Botrytis showing up

We are seeing significant Botrytis infections in many fields around the province, not just the traditional coastal areas.  I have been seeing more and more bortytis in inland fields the last several years.  This year appears to be particularly bad for whatever reason.  The actual yield reduction varies from field to field.  Given the heavy bloom I am still optimistic that there is still a good crop out there to be picked.

Dense canopies will contrinute to the problem but I have seen a fair amount of disease in patchy fields as well. These pictures were taken today (June 27th)

This disease causes infections during bloom, so there is not much we can do now.  Growers on inland fields may have to adjust their management practices in the future to deal with this disease. We will be talking about this much more over the next year.

This weblink shows a chart that outlines the timing of some fungicides and the major diseases we deal with.

http://www.agrapoint.ca/Fact%20Sheets/Horticulture/Fruit/Blueberry/Fungicide%20Disease%20Chart.pdf