BLUE
FOCUS NEWSLETTER- April 2024
(Perennia’s
Wild Blueberry Production Newsletter)
Dear Growers,
This is your April wild blueberry production highlights. We are experiencing an early spring. It feels like almost 1 week earlier compared to the last two year’s spraying records. I would expect most of the mainland growers are starting to apply pre-emergence herbicides in their sprout fields and are getting ready for their first Monilinia Blight control. In the last two months, the weather and field conditions offered a great environment for the mummy berry apothecia to germinate which will produce disease spores. It is looking like a year with a great risk of monilinia blight infection in Nova Scotia, please monitor your crop fields and local weather conditions closely in the next two weeks. Good luck with your sprayings.
Hugh Lyu
Wild Blueberry Specialist, Perennia
hlyu@perennia.ca; 902-890-0472.
April 30, 2024
Table of Contents:
Nova Scotia Weather
Wild Blueberry GDD Updates and Management Recommendations
Management Resources and Tools
Upcoming Events
Nova Scotia Weather
2024
Degree Day Accumulations- Kentville
Below figure would give you an idea of how the season is
progressing related to air temperature. This is based on Kentville Research
Weather Station. Thank you, Jeff Franklin (AAFC) and Michelle Cortens for your contribution.
Figure 1: Heating
degree day accumulations for plant (above 5°C) and insect (above 10°C)
development from March 1 to April 22 for the past 17 seasons. Provided by Jeff Franklin
(AAFC).
The degree day accumulations beginning on March
1 are still slightly ahead of the 5- and 10- year aveages (Figure 1).
Cumulative
Precipitation (Kentville)
Figure 2 is a graph of
cumulative precipitation over the last five years including rainfall and the
rainfall equivalent from snow. Rainfall contributed to most of this year's
cumulative precipitation. Jeff Franklin shares that, "The cumulative precipitation
plot shows that we are currently above the 10-year trend and that most of our
precipitation has come in March and early April with some significant single
day rainfall events. It also shows data from 2019, when we received our
precipitation in smaller more frequent events. The data from 2019 shows that we
had rain on 40 days in the months of April and May!"- By Michlle
Cortens, https://www.nstreefruitblog.com/2024/04/orchard-outlook-newsletter-vol-24-no-2.html.
Figure 2: Both rainfall and the rainfall equivalent from snow at the
Kentville Research Station from 2019 to 2024. Provided by Jeff Franklin (AAFC).
Wild Blueberry GDD Updates and Management Recommendations
This year, we are going to report GDDs from 17
stations (see Figure 3) which cover the major wild blueberry production regions
in NS. There are different ways to obtain GDDs by choosing the station you
like. To learn how to obtain GDDs, please read this blog post: http://www.novascotiawildblueberryblog.com/2023/04/2023-wild-blueberry-pest-guide-new.html.
Figure
3. 17 Wild Blueberry Stations for GDD updates
Here is a summary of the most up-to-date GDD from 17 weather stations in wild blueberry fields.
Figure 4. GDD
summary- April 29th, 2024
Due to the heat accumulation in March, I also presented
the GDD calculation starting from March 1.
Table 1. The comparison
of GDD accumulation from different start dates
|
Stations |
GDD
Summary (April 1- April 29) |
GDD Summary (March 1- April 29) |
|
West
Caledonia (NSW026) |
170 |
252 |
|
Upper
Rawdon (NSW099) |
130 |
189 |
|
West Advocate
(NSW 091) |
135 |
209 |
|
Halfway
River (NSW039) |
140 |
210 |
|
Kirkhill
(NSW082) |
138 |
200 |
|
Oxford
(NSW005) |
131 |
202 |
|
Westchester
Station (NSW094) |
136 |
197 |
|
Camden
(NSW090) |
121 |
181 |
|
Murray
Siding (NSW002) |
132 |
211 |
|
Dean
(NSW069) |
120 |
183 |
|
FiveIslands(NSW062) |
115 |
152 |
|
Earltown
(NSW089) |
110 |
122 |
|
Sunny
Brae (NSW058) |
102 |
156 |
|
College
Grant (NSW040) |
113 |
162 |
|
NewFrance(NSW075) |
89 |
143 |
|
Skye
Mountain (NSW028) |
81 |
121 |
|
Keppoch
(NSW029) |
70 |
118 |
On average, the difference between two values from the
same station on different starting dates is about 60 GDD.
Here are some thoughts about management activities for
May.
· Sprout
Fields Management- Pre-Emergence Herbicide Application
Most of the mainland sprout fields are ready for
pre-emergence herbicide applications. Cape Breton growers are looking for the following
week for this management.
· Crop
Fields Management- Monilinia Blight Application
We are walking into the blight season in wild
blueberry fruit fields. Please take a look at Table 2 where key production regions’
% F2 stage was reported and estimated.
Table 2. Percentage of Wild Blueberry Floral Bud F2
stage
light green (0-20% F2), dark green (20-30% F2), yellow
(30-40% F2) and red (40-100% F2)
|
Wild blueberry production regions, NS |
The average percentage of floral buds at
F2 |
|
|
|
|
South West Nova Scotia |
|
|
Queens County |
>40%- April 24 |
|
|
|
|
Hants County |
>40%- April 29 |
|
|
|
|
Cumberland County |
|
|
West Advocate |
>40%- April 29 |
|
Kikhill |
>40%- April 29 |
|
Halfway River |
>40%- April 29 |
|
|
|
|
Colchester County |
|
|
Belmont |
19% F2- April 27 |
|
Murray Siding |
30% F2- April 27 |
|
Camden |
20% F2- April 27 |
|
|
|
|
Halifax Regional Municipality |
|
|
Middle Musquodoboit |
10%- April 23 |
|
Dean |
5%- April 23 |
|
|
|
|
Guysborough County |
0-5% F2- April 29 |
|
|
|
|
Pictou and Antigonish County |
|
|
New France |
10%-
April 24 |
|
Blue Mt./ Moose River |
5%-
April 29 |
|
|
|
|
Cape Breton |
0% F2- April 25 |
Management Resources and Tools
Perennia
Online Pest Management Guide
Beginning this year, all of
the pest management guides are now available from an online tool. On the tool, you will find wild blueberries under
the small fruit pest guides section. You can search and filter the information
and/or print. To help you navigate the guide, we have developed a brief tutorial video as well as a how to use guide.
Upcoming Events
1. Wild
Blueberry Growers Meetings: May 1, May 15 and May 29.
For meeting details and registration,
please visit this link: https://www.perennia.ca/eventer/in-season-wild-blueberry-meeting-series-2024-production-season/edate/2024-03-27/.
2. WBPANS
Twilight Meetings: May, July and Fall. Please watch for the E-Newsletter from
WBPANS. https://nswildblueberries.com/.