds to get into the plants.  Either rain or fog, but not dew, can provide this leaf wetness.  The fungus grows slower at cooler temperatures so longer period of leaf wetness are required for infection than at higher temperatures.  Eventually the mummyberry cups shrivel up and no more spores are produced and no more infection will occur.

 Fungicides must be applied within 72 hours of the beginning of an infection period to protect the plants, once the symptoms occur it is too late to correct the damage.  See Table 1 in Fact Sheet No. 219, 2009 Disease Control Guide for Wild Blueberries, to compare results of fungicides for control of this disease at http://www.wildblueberries.maine.edu/factsheets/Disease/219.html

Mummyberry Disease Information
Seanna Annis will be setting up mummyberry monitoring areas with several growers in Knox, Lincoln, Hancock and Washington Counties in 2009.  She will be reporting on the temperature and moisture conditions and if the mummyberry cups are producing spores.  She will monitor the sites from the last week of April until the end of May and indicate when mummyberry are producing spores.  If you want to find out if the mummyberry are active in your area, you can call the toll-free wild blueberry number at 1-800-897-0757 and press ext. #3 for the message or check the Mummyberry Forecast on the wild blueberry website www.wildblueberries.maine.edu.  In addition, this year we will be emailing this information to all growers that have given us their email address. Refer to wild blueberry fact sheets No. 211 and 217, found in the Fact Sheet Section of the wild blueberry website, for more information on mummyberry disease.

GAP/GHP Training Session Offered
Good agricultural practices (GAP) and good handling practices (GHP) certification will be required for fresh pack berries being sold to Hannaford in 2010.  I expect this will be required by others in the future, so this training is open to all growers.  I have compiled a manual that outlines the certification requirements and have included a wild blueberry food safety and security program in the manual which may be obtained at http://www.wildblueberries.maine.edu/PDF/Miscellaneous/GAP-GHP.pdf.  You will need to have this for the session. Lauchlin and Linda Titus of Ag Matters will go over the requirements at Blueberry Hill Farm in Jonesboro on Tuesday, May 19th from 1:00-2:00 p.m. followed by a tour of a fresh pack operation.  If you want to register for this meeting contact Phoebe Nylund at 581-2892 or by email her at pnylund@umext.maine.edu by May 12th.  If you do not have web access and want a CD of the manual mailed to you, contact Phoebe Nylund.

WBANA Update
Wild Blueberries recently landed a coveted spot on Weekend Today as an immunity boosting food.  In the feature “40 Foods to Keep a Body Healthy at 40 and Beyond,” Men’s Health Magazine editor-at-large, Stephen Perrine, touted the antioxidant benefits of blueberries and told viewers that they could “do one better” by selecting frozen wild blueberries because they are “denser in nutrients.”  The Today Show is the highest-rated morning news and talk show in America.  The weekend edition has a viewing audience of approximately 3 million.  To view the Weekend Today show coverage, visit this link http://swardlick.com/client_review/wbana/

Sincerely,

David E. Yarborough
Extension Blueberry Specialist

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