BLUE
FOCUS NEWSLETTER- June 2023
(Perennia’s
Wild Blueberry Production Newsletter)
Dear Growers,
As we see more petal fall (pin head
stage) and forming of early green fruits, we are halfway through the production
season before harvest! The timely rain we got at the beginning of June and a
few good pollination days we had over this past weekend certainly were helpful
and we needed it! On the sprout side, the plant emergence is ranging from 50%-90%
across the province. We are fast approaching the start of the tip-dieback stage.
Table of Contents:
Nova Scotia
Weather Update
Nova Scotia Wild Blueberry
Crop Development Update and Management Recommendations
2023 Wild
Blueberry Management Updates: Diseases, Weeds and Pollination
Programs
Upcoming Events
Hugh Lyu
Wild Blueberry Specialist, Perennia
hlyu@perennia.ca; 902-890-0472
June 15, 2023
Nova Scotia
Weather Update
Weather is so critical but we often don’t understand
it enough.
This year, we have been sharing more information on
weather and how it is affecting growers’ management. A special thank you to
Jeff Franklin (AAFC- Kentville), as well as the weather station owners, who contribute
a lot of great information to help us understand this production season’s
weather and the challenges we are facing.
Here is the latest information on different factors
affecting crop development and yield potential.
2023 Degree Day
Accumulations
The degree day accumulations are based on the weather
data from Kentville weather station and this is giving us an overall idea of
this production season’s temperature trend in Nova Scotia.
Figure
1: Heating
degree day accumulations for plant (above 5°C) and insect (above 10°C)
development from March 1 to June 12 for the past 17 seasons. Provided
by Jeff Franklin (AAFC).
-
The trend of cumulative degree days being
below the 5- and 10-year average continues.
-
Approximately 10% less plant development
heat units compared to the 5-year average, and 12% less compared to the 10-year
average.
-
Approximately 20% less plant development
heat units compared to 2022, and 25% less compared with 2021.
June Rainfall
Update
-
The recent rainy period was fairly
widespread with much-needed rain for western NS.
-
Most locations there have received over
100 mm so far in June, which may be more than what those locations received in
April and May combined. Northern and Eastern NS have received 70-100 mm of rain
so far this month.
-
For context, a normal amount of
precipitation for Kentville in June is 81.6 mm for the entire month. Within the
first week of June, ~130 mm of precip was recorded there (KRDC).
Some other locations for June:
|
Station |
Precip for June (as of June 13) (mm) |
|
Paradise |
113.2 |
|
Bear River |
112.6 |
|
Comeauville |
109 |
|
West Caledonia |
169.4 |
|
Cambridge |
130 |
|
Hillaton |
116.2 |
|
Aylesford |
111 |
|
Upper Rawdon |
110.6 |
|
Mackay Siding |
77 |
|
Middle Musqoudoboit |
84 |
|
Belmont |
66.6 |
|
Kirkhill |
84.6 |
|
Oxford |
106.4 |
|
Wentworth |
87.6 |
|
Earltown |
84 |
|
Hazelglen |
89.6 |
|
Blue Mountain |
77.4 |
|
College Grant |
99.4 |
|
Skye Mountain |
95.4 |
Soil
Temperature in Relation to Moisture (from Perennia Tree
Fruit Blog, thanks to Michelle Corten and Jeff Franklin for providing this
great information)
If you are wondering how deeply the 130 mm of rainfall
from early June might have travelled in the soil profile, Jeff Franklin offers
this graph of soil temperature over the period of heavy rainfall. Soil
temperature at 50 cm depth appeared to respond to the cooling effect of the
rainfall meaning that moisture likely reached 50 cm depth.
Figure
2:
Soil temperatures at various depths at the Kentville Research Station in 2023
in relation to the 130 mm of rainfall in early June.
Wild Blueberry
Weather Station GDD Summary- as of June 13
Here is the latest GDD summary from the wild blueberry
weather stations.
Figure
3.
Wild Blueberry Weather Staitons GDDs- June 13
Nova Scotia Wild Blueberry
Crop Development Update and Management Recommendations
Based on Figure 3 (GDD summary from wild blueberry stations), here is a quick summary of the crop stages across different regions. Please note, this information was based on my observations, GDD research and weather station information.
|
Regions/ Counties |
Crop Fields |
Sprout Fields |
|
Annapolis, Digby, Yarmouth, Shelburn,
Queens |
Early green fruits (halfway through this
stage and should start to see late green fruit (blushing)):
 -----------------------------------------  |
Plant tip dieback- start
What is a tip die back stage?
As the plant transitions from vegetative
growth to reproductive growth (budding) the upper-most leaf will curl, dimple
and eventually die/drop. |
|
Hants, Cumberland (excluding late fields) |
Petal Fall (Pin Head) with small size early
green fruits |
70%- 80% plant emergence |
|
Other Mainland Fileds |
Passed full bloom, in the middle of petal
fall and a small percentage of early green fruit forms |
50%-70% plant emergence |
|
Cape Breton |
About 70% bloom in crop fields |
50%-60% plant emergence |
|
Regions/ Counties |
Next Management Recommendations |
|
Annapolis, Digby, Yarmouth, Shelburn,
Queens |
Crop fields: scouting for monilinia blight and
Botrytis blossom blight symptoms (I will share a few photos) and evaluate if
this year’s fungicide program was successful
Crop fields: preparing insect traps to monitor SWD and
Blueberry Maggots
Sprout fields: determine if current sprout fields need
soil and tissue sampling |
|
Hants, Cumberland (excluding late fields) |
Crop fields: scouting for monilinia blight and
Botrytis blossom blight symptoms
Sprout fields: fertilizer application;
post-emergence herbicides (Callisto, Venture L etc. for broadleaf weeds and
grasses control) |
|
Other Mainland Fileds |
Crop fields: finishing pollination; scouting for
monilinia blight and Botrytis blossom blight symptoms
Sprout fields: fertilizer application;
post-emergence herbicides (Callisto, Venture L etc. for broadleaf weeds and
grasses control) |
|
Cape Breton |
Crop fields: finishing pollination; scouting for
monilinia blight symptoms; applying fungicides as needed for blossom blight and
leaf diseases control
Sprout fields: fertilizer application;
post-emergence herbicides (Callisto, Venture L etc. for broadleaf weeds and
grasses control) |
2023 Wild
Blueberry Management Updates: Diseases, Weeds and Pollination
Diseases:
-
Monilinia Blight:
During the typical monilinia blight
infection period (May), it was very dry. The monilinia blight infection was low
to very low this year. However, I still spot some patches and fields with
monilinia blight. Most of the cases, it was because at least one fungicide application
wasn’t conducted in those fields. I encourage you to take a look at your crop
fields as symptoms are obvious this time of the year.
This
photo was taken in a field located in Antigonish
Here are a few photos from before but
they show very obvious Monilinia blight symptoms.
(This
photo's credit goes to Dr. Paul Hilderbrand)
-
Botrytis Blossom Blight:
I think we are picking up
more Botrytis blight this year than Monilinia blight (for fields in Cumberland,
especially Parrsboro and fields near the coast). The rain period we got at the beginning
of June contributed to this infection as a majority of fields are in mid to
full bloom. If you didn’t get a chance to put on Botrytis spray around the
first week of June, then you might want to have a check of your crop fields.
Please go to those early patches, tall and dense areas and weedy areas. We found
Botrytis in a few Parrsboro fields and growers can bring those photos with you
while you are checking fields.
Weeds:
We continue to see sheep sorrels and hair fescues
being the main weed species that we are dealing with in wild blueberry fields.
If you applied Kerb last fall (or this spring if you
managed to apply at a good time), pre-emergence herbicides (Spartan, Chikara,
Ignite etc) this spring and post-emergence products (Option and Callisto) last
month or recently, now it is a good time to go to your sprout fields and check
results.
I didn’t mention Velpar as I was disappointed with this
product’s efficacy. I would remind growers who continue to use Velpar on their
weed management program to check results and determine if this product is still
a good fit in your spraying program.
Pollination:
-
Overwinter bee losses: the most recent
number I heard about overwinter bee losses (on average) is 15%-20% which is still
an acceptable range. Bees survived overwintering and gained sizes fast this
spring. There is enough moisture during the pollination period for most of the fields
in the province.
-
2023 pollination: although we were
concerned about the weather (wet and windy) during pollination season, we did
get a few good pollination days during peak bloom timing. This was helpful but
for early fields that reached mid-bloom before June, it would be a concern.
-
2023 blooms: during the open bloom period,
I noticed and felt that there were more blooms this year. I also heard growers
have more input on bees this year. I hope this is a good return.
Programs
-
Agriculture Wildfire Response Assistance
Financial assistance will be
available soon for Nova Scotia farmers and agri-food business owners affected
by evacuation orders related to wildfires. The program will provide a one-time
grant of $2,500 to registered farmers located in the mandatory evacuation zones
in Halifax Regional Municipality and Shelburne County.
Details on the grants and how funds
will be distributed will be posted soon to the Department's website. Inquiries
can be emailed to the Department: prm@novascotia.ca
-
Agricultural Clean Technology Program,
adoption stream- ACT A
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada -
Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) Adoption Stream is reopening. The applications
will be accepted starting Thursday, June 1 to a deadline of Thursday, June 22.
Program details are now on the AAFC
website and note the funding level for this program is a maximum of 40%. Note
only one application per client and previous ACT Adoption recipients will not
be eligible to apply again. There is a new online application portal.
https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/agricultural-clean-technology-adoption-stream
-
More programs from the Nova Scotia
Department of Agriculture, please check the program link: https://novascotia.ca/programs/.
Upcoming Events
-
Maine 2023 Blueberry Hill Farm Field Day
·
For Details and registrations, please
check this link: https://extension.umaine.edu/blueberries/upcoming-events/wild-blueberry-field-meetings/#blueberry-hill-farm-field-day
-
WBPANS 2023 Field Day, Tuesday, July 18
·
Where: Queens County Exhibition Grounds,
Caledonia, NS
·
Registration: https://nswildblueberries.com/registration-form/.
Deadline: June 30.
Please note: this year, Quebec and NB don’t
have field days.