We still haven't seen SWD in Northern NS, but we have reports of initial captures in NB (not wild blueberry) and in many parts of Quebec. The late emergence of the pest is good news, however many growers have been delaying the start of harvest because fruit development has been so delayed.
Surprisingly, there is still a lot of green fruit in many fields and much of that can be traced back to a delayed pollination season and a cool July. We are seeing really small green fruit on the same stem as ripe and over ripe berries. It is likely, some of the green fruit will not ripen before other fruit in the field starts to degrade. Growers need to be cautious about waiting too long to start and losing significant volume at the end of harvest. Think SWD, fruit rots and unpredictable weather once we hit September.
