Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries

5.16.15 Mummy Berry Infection Conditions Overnight, May 16 to May 17

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Hancock and Washington Counties

I have had reports of cups and pinheads around various areas of Hancock and Washington counties on Thursday and Friday of last week (May 14 and 15), so I think there were still cups present in fields over this weekend in these areas.  The cups are drying up and I suspect will be finished this coming week.

There were long enough wet periods for infection periods throughout these areas overnight from Saturday through Sunday morning.

If you have applied fungicides after May 7 to May 10 (ten to seven days before this infection period), your plants were probably protected through this last infection period.  If you have not applied fungicides, you have up to 72 hours after the infection period start, which is the evening of Tuesday, May 19, to apply fungicides with kickback activity (fenbuconazole or propiconazole) to protect your plants. Two things to take into considerations are 1) if your plants are in bloom, you should avoid applying fungicides during bloom if at all possible to protect pollinators and avoid affecting your pollination; 2) if you are applying a second or third application of fungicide, it would be good to rotate to a fungicide with a different mode of action or at least a different chemical to avoid fungicide resistance developing in your field.

Please let me know what your mummy berry plot is doing since we are coming close to the end of the season.

Contact info: sannis@maine.edu or the Blueberry Hotline 800.897.0757 (in Maine)

Thank you, Seanna Annis