{"id":13255,"date":"2018-04-09T10:04:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T14:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/blueberries\/?page_id=13255"},"modified":"2025-10-20T09:23:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:23:48","slug":"230-management-strategies-for-reduced-inputs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/blueberries\/resources\/production\/230-management-strategies-for-reduced-inputs\/","title":{"rendered":"230-Management Strategies for Reduced Inputs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fact Sheet No. 230<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Prepared by David E. Yarborough, Extension Blueberry Specialist, Frank Drummond, Professor of Insect Ecology and Seanna Annis, Associate Professor of Mycology, The University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469.\u00a0 March 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

The decision to rest land, cut back on inputs, or manage for optimal production has to be made on a farm-by-farm and field-by-field basis considering both production costs and productivity of the field. Use the following considerations in determining what management strategy is best for you. It is very important to know your production costs in detail.<\/p>\n

Do not manage fields or portions of fields with low cover and low yields.\u00a0 Do not manage land that must be burned and hand-harvested unless you have markets established or available that provide higher prices.<\/p>\n

Consider resting land until prices are above your production costs. If you do rest your land, you should continue to mow (or bush-hog to 2-3 inches) in the fall or in spring pre-bloom, to cut or wipe any woody weeds, and scout and pull any new weeds to prevent new infestations.\u00a0 These maintenance costs should go into your calculations of the benefits of resting land.<\/p>\n

Manage fields that you keep in production for good yields; this will keep your cost\/pound low. Evaluate all inputs to reduce input costs to the minimum needed:<\/p>\n

For Fertilizer<\/strong>: Take leaf samples at tip dieback and do not fertilize if your leaf samples indicate you do not have a deficiency. Not fertilizing also will reduce your weed pressure. This input should be the first one you cut back in.<\/p>\n

For Weeds<\/strong>: Scout to determine weed pressure and use lower herbicide rates and less expensive herbicides (for example, Velpar 1 lb\/a, plus Matrix 3 oz\/a, plus Diuron 2 lb\/a), and then evaluate control and determine if any post-emergence weed applications are needed. Having a few weeds will not reduce your yields but be sure you do not allow any new weeds to invade, such as milkweed.<\/p>\n

For Pest Insects<\/strong>: Scout your fields and use action thresholds for deciding if control is necessary. You should be much more liberal and base decisions on pest levels that are 1.5 to 2 times the recommended threshold. This use of higher thresholds means more risk of damage, but because the value of the crop is lower, more damage risk at a lower value balances out the cost of insecticides for control. For example, the blueberry spanworm threshold in a crop field is 10 spanworm caterpillars per set of ten sweeps. Using a more liberal threshold of 15 or 20 caterpillars per set of ten sweeps is warranted. We have provided a range of thresholds for Spotted Wing Drosophila. Use the higher end of 7-16 males as a more liberal threshold:<\/p>\n