Estimated Water Budget August 10-20

Needless to say, DRY!

Estimated Water Budget August 3 to 9

For virtually the first time this season, continued clear weather throughout the blueberry growing area have made for conditions that would be conducive to irrigation--if not for harvesting. Patchy precipitation is expected for the next three or so days.

Estimated Water Budget July 27 to August 2

Thanks again to ample rain last week, Downeast blueberry soils are generally still plenty moist as of August 2nd.

Blueberry School: Valdensinia leaf spot

Blueberry Hill Farm Headquarters conference room
Wednesday July 29th 6pm to 7pm
Dr. Seanna Annis

Session will demonstrate how to identify the new Valdensinia leaf spot from other leaf spots. Samples with the disease will be on hand for people to look at. Scouting and treatment recommendations will be discussed.

Please bring to the meeting any leaf spot samples (in a sealed plastic bag) you want identified.

Remember: when collecting samples, do not go into a wet field and remove all leaves from your footwear, clothes, and vehicles before leaving the diseased area.

Estimated Water Budget July 20 to July 26

More than enough rain yet again for this past week.

Sanitation to Protect Fields from Valdensinia leaf drop Disease

There is NO tested fungicide that will eradicate this disease from a field. Fungicides will only suppress the disease by protecting the plants. Once in a field, the fungus will produce new spores and infect plants after any 3 day wet period throughout the season. Many fungicide applications will be necessary throughout the prune and crop years to protect plants if this disease is in your field. We want to avoid the trouble (hopefully it is not a disaster) that is hitting growers in Nova Scotia this year from Valdensinia leaf drop disease.

THE KEY IS - DO NOT MOVE ANY DISEASED LEAVES AROUND

• Do NOT walk or drive through any areas of leaf drop or brown leaf spots in a field. Do NOT harvest any area with suspected (or confirmed) Valdensinia leaf drop. Once, confirmed to have the disease, BURN any plants with Valdensinia leaf spot to the ground including burning all leaf litter, as soon as possible.

GENERAL PRECAUTIONS

• At the edge of ANY field you visit, brush leaf litter off of your footwear and vehicle before going to another field. Brush off your footwear and vehicle tires with your hand or something that will NOT collect leaf litter. (If you use a brush, clean it off regularly).

• ALL equipment, vehicles, ATVs, harvesters, blueberry boxes, etc. need to be cleaned off of leaf litter BEFORE they are moved out of a field. All equipment should have no leaf litter on it before you let it into your field. Spraying with a 5% bleach solution (1 part bleach to 19 parts water), other disinfectant or a weak soap solution may help to remove the leaf litter, but may NOT kill the fungus (see below).

• What will NOT WORK - Soaking infected leaves in 10% bleach solution for 1 ½ minutes did NOT kill the fungus! Just dipping footwear or spraying equipment with disinfectant or bleach solution will NOT work, UNLESS the leaf litter is removed.

Please contact Seanna Annis at the Blueberry Hotline (1-800-897-0757) if you have any questions.

UMaine Sustainable Agriculture Field Day July 27

STILLWATER, Me. —University of Maine Cooperative Extension will host its annual Sustainable Agriculture Field Day on Monday, July 27. Designed for farmers, crop advisers and other members of the agricultural community, the event will take place at Rogers Farm, UMaine's 100-acre forage and crops research facility, located on Bennoch Road in Stillwater. Registration will begin at 9 a.m., and events will run until 12:30 p.m. This free event will feature talks on many agricultural topics. Participants will receive one pesticide certification credit and three Certified Crop Adviser credits. For more information,contact Ellen Mallory at 207-581-2942 or John Jemison at 207-581-3241.

UMaine agricultural researchers and Extension faculty members will present their field research on vegetables, grains, and forages. Specific topics will include bread wheat and specialty potato production issues, weed management tools for small-scale vegetable producers, organic fertilizers for sweet corn, and feed and forage rotations for organic dairies. Students from the Black Bear Food Guild will also talk about their community-supported agriculture project.

Presentations will be offered by: Eric Gallandt, associate professor of weed ecolog yand management; John Jemison, Extension water quality specialist; Rick Kersbergen, Extension educator in Waldo County; Lauren Kolb, graduate student in weed ecology; Ellen Mallory, Extension sustainable agriculture specialist; and Marianne Sarrantonio, associate professor of sustainable crop production, in addition to students and members of the Black Bear Food Guild.