Hello, everyone
Over the last few days, we have received favourable
pollination conditions in most production regions during the full bloom and pollination
period. Pollinators are active, benefiting from the suitable temperatures and periodic
moisture we have received over the last few weeks. Most of the crops in the
province's central and northern parts are still in full bloom, and we still
need a couple of nice days to finish this year’s blueberry pollination in the Mainland
areas. New blueberry plants continue to develop and grow in sprout fields, and some
management activities are needed to keep a clean and healthy field through the production
season.
Here are the updates for this blog post:
1. Wild
blueberry growth stages and management updates
2. Spot
spraying weed management in wild blueberry fields
3. GDD
updates (April 1- June 5)
1.
Wild blueberry growth stages and management
updates
Sprout fields:
-
Any pre-emergence herbicides broadcast will
pose a significant risk to new blueberry shoots, including stunting, blackening
and death on new leaves and stems.
-
The next few weeks are ideal for applying
granular fertilizers to sprout fields.
-
If you plan to use post-emergence grass
and broadleaf herbicides (Callisto, Venturel L, and Poast Ultra), it is time to
prepare for those sprays.
-
Spot spraying weed management- see next
section.
-
Leaf diseases: As we enter June, some
blueberry leaf disease starts to develop in sprout fields, which also need management
attention when new blueberry plants are more mature. This graph is a quick
snapshot of key blueberry leaf diseases in wild blueberry fields, including their
occurrence and management timings.
Figure
1. Wild blueberry leaf disease in the sprout year
Crop fields:
-
Pollination: the wild blueberry
pollination season continues as we are in the full to late bloom across the province.
For most crop fields, bee hives are still needed for at least another week to
finish some late bloom pollination.
-
Green berry development. In some early
fields, small green berries start to form.
-
Monilinia Blight and Botrytis Blossom
Blight infection symptoms
If you need to validate the current
season’s mummy berry spray program, the symptoms of Monilinia blight infection
on both leaves and flowers are discoverable in crop fields. The infection
symptoms on blooms are obvious this time of the year and differ from those caused
by Botrytis blossom blight.
· Monilinia
blight infection symptoms on blossoms: Gray powdery spores are at the base of
affected flowers (Figure 2).
· Botrytis
blossom blight: black hairs, some with gray tips (Figures 3 and 4)
Figure
2. Monilinia Blight (Mummy Berry) infection on blossoms (Dr. Paul Hildebrand)
Figures
3 and 4. Botrytis blossom blight infection symptoms (Dr. Paul Hildebrand)
2.
Spot spraying weed management in wild blueberry fields
During June 4’s virtual grower meeting, we had a
special session on spot spraying weed control. Dr. Scott White discussed some
aspects of improving blueberry weed control by spot spraying troublesome weeds,
such as purple vetch, goldenrods, spreading dogbane, and shrubs.
If you are interested, please go to this YouTube link
to watch his full presentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK5AXDUqBKc&t=1099s.
3.
GDD updates (April 1- June 5)
We have selected 19 weather stations to report their
seasonal Growing Degree Days (GDD) accumulations. Please compare the cumulative
GDD from your weather station with local GDD recommendations on wild blueberry
crop stages: https://www.novascotiawildblueberryblog.com/p/phenology-tracker.html.
Figure
3. Selected Wild Blueberry Weather Stations and GDD Updates (April 1- June 5)
Table 1. Wild Blueberry Weather Stations and GDD Updates
(April 1- June 5)
