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Wild
Blueberry Newsletter |
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April 2007 Field training sessions will be offered at three locations to demonstrate and discuss the Integrated Crop Management (ICM) field scouting techniques in Wild Blueberry Fact Sheet No. 204. The first and second session will cover mummyberry and blossom blight identification and monitoring, insect sweeping and identification, and weed identification and management. The third session will cover blueberry maggot fly trapping, leaf and soil sampling, and weed identification and management. One recertification credit per session will be offered for certified pesticide applicators.
A diligent wild blueberry grower has
been carefully reading his fact sheets and noted a few errors. In
Wild Blueberry Fact Sheet 219, 2007 Disease Control for Wild
Blueberries, on the last section of Table 1 the control rate for
Enable with 1% COC is not 13 but 03, so there was only 3%
blight when this product was used. Enable 4F and Indar 4F is the
same product. The rate of Pristine should be 18.5 oz and not
8.5 oz. In Wild Blueberry Fact Sheet 212, Botrytis Contol for
Wild Blueberries, the discussion indicates “At 29°F, low levels
of blossom infection may occur after a 36 hour wet period” this
should be 39°F. Please make these changes to your paper
copies; all fact sheets on the web site
www.wildblueberries.maine.edu have been updated. Seanna Annis, associate professor of mycology, is initiating a Mummyberry blight forecast in Union, Ellsworth and Down East area blueberry fields. She will monitor the sites from the last week of April until the end of May and indicate when Mummyberry are producing spores. If you want to find out if the Mummyberry are active in your area, you can call the toll-free wild blueberry number at 1-800-897-0757 and push extension 3 for the message or check the wild blueberry web site Mummyberry Forecast at www.wildblueberries.maine.edu. Refer to Wild Blueberry Fact Sheets No. 211, 217 and 219 for more information on Mummyberry disease and treatment options. Recent highlights include coverage in the January/February issue of Health Magazine. A feature story on healthy breakfast singled out blueberries as a healthy breakfast topper for its antioxidant and fiber content. Both fresh and frozen forms were recommended. On the trade side, in Candy Industry Magazine, wild blueberries took center stage in the Harvesting Health feature about nutritional ingredients for confections. The USDA recently released an updated flavonoid database. Both wild and cultivated blueberries are included in the new report which investigates the flavonoid content of nearly 400 foods. Wild blueberries have high numbers for all categories of flavonoids studied. Flavonoids are plant chemicals now widely studied by the scientific community because of their potential beneficial health effects. Anthocyanidins are a common flavonoid in blueberries, but other flavonoids are evaluated as well. Bar Harbor Group researcher Ron Prior, Ph. D., contributed analytical data. The food composition database is available online at the USDA Agriculture Research Service site http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=6231. March marks National Nutrition Month,
an important window of time for health and wellness stories. To
capitalize on the heightened media interest in food and
nutrition, WBANA issued a wild blueberry press release
specifically tying in to the launch of Produce for Better Health
Foundation’s Fruits and Veggies More—Matters campaign. The
release is entitled “Be Good to Your Cells with Antioxidant-Rich Wild Blueberries:
More Color Matters When Selecting Fruits and Vegetables.” New messages integrated into the release include information
about how frozen wild blueberries fit into the More Matters call to action for dietary change as well as WBANA’s affiliation
with not only Produce for Better Health but the Naturally
Nutrient Rich Coalition. The press release was distributed
nationally reaching influential consumer and trade food and
nutrition editors. The WBANA Wild Blueberry web site www.wildblueberries.com has been updated to include a
homepage notice about the More Matters launch as well as
a direct link to the news release.
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