September – October (Maine Cranberry Management Calendar)

  • Early September: Still time for doing some Cranberry Tissue Testing
  • Throughout September: Red-headed Flea Beetles (adults) They begin to show up in August but will often linger well into September.
  • Frost Protection: Know the tolerance levels for your variety or varieties, and monitor your berry color (go with the color that the majority of your berries are showing).
  • Late September – October: Harvest Time
  • Plan your harvest water-flow from bed to bed such that, if possible, water is not moved from disease-infested or weed-infested beds into clean beds or less infested beds.

Post-Harvest:

  • Trash Flooding: Flooding after harvest is a good means of removing ‘trash’ — i.e. dead cranberry leaves, twigs, and bruised berries.  On a windy day, the ‘trash’ will be driven to a corner or edge where it can be skimmed from the water and then disposed of at a location far from the bed.  Dead leaves and leftover berries serve as a source of disease inoculum and provide habitat for insect pests.  Removing this material may reduce how often you need to sand.
  • Post-Harvest Flooding: Ongoing research in Massachusetts (and grower practice) is finding that flooding for up to 4 weeks post-harvest suppresses dewberry plants and cranberry fruitworm.  In some studies, mortality of overwintering cranberry fruitworm (in their hibernacula/cocoons on the bed) was close to 100%.  No reduction of the crop has been reported after several years of experimentation with this particular flood.