5.01.17 Mummy Berry Report for May 1 to May 3
All regions of blueberries have experienced infection periods starting in the evening of April 30 to the morning of May 3. It has varied by weather station location on whether this has been one long event or a series of infection periods. There are reports of pinheads and cups in the midcoast regions and in other areas that have reported into me. I think the cups are still around everywhere. The plants are also susceptible in all fields.
The weather is predicted to get wet again at the end of this week and I suspect we will still have cups in most fields so more infection events are likely. Please let me know how your mummy berry plot is progressing at the end of the week.
| Infection period | Infection period | Infection period | ||||
| Location | Start | Monday, May 1 stop | Monday, May 1 start | Tuesday, May 2 stop | Tuesday, May 2 start | Wednesday, May 3 stop |
| Waldoboro | Monday, May 1, 4:00 a.m. | 3:00 p.m. | 3:40 p.m. | 3:00 p.m. | 8:00 p.m. | 6:20 a.m. |
| W. Rockport | Sunday, April 30, 8:20pm | continues | continues | 4:00 p.m. | 7:40 p.m. | 6:20 a.m. |
| Appleton | Monday, May 1, 3:40 a.m. | 3:10 p.m. | 6:00 p.m. | 2:00 p.m. | 7:40 a.m. | 7:00 a.m. |
| Searsport | Monday, May 1, 3:40 a.m. | continues | continues | 10:40 a.m. | none | none |
| Ellsworth | Monday, May 1, 10:40 p.m. | continues | continues | continues | continues | 6:00 a.m. |
| Eastbrook | Monday, May 1, 5:20 a.m. | continues | continues | continues | continues | 7:00 a.m. |
| Sedgwick | Sunday, April 30, 6:00 p.m. | continues | continues | 4:40 p.m. | 7:40 p.m. | 6:00 a.m. |
| Aurora | Monday, May 1, 1:40 a.m. | continues | continues | 6:40 p.m. | 8:40 p.m. | 4:20 a.m. |
| Deblois | Monday, May 1, 3:40 a.m. | continues | continues | 10 a.m. | 9:40 p.m. | 6:40 a.m. |
| Spring Pond | Monday, May 1, 12:20 a.m. | continues | continues | continues | continues | 5 a.m. |
| Jonesboro | Monday, May 1, 3:15 a.m. | continues | continues | continues | continues | 7:00 a.m. |
| East Machias (put out April 30) | Sunday, April 30, 12:40 am | continues | continues | continues | continues | 10:40 a.m. |
| Crawford (put out April 30) | Monday, May 1, 1:40 p.m. | continues | continues | continues | continues | 7:00 a.m. |
Applying Fungicides
If you have applied fungicides within the last seven to ten days (April 20 to April 23 and on) before Sunday, April 30 evening, your plants were protected during the infection periods from May 1 to May 3. If you did not have protection during this time period and want to apply fungicides, please look at the chart above and determine which infection periods you do not think you were covered. You have approximately 72 hours from the start of the infection period to apply fungicides with some kickback (propiconazole or fenbuconazole) to protect your plants. With these long infection periods, even if you cannot protect your plants back to April 30/May 1, it still may be worthwhile to apply fungicides to kill off some of the infections if you are in an area with typically high mummy berry disease pressure. Other fungicides should be applied as protectants and before infection periods occur.
Please see the 2017 fungicide recommendations on the Fact Sheet 219 – Disease Control Guide for Wild Blueberries and the most current Maine Wild Blueberry Pesticide Chart (Fungicides) (PDF).
– Seanna Annis