Join UMaine’s Wild Blueberry Team for a series of free summer events on wild blueberry field management. Highlights include sprayer calibration sessions, discussions on pest and pollinator management, and our annual Field Day at Blueberry Hill Research Farm in Jonesboro. Visit our Upcoming Events Page to view the full schedule and register. For questions, contact […]
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The Calderwood Lab has released a new fact sheet, Considerations for Solar on Wild Blueberry Land in Maine, detailing research on the feasibility of dual-use solar installations (or agrivoltaics) over Maine wild blueberry fields. While wild blueberry plants recovered well after solar installation, excessive shading significantly reduced yield, making dual-use solar unprofitable under standard industry […]
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“New” powdery mildew reports There are reports in the news of a “new” powdery mildew fungus (Erysiphe vaccinii) that is attacking blueberries around the world. The major interest in this fungus is because it has spread to countries that have recently started planting cultivated blueberries, such as China, Morocco, Peru, and Mexico. This disease is […]
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Keeping the Spirit of Maine’s Wild Blueberry Harvest Alive By Kate Olson, July/August, 2024 (Smithsonian Magazine) Kate Olson made the journey to Down East Maine last year to interview Wabanaki and migrant wild blueberry harvesters, as well as University of Maine Wild Blueberry Extension Specialist Dr. Lily Calderwood. Olson learned firsthand about the enduring traditions […]
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University of Maine awarded $3.5M for new statewide weather network By Christian Harsa, December 9, 2024 (News Center Maine) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded the lab of the University of Maine’s Extension Wild Blueberry Specialist, Dr. Lily Calderwood, a $3.5M grant to install a statewide system of advanced weather stations, News […]
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Video: Wild Foods Maine Blueberries Produced by Wild Foods, November 23, 2024 Dr. Lily Calderwood, Extension Wild Blueberry Specialist and Assistant Professor of Horticulture at the University of Maine, joined Kevin Chap of the PBS travel series “Wild Foods” in the summer of 2024. In “Wild Foods”, Chap travels across the country to interview foragers, […]
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Mummy berry cups have dried up and will be gone in the Midcoast areas. In most Downeast areas the cups have dried up and are almost gone. Cups that were seen in Blueberry Hill Farm in Jonesboro, May 10th, are dried up and new pinheads have not been seen. With this past warm weather, the […]
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Mummy berry season Mummy berry season is starting to end in some areas. If the cups are finished in your area, there is no advantage for spraying fungicides for mummy berry control at this time. The secondary Monilinia spores on the dead tissues (mummy berry symptoms) are carried by pollinators to the healthy flowers to […]
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All fields with weather stations had conditions for a Monilinia infection period overnight from May 6th to May 7th. The fog started in the evening from about 6:30 to 8:30pm and continued until morning. I do have reports of cups still present in the Midcoast and Downeast so there is a good chance this weather […]
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The rain caused conditions for Monilinia infection in most fields with weather stations from May 2 to the morning of May 6th. Depending upon the field, there were one to four infection periods in this stretch of days. If you applied fungicides on or after 7 to 10 days before these infection periods (April 22 […]
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