7th Monilinia Update for Nova Scotia, May 28, 2021

 

This is our 7^th Monilinia update for this year. This will be the last Monilinia update for 2021. I will continue to give updates about field conditions, management and events happening related to wild blueberry production.  

You should be starting to see symptoms in the field if there were infections in the past three weeks and you didn’t have blight spray or the timing of spraying was off. I observed Monilinia blight symptoms this week in several locations. Symptoms of Monilinia infection are the infected leaves turn brown starting at the base of the leaf where the stem is attached and the entire leaf becomes dark brown and collapses. The blossoms turn brown but are attached to the plant. You would see the disease is patchy in a field. Here are some photos I took this week to show what they look like and please take a look at your field and if you observe any symptoms or serious infection, please let me know (902-890-0472).

In most fields I visited and monitored, the bloom is ranging from 20-50%. It is the time to put out hives for pollination and also an ideal time to consider a first Botrytis application. When weather conditions are wet and warm, it can result in significant infections, particularly in the coastal area and fields that have regular fog and wet periods. 

I will give more updates throughout the summer! 

6th Monilinia Update for Nova Scotia, May 21, 2021

 

This is our 6^th Monilinia update for this year. This will be a short update as the last two weeks’ weather has slowed things down.

We are fast approaching the end of the Monilinia season this year in most of the central part of NS. According to our last few infection periods schedule, if there are infections, you should be able to see some symptoms this weekend and early next week. In other later areas where fields have just reached the 40-50% F2 stage of development, plants are still susceptible to infection.

I will give a last update about Monilinia for 2021 season next Friday and I will move into Botrytis and other management updates after that.

The next update is on May 21^st.

5th Monilinia Update for Nova Scotia, May 14, 2021

 

This is our 5^th Monilinia update for this year.

There are a few things I like to mention in this update:

1.     Sprout-year fields: I visited some sprout fields this week in the Colchester area, and all of the fields I visited have plants emerging and this would be common to see in other areas as well. In sprout fields, most of the common weeds are not hard to see at this stage, including red sorrel, poverty oat grass, hair fescue and other early development weeds. Before blueberry plants actively emerge, the next 1-2 weeks would be a good window for your spring herbicide application. Our pest management guide has the herbicide information, please have a look: https://www.perennia.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Wild-Blueberry-WEED-INSECT-DISEASE-GUIDE-2021-WEB.pdf

 

2.     Fruit-year fields:

a.     Most of the areas are at the 40-50% F2 stage now in NS and some late developing fields, such as the Advocate area and Cape Breton are at 32-35% F2. Growers in those areas should be looking closely at their fields and getting ready for spraying once at the 40-50% F2 threshold (Figure 1. and Table 1.).

 

Figure 1. 5th Monilinia Update for NS- May 14, 2021

b.     Plant development and monilinia infection symptoms: at this time, blueberry fields in NS are looking at the percentage of F2 stage randing from 40%-70% or higher and most of them would be at F4 and F5 now. However, I don’t see much bloom yet in the fields I visited. It is starting though, and the bloom is ranging from 0-5% this week. It is too early to see any symptoms. After the infection period, if plants are infected by monilinia, it would start to show symptoms 7-10 days after. At this stage, I don’t have data or reports from the region yet.  

 

 

c.     Botrytis: I have growers asking about Botrytis already which is good to consider ahead of time. Botrytis spores are produced begging at early bloom, so I would expect once we reach the bloom period, then the infection risk is high and control measures should be conducted. In NS, areas near the coast and fields that have regular fog and wet periods will have a high risk for Botrytis. I will start giving updates on Botrytis once we are at the infection period.

 

d.     Field activities to consider for fruit fields: Monilinia control is still a top priority this time of the year and growers should be looking at Botrytis controls (registered products and field monitoring) and also getting ready for pollination once we are in the bloom window. Since the pollination time is also the time that a lot of growers will be using fungicides, so please make sure you are spraying with caution and minimize the risks for bees while applying fungicides.

 

 

Table 1. Monilinia Update for Nova Scotia- May 14, 2021

Wild blueberry production regions, NS	The average percentage of floral buds at F2 or beyond
Cape Breton	35%
Cumberland County
Advocate	32%
East side of Farmington	51%
Pigen Hill	52%
Port Greville	44%
Webb Mt.	38%
Lynn Mt.	50%
Springhill	Greater than 40%
Oxford	Greater than 40%
Amherst	Greater than 40%
Parrsboro	Greater than 40%
Southampton	Greater than 40%
Newville	Greater than 40%
Collingwood and Windham Hill	Greater than 40%
Athol	Greater than 40%
Half way River	Greater than 40%
South West Nova Scotia	Greater than 40%
Hants County	Greater than 40%
Halifax County	Greater than 40%
Guysborough County	Greater than 40%
Colchester County	Greater than 40%
Pictou and Antigonish County	Greater than 40%

 

The next update is on May 21^st.

4th Monilinia Update for Nova Scotia, May 7, 2021

This is our 4^th Monilinia update for this year.

Spout fields: In some early fields, blueberry plants start to emerge. Please take a look at your sprout fields and make the right application timing for your herbicide applications.

Fruit fields:

·       Most areas in mainland NS are now well above the 40-50% F2 stage of development. A lot of growers sprayed their fields before the weekend wet period.

·       Late fields (Advocate, Lynn Mt., Cape Breton etc.) are around 10-16%, but growers should begin to look closely at their fields for development.

·       Here are some numbers for various fields in NS (Table 1.).

Table 1. Monilinia Update for Nova Scotia- May 7, 2021

Wild blueberry production regions, NS	The average percentage of floral buds at F2 or beyond
South West Nova Scotia	Above 40-50% F2, please watch for the forecast
Hants County	Above 40-50% F2, please watch for the forecast
Halifax County
Upper Stewiacke	>40%
Guysborough County
East River Saint Marys	Above 40-50% F2, please watch for the forecast
Colchester County
Greenfield	45%
Camden	55%
Debert	42%
Earltown area (early fields)	41%
Tatamagouche	30%
Bass River/Portapique	>45%
Baseline Rd.	45%
Londonderry	50%
Great Village	>50%
Portapique	41%
Westchester Mt.	54%
Cumberland County
Springhill	63%
Oxford	>60%
Amherst	57%
Parrsboro	38%
Southampton	>40%
Newville	>40%
Collingwood and Windham Hill	>40%
Athol	53%
Half way River	52%
Advocate	10%
Lynn Mt.	16%
Pictou and Antigonish County
New France	35%
Cape Breton	NA

I will continue to update plant development, monilinia infection and bloom status in our next update: May 14.