Wild Blueberry Newsletter, Late March 2025
Wild Blueberry Newsletter
Late March 2025
Wild Blueberry Growers, Processors, and Stakeholders,
I’m pleased to share that the 2024 and 2025 UMaine Wild Blueberry Conference Recordings are now available! The Board of Pesticide Control approved an extension to our Special Local Need herbicide label of Express until 2030. Spring is certainly around the corner even if it is still snowing. We hope you can join us for a field day or six this season!
2025 Field Day Schedule
At the spring field days, we will cover sprayer calibration which is a critical task that ensures you are not wasting material or applying pesticides unevenly. We will use farmer’s boom sprayers in Appleton, Orland, and Jonesboro on the dates specified.
Pollinator and pest management field meeting dates will include discussion of the pollinators that are vital to wild blueberry production and the wild blueberry pests that can be managed both organically and conventionally. NRCS will join UMaine faculty to discuss the IPPM (Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management) NRCS program. I always learn something new when visiting someone else’s farm!
Sprayer Calibration in Appleton
When: Thursday, April 17, 2025
Time: 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Location: Appleton Station (Nash Farms), 1193 Peabody Road, Appleton, Maine 04862
Cost: Free
April Burning Opportunities
Reach out to Lily to be connected to a farmer who plans on burning a wild blueberry field in April.
207.812.2915
Lily.calderwood@maine.edu
Pollinator and Pest Management in Hope
When: Thursday, May 8, 2025
Time: 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Location: Brodis Blueberries, 87 Jones Hill Road, Hope, Maine 04847
Directions: Off of Route 235; cannot come from the town of Appleton
Cost: Free
Sprayer Calibration, Pollinators, and Pest Management in Jonesboro
When: Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Time: 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Location: UMaine’s Blueberry Hill Farm, 1643 US-1, Jonesboro, Maine 04648
Cost: Free
Sprayer Calibration, Pollinators, and Pest Management in Orland
When: Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Time: 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Location: Allen’s Maine Wild Blueberries, 267 Front Ridge Road, Orland, Maine 04472
Cost: Free
Blueberry Hill Farm Field Day in Jonesboro
When: Thursday, June 26, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Location: UMaine’s Blueberry Hill Farm, 1643 US-1, Jonesboro, Maine 04648
Cost: Free
Research Snapshot
My team and I will be out in many of your wild blueberry fields this season collecting data on the following topics. Thank you to all the collaborators and funders who make this work possible!
- Whole Field Mulching
- Granular Fertilizer Application over Mulch
- Granular Nitrogen Application Rates for Fresh and Frozen Stem Types
- Foliar Calcium for Fruit Firmness
- Herbicide Spot Spraying via Drone
- Herbicide Study Targeting Fine Leaf Sheep Fescue
- Tracking Plant Development
- Biomass Sampling
- Testing the Efficiency of the DH Harvester and a new Harvester Prototype
- Fresh Pack Forced Air Cooling
Sincerely,
Lily
Dr. Lily Calderwood
Extension Wild Blueberry Specialist