It's almost that time of year again where highbush blueberry growers
play the Mummy Berry infection guessing game. 2021 was a particularly
bad year for Mummy Berry on some varieties, in some locations. As a
result growers should be on guard in 2022, because of the increased amount of inoculum
present, coming out of the previous year. If there is only one take away
from this blog over the years, it should be that in order to have disease infection you need three things:
1. Inoculum presence - mature sporulating apothecia cups
2. Susceptible host at the correct bud development stage – bud
scales separating in flower buds (F2 stage)
3. Suitable weather conditions – long wet periods at relatively warm temperatures.
If you need a little primer on Mummy berry, also called Monilian Blight,
please take a few minutes before the season to review this short
video: https://youtu.be/QGhfw6V30n8%20%20%20
In preparation for an infection period, make sure you have product on-hand.
Products with the active ingredient
propiconozole (Pivot, Bumper, Tilt, Princeton, Fitness, etc) can be applied after an infection event, providing up to 72
hour ‘back action’, in addition to being excellent protectants against
future infections for 7-10 days after application. Quilt is listed as a
preventative fungicide, but also displays systemic and curative properties.
A complete list of registered products
can be found in Perennia's 2022 Highbush Blueberry Disease and Insect
Management Guide.
or consult the table below. By clicking here
In this table the rating of 3 provides excellent control
At this time buds on the early varieties are just starting to crack (as you can see below) and apothecia have not emerged from the over wintering mummy berries on the soil. I did however find some weeds germinating already which shows the need for getting a residual on in the fall.
