Mummy Berry Forecast Monday April 30th 2012

Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties
Mature mummy berry cups producing spores were still present in Appleton and Liberty on Monday morning.  Pinheads were still found in Liberty, suggesting that mature cups are probably still present in most areas. No infection periods occurred over the weekend.   I expect the mummy berry cups will be finishing by the end of this week (hopefully).
Frost conditions occurred over Sunday night through to Monday in both Appleton and Belfast with the weather station recording average temperatures of 22F for about 2 hours.
The forecast is for rain on Tuesday through to Wednesday. Some fields may experience infection periods, since some mature cups are probably still present.


Hancock and Washington Counties
Mature mummy berry cups producing spores and numerous pinheads are present in Deblois, Wesley, and Jonesboro on Monday.   No infection periods occurred over the weekend. There were frost conditions in most fields Saturday and Sunday night.   Fortunately the weather forecast has only a low probability of rain in the next week.  I expect the mummy berry cups to be around into next week.

If you wish to see the data for the different weather stations please go to the link below.
On the AgriNET Dashboard website, the large graph shows all of the data from the different weather stations. Click on the icons at the top to get the  large graph to switch between showing Soil Temperature, Air Temperature, Leaf Wetness or Soil Moisture.
Click on the link for "Downloader and Graphs page" (top left) to get the graphs for individual weather stations.
Link to weather station data:
 http://www.grovision.com/AgriNET/ComServer/UofMaine/DashboardFrameset.htm

The map below shows where our weather stations are located. Click on the map for a magnified map.

Mummy berry forecast update Friday April 27th 2012

All areas
An infection period for the fungus to get into the plants was produced in most blueberry growing areas from Thursday through Friday.

If you applied fungicide on or after Thursday April 19th, your plants were probably protected during this infection period.

If you applied fungicide before Thursday April 19th, then you may wish to apply fungicide again to protect your plants.  You have 72 hours after the start of the infection period to apply fungicide to kill off any fungus that penetrated into the plants.

You will also need to consider if pollinators are present in your field when deciding whether or not to apply fungicide.  

The following times are approximate times when infection periods started in different areas.

Field Day start Time start Appleton 4/27 midnight Belfast 4/27 2:40AM N. Ellsworth 4/27 2:40AM Ellsworth 4/26 9:40PM Silby plain 4/27 3:00 AM Deblois 4/26 10:20 PM Montegail 4/26 10:20 PM Rocky pond 4/26 10:40 PM E. Machias 4/27 4:00 AM Meddybemps 4/27 12:40 AM Jonesboro 4/26 10:15 PM

Mummy Berry Blight forecast Thursday April 26, 2012

Knox, Lincoln and Waldo Counties
Numerous pinheads and mature cups are still present at Appleton, Liberty and Belfast.  Mature cups producing spores are probably present throughout this area.  As mentioned before, the plants are susceptible as long as cups are present in your field. 

Hancock and Washington counties
Numerous pinhead and mature cups are still present through out fields in these counties.
The fog the last 2 nights in many fields was NOT long enough to produce infection periods.  Temperatures on Thursday night did dip to 25 F for 2 to 3 hours in some fields, but this is not likely to cause cold damage to most plants.  Some clones may be very sensitive to cold but most should have not have damage.

All areas
The rain forecast for Thursday night through to Friday will likely produce another infection period for the fungus to get into the plants.
If you applied fungicide to your plants on or after Thursday April 19th, your plants will be protected during this coming infection period. 

I will update the forecast on Friday afternoon as to whether infection periods occurred or not.

Factsheet on Cold tolerance effects on flower buds and irrigation 
This study by  Dr. Paul Cappiello did not hold plants at different temperatures for long periods of time and did not examine the extensive diversity possible in clones.  It does provide a rough estimate of when flower buds are most susceptible to frost.
 
http://umaine.edu/blueberries/factsheets/irrigation/flower-primordia-development-stage/

Mummy berry Forecast Tuesday April 24th 2012

We have had a long infection period extending in some fields from Friday April 20th and in others from Saturday April 21st.  I have below the locations where we have weather stations and roughly when the infection periods started in those areas.

If you had applied fungicide on or after Monday April 16th,  your plants were protected during this last weekend and Monday, and  you do not need to apply fungicides at this time.

If your last application of fungicide was before Monday April 16th, you have up to 72 hours to apply fungicide (propiconazole or fenbuconazole) from the beginning of the infection period to kill of the fungus.  Considering the long period of infection the fungus had from Friday to Monday in some areas, if your last application of fungicide was before Monday April 16th, an application before  the end of Wednesday April 25th would still kill off some of the fungus that did get in your plants.

Weather station   Start of infection period
Appleton                 Sat. April 21 at 8pm

Belfast                     Sat.  April 21 at 8 pm

North Ellsworth     Sat.  April 21 at 7am

Ellsworth                Sat. April 21 at 7am

Aurora                     Sat. April 21 at 4pm

Deblois                   Fri. April 20 at 7pm

Montegail Pond     Fri. April 20 at 9pm

East Machias          Sat. April 21 10am

Meddybemps         Sat. April 21 6pm

UPDATE Mummy berry forecast for WASHINGTON COUNTY Fri. April 20

Washington county
Mummy berry pinheads were found in Meddybemps area on Thursday.  The plants are mostly susceptible in this area. 
There is a chance that mature cups ARE present in fields in this area.   The rain this weekend  may produce infection periods  this weekend in these fields.
 If you use fungicides, you may need to apply fungicide this weekend or early next week to control for mummy berry disease. 
I will put out updates as infection periods occur.

Mummy Berry Forecast for Thursday April 19th, 2012

Lincoln, Waldo and Knox  AND Southern Hancock counties
Mature mummy berry cups are actively producing spores in these counties.  Once your plants are have partially open buds they are susceptible to this fungus until the fungus stops producing spores.  Numerous mummy berry pinheads (not yet ready to produce spores) are still present on Thursday morning indicating that the fungus will be active for  a while.

The fog on Wednesday night was not enough to produce an infection period since the temperatures were too cold.
 
Northern Hancock and Washington counties
 Mature mummy berry cups producing spores have been found in early fields in Aurora, Deblois, Jonesboro, and Sam Hill. 

NO cups have been found in later, colder areas such as Rocky Pond and Meddybemps.

Please check your plants!  If there are greater than 40% of the stems with flower buds with the crown stage (F2) than your field has enough susceptible tissue to get infected.

For ALL areas with ACTIVE mummy berry cups

The rain forecast to occur this weekend starting Friday evening and through to some time next week  (perhaps until Tuesday night) is likely to produce multiple infection periods for the fungus to get into the plants.


Fungicide applications of propiconazole and fenbuconazole will protect your plants 7 days into the future from when you have applied them. Please plan accordingly.

If you have applied fungicide on or after Monday April 16th, your plants will be protected through the weekend infection periods and to at least next Tuesday morning.


If you have not applied fungicide yet or your last application was before Monday April 16th, you may need to apply fungicide this weekend or early next week depending upon when your application occurred and the number of infection periods.

April 17th 2012 Mummy berry forecast

Knox, Lincoln and Waldo counties
Fog in fields close to the coast may have caused an infection period for the mummy berry fungus to get into the plants last night.

In our Belfast site, approximately 4 miles from the coast (straight line distance), there was 10 hrs of fog (at an average temperature of 51F) which produced an infection period for the mummy berry fungus.

In Appleton, approximately 8 miles from the coast (straight line distance), did NOT have a long enough period of fog, only approximately 5.5 hours, so NO infection period occurred.

If your field typically has long periods of fogs you may have had an infection period in your field last night.

South Hancock county

Fog in fields near lakes or the coast may have caused an infection period for the fungus to get into the plants last night.
In our two sites, near Branch lake and in Ellsworth,  11 to 16 hours of fog (at an average temperature of 48.5 F) produced an infection period for the mummy berry fungus.

If your field typically has long periods of fogs you may have had an infection period in your field last night.

For fields where an infection period likely occurred:

If you have applied fungicide (propiconazole or fenbuconazole) to your plants after Monday April 9th, then your plants were protected during this infection period last night.

If you have not applied fungicide or applied it before Monday April 9th, then you have until 7 pm on Thursday April 19th to apply fungicide to kill off any infection that may have occurred.

Northern Hancock and Washington counties
Mature mummy berry cups have not yet been found in Aurora, Deblois, Jonesboro, East Machias, or the barrens so any fog that occurred last night did NOT produce infections since there are NO spores present yet.  I expect mature cups to be present soon.