Mummy berry forecast and Botrytis blossom blight May 20th

Washington County
ONLY later developing fields or wet fields re likely to have mummy berry cups still producing spores. Our mummy berry site in Jonesport still has ONE mummy berry cup producing spores! So other fields in early bloom may still have cups present. The majority of fields in Washington county are DONE for mummy berry disease.

In fields that still have mummy berry cups, there was an infection period from Wed. May 19th from around 10am through Thursday night.

IF your field is likely to still have cups AND your last application of fungicide was BEFORE Wednesday May 12th then you will need to apply a fungicide treatment to kill off any infection of your plants.

If your field is NOT likely to still have cups OR your field still has cups AND your last application of fungicide was ON or AFTER Wednesday May 12th, you do not need to apply fungicide to control mummy berry disease.

There has not been a long enough wet period to cause infection by Botrytis blossom blight in most fields. If you have brown flowers in your field, please see previous information on "Damage to Blueberry flowers: Is is Frost or Disease" to confirm you have blossom blight.
IF you are certain your field has a yearly history of getting Botrytis blossom blight from fog events AND you confirm you have the disease on early blooming clones, ONLY then would you want to consider applying fungicides for Botrytis blossom blight.

Note: I need more growers to put mummy berry plots out in their fields and track the cups to get a more accurate idea of where and when the cups are finished in different fields. Please call me or email me if you are interested in putting out some mummy berries for next year and I will help you set them up.

Damage to Blueberry Flowers - Is it Frost or Disease?

There can be multiple reasons why you see brown flowers on your plants. One of these is frost damage, and the others are infection by Mummy berry blight OR infection by Botrytis blossom blight. It is highly unlikely we have had the conditions for blossom blight in most fields. Long periods of wetness on almost open to fully open flowers is required for infection by the Botrytis fungus. Before applying fungicide to protect your plants from Blossom blight make sure you know what is the cause of your browning flowers.
Frost damage to flowers has occurred in the last week to some fields.
This is also the time that flower infections by mummy berry blight will be seen in fields.
Botrytis blossom blight can be scouted for on early blooming clones.

Please see the pictures and notes below, to determine what is the cause of your problem. Disease recommendations are in the "Disease Control Guide for Wild Blueberries (revised 2010) Publication 219.

Frost Damage to Flowers
- All flowers clusters on a stem will be affected

- Closed flowers are not affected as much

- Leaves are not affected

- NOTE - You will only see browning of flowers that are almost open or fully open.



Mummy Berry Blight of Flowers
- Only some flower clusters on a stem will be affected

- Open and closed flowers are affected

- Leaves will also show symptoms of the disease

- NOTE - Gray powder (spores) at base of flowers



Botrytis Blossom Blight
- Only some flower clusters on a stem will be affected

- Only almost open and fully open flowers affected

- Leaves can also show disease symptoms


- NOTE - black hairs (may have gray tips - spores) extend off of affected flowers

Mummy berry Forecast Monday May 10th

Washington County
MOST fields in Washington county are DONE for mummy berry disease. IF there are NO cups in your field and adjacent fields, there is NO chance of more leaf and flower bud infection.

ONLY later developing fields that still are not in bloom or are only in very early bloom are likely to have mummy berry cups still producing spores. Our mummy berry site along the coast in Jonesport still has mummy berry cups producing spores.

In fields that still have mummy berry cups, there was an infection period from Saturday May 8th from around 1pm to Sunday morning around 8am.

IF your field is likely to still have cups AND your last application of fungicide was BEFORE Saturday. May 1 st then you will need to apply a fungicide treatment to kill off any infection of your plants.

If your field is NOT likely to still have cups OR your field still has cups AND your last application of fungicide was ON or AFTER Saturday May 1st, you do not need to apply fungicide to control mummy berry disease.

I need more growers to put mummy berry plots out in their fields and track the cups to get a more accurate idea of where and when the cups are finished in different fields. Please call me or email me if you are interested in putting out some mummy berries for next year and I will help you set them up.

Mummy berry Forecast Friday May 7th

Washington and Hancock Counties
Cups are probably finished in much of warmer regions of these counties, but in later fields, mummy berry cups are still producing spores. For example, cups are still being produced in blueberry fields along the coast at Jonesport.

There was probably an infection period through out this region on Thursday May 6th that started in the morning and continued through the afternoon.

IF your last application of fungicide was BEFORE Thurs. April 29th then you will need to apply a fungicide treatment to kill off any infection of your plants.

If your last application of fungicide was ON or AFTER Thurs. April 29th, your plants were still protected during these last infection periods and you do not need to apply fungicide.

Mummy Berry Forecast Wed. May 5th

Washington and Hancock Counties
Mummy berry cups are finishing up in most fields Downeast, BUT in later developing fields there are still mummy berry cups producing spores (ex. in Jonesport).

There was an infection period through out this region that started Tues. May 4th afternoon or evening and continued through to Wed. May 5th morning.

IF your last application of fungicide was BEFORE Wed. April 28th then you will need to apply a fungicide treatment to kill off any infection of your plants.

If your last application of fungicide was ON or AFTER Wed. April 28th, your plants were still protected during these last infection periods and you do not need to apply fungicide.

Mummy berry Forecast Monday May 2nd

Knox, Lincoln and Waldo counties
There were mummy berry cups still present in Belfast, Palermo and Liberty over the weekend, but by Monday, the cups appear to be done. In South Hope and more southern areas, mummy berry cups appears to have finished about Thursday April 29th.
Over the weekend, the only fields likely to have had an infection period are those with fog or rain event of over 6.5 hours, but this did not occur in either Belfast or Palermo sites.

Unless you have a very wet or delayed field, cups are probably no longer being produced in your field so your plants will not get infected with any future rain or fog events.

Washington and Hancock Counties
There are still mummy berry cups producing spores in Deblois and Jonesport over the weekend and through Monday. Fields that develop earlier were probably finished producing cups by the end of last week.

The only fields that likely had an infection period are those that had at least 8 hours of fog overnight, but this did not occur in Deblois, Jonesport or at the BBHF sites over the weekend.