Mummy berry forecast for Mon. May 2nd 2011

Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, and western Hancock counties
Mummy berry cups ares still present in these areas.
There was another infection period from Thurs. April 28th about 2pm through Fri. April 29th at 4 to 6am depending upon the field.

There was a wet period in Stockton Springs and surrounding areas overnight from Sun. May 1st to Mon. May 2nd, but due to the cool temperatures (33F) this did NOT cause an infection period.

If you applied fungicides after April 22nd, then your plants would have been protected during this last infection period. If your plants were NOT protected, then you would have needed to apply fungicides by Sun. May 1st 2pm to kill off any fungus that penetrated your plants during this last infection period.

There is wet weather predicted for this area from Tuesday morning through Thursday and this will likely result in multiple infection periods.

Downeast- eastern Hancock and Washington counties
Mummy berry cups are present in Deblois, Jonesboro and at Montegail pond in the barrens. Mature mummy berry cups have not been found at Jonesport yet, but are likely to start in this and other cooler, later fields this week.

There was a very long infection period from Wed. April 27th at 5 to 6pm through until Fri. April 29th at 7 to 8am OR two infection periods within this time period with a short dry period on Thursday.

There was a wet period overnight from Fri. April 29th to Sat. April 30th, but this did NOT cause an infection period because the wetness was too short for the cool temperatures (42 to 47F).

If you applied fungicides after April 22nd, then your plants would have been protected during these last infection periods. If your plants were NOT protected, then you would have needed to apply fungicides by Sat. April 30th 4pm to kill off any fungus that penetrated your plants during these last infection periods.

There is wet weather predicted for this area from Tuesday through Thursday and this will likely result in multiple infection periods.

If you have a cooler, later field, you should check your plant development before applying fungicides. If you have less than 40% of your flower buds at the susceptible stage, then you do not have very much plant tissue to be infected by the fungus, AND you do not have much young tissue to absorb the fungicide you apply. The fungicide will absorb better through new leaf and flower tissue than through the stems and bud scales around unopened leaf and flower buds.

If you have a mummy berry plot, I would like to know how it is progressing, please contact me at sannis@maine.edu.