Slow blueberries

[sandman2234]

What berries I had are gone, you guys are way behind. They sure were good! Hopefully next year I will get a better harvest if I can keep the four-wheelers out of them.
David from jax

 

[David P]

We're a fairly small operation at this point, although we have plans to add plants each year. Right now we have around 300-325 mature bushes and added 250 2-year old bushes in the spring with plans for another 400 this fall. We have several varieties (I have no idea what, as we didn't plant them) and it appears that a couple will be ready for picking this week. Ours are priced at $2/lb you-pick and about double that for pre-picked.

Lots of canes on or near the ground from being so laden with fruit. But it's not necessarily a good thing as most won't bother to bend over to pick them anyway.

 

[deepNdirt]

Here in Nth-E Georgia been getting blueberries since 3rd week in June, Totaling 6 Gallons so far from 12 Bushes, Our bushes are 12+ years old, We still expect another 5 gallons over the next 2 weeks, Then IN comes the grapes:thumbsup:

 

[Dingeryote]

We're a fairly small operation at this point, although we have plans to add plants each year. Right now we have around 300-325 mature bushes and added 250 2-year old bushes in the spring with plans for another 400 this fall. We have several varieties (I have no idea what, as we didn't plant them) and it appears that a couple will be ready for picking this week. Ours are priced at $2/lb you-pick and about double that for pre-picked.

Lots of canes on or near the ground from being so laden with fruit. But it's not necessarily a good thing as most won't bother to bend over to pick them anyway.

2 bucks for U-pick? seriously? Call me jealous.
Take that as long as you can...over here it's a buck at most places, and 10lb boxes are going for 22-24 bucks.

Pickers are getting paid 45-55 cents a pound, but $3.25 for 6lb buckets is considered fair.
The problem is finding GOOD pickers that know how to pick clean, and show up on schedule.
If it wasn't for my crew being almost entirely related, and Granny going after them for not showing up, I'd have issues too.
Thankfully, they are all good for 100lbs+ in a 6 hour day, when all the neighbors are pulling their hair out looking for pickers.

Those canes on the ground....I'm guessing Blue crop. Rancocas will do that as well, but not as bad.
Larger semi sweet berrys with moderate Tannins?
Thinner canes with few shoots at the middle than ends?

If they are on the ground, and not obviously arched, start looking for Phomopsis spores(Zits) oozing somewhere on the canes, and keep an eyeball on the fruit. Phomopsis is **** on Blue crop, and is spread with the rain early to mid spring. Pristine, Quilt Excell, and Quash will clean it up, but until it's pruned out, it will be a problem. I ended up dropping a single bottom plow into 3 acres with Phomopsis, as it was a losing battle.

Peak is hitting right now. Got a little over 8,700lbs picked and delivered so far, and all **** breaks loose in the morning on the first big order.

Get any SWD flies in the traps yet?

 

[David P]

2 bucks for U-pick? seriously? Call me jealous.
Take that as long as you can...over here it's a buck at most places, and 10lb boxes are going for 22-24 bucks.

Pickers are getting paid 45-55 cents a pound, but $3.25 for 6lb buckets is considered fair.
The problem is finding GOOD pickers that know how to pick clean, and show up on schedule.
If it wasn't for my crew being almost entirely related, and Granny going after them for not showing up, I'd have issues too.
Thankfully, they are all good for 100lbs+ in a 6 hour day, when all the neighbors are pulling their hair out looking for pickers.

Those canes on the ground....I'm guessing Blue crop. Rancocas will do that as well, but not as bad.
Larger semi sweet berrys with moderate Tannins?
Thinner canes with few shoots at the middle than ends?

If they are on the ground, and not obviously arched, start looking for Phomopsis spores(Zits) oozing somewhere on the canes, and keep an eyeball on the fruit. Phomopsis is **** on Blue crop, and is spread with the rain early to mid spring. Pristine, Quilt Excell, and Quash will clean it up, but until it's pruned out, it will be a problem. I ended up dropping a single bottom plow into 3 acres with Phomopsis, as it was a losing battle.

Peak is hitting right now. Got a little over 8,700lbs picked and delivered so far, and all **** breaks loose in the morning on the first big order.

Get any SWD flies in the traps yet?

I suppose the pricing over here is the result of so few orchards being around where you're over there in blueberry heaven. We have four other orchards near us; the closest is 30 miles away. Our prices are all pretty much the same, though. Last year we were at $1.90/lb. When we sell at the farmer's market, we were getting around $5/lb last year. We have a customer (and friend) who picks our berries and sells at another market; think his pricing was close to ours last year, if not a tad higher. He sold out every Saturday before 10am.

I'm not exactly sure what most of our berries are, although I know we have some bluecrop as there was a single bush that had a tag on it (they're about 20 years old). Our spring planting was Spartan and our fall order is Patriot and something else. Next year we're going to plant Duke.

The bushes we planted in spring seem to be loving life right now (some have nearly doubled in size!) and I would estimate our loss to be around 20 bushes.

I don't think we have any disease issues as all the canes look to be very healthy, just lots of berries on them. I'll try to take some pics this week and post them as I would enjoy any input you have. We're just learning and trying to look to any/all resources we can. In fact, I need to get Bob T back out here again (or his replacement in our area; think he's doing more grapes now?).

I'm quite surprised that we don't have more health issues than we do. We purchased our land in 2010 and the canes had been there around 20 years, which appears to have been the last time they were pruned, if ever! We pruned them in 2011, although not nearly enough, and production increased quite a bit but the real gains were had last year. We pruned more heavily in 2012 and 2013 but still have a lot of thinning to do, I think. We've taken some soil samples and added a cup or so of ammonium sulfate per bush for the last two years (not 2013) but we don't spray anything on them at all (this may account for the higher price we glean at the farmer's market??) No irrigation right now, either.

Oh - SWD traps; Bob T came out in 2011 and placed some traps (I think they were for SWD) but I don't think he got anything of significance and he hasn't been back for more.

 

[KTurner]

We have what is best described as a 50' or so long blueberry "hedge". It's 4' across and either ~2.5' or ~5' tall. I really need to clean it up and thin it out some so that I can more easily get to each plant. Picking is somewhat of a pain. Doesn't help that there's a mixture of poison ivy, wild roses, honeysuckle and virginia creeper growing in it. And a fox and/or groundhog living in it. No idea what variety we have. I've been told that my wife's grandfather went down to NC to buy the plants. I'm guessing that was 30+ years ago. I've picked about 9 lbs in the last 12 days, some as big as nickels.

When I picked the first batch, we gave one to our 17 month old son who looked at it and set it down. It was the first time he had seen one. His mom ate one, he picked his back up, stuck it in his mouth and I'm not sure if he had even swallowed it before saying "More". Now, each time I grab the bucket, he points out the back door and says blueberries (sort of, it's more like beebee).

Keith

 

[RalphVa]

We had gobs of highbush blueberries here in central va. Then virtually NONE ripe. Squirrels were raidint them. Shot one but then found out about ceyenne or black pepper. Will go to black pepper next year when the berries are forming. It worked on one bush such that I got some ripe ones off it later. You don't have to keep peppering around them. Squirrels quit coming once they find the pepper first time.

 

[KTurner]

Squirrels were raidint them. Shot one but then found out about ceyenne or black pepper. Will go to black pepper next year when the berries are forming. It worked on one bush such that I got some ripe ones off it later. You don't have to keep peppering around them. Squirrels quit coming once they find the pepper first time.

My parents, 5-6 miles away, have several blueberry bushes but don't get any berries. They do have a large population of squirrels. We do also, but our blueberries are out in the wide open, in an area frequented by red tailed hawks. Maybe the squirrels dislike the hawks more than they like blueberries? Or, I guess it could be the groundhog/fox living under the blueberries.

Keith

 

[Dingeryote]

I suppose the pricing over here is the result of so few orchards being around where you're over there in blueberry heaven. We have four other orchards near us; the closest is 30 miles away. Our prices are all pretty much the same, though. Last year we were at $1.90/lb. When we sell at the farmer's market, we were getting around $5/lb last year. We have a customer (and friend) who picks our berries and sells at another market; think his pricing was close to ours last year, if not a tad higher. He sold out every Saturday before 10am.

I'm not exactly sure what most of our berries are, although I know we have some bluecrop as there was a single bush that had a tag on it (they're about 20 years old). Our spring planting was Spartan and our fall order is Patriot and something else. Next year we're going to plant Duke.

The bushes we planted in spring seem to be loving life right now (some have nearly doubled in size!) and I would estimate our loss to be around 20 bushes.

I don't think we have any disease issues as all the canes look to be very healthy, just lots of berries on them. I'll try to take some pics this week and post them as I would enjoy any input you have. We're just learning and trying to look to any/all resources we can. In fact, I need to get Bob T back out here again (or his replacement in our area; think he's doing more grapes now?).

I'm quite surprised that we don't have more health issues than we do. We purchased our land in 2010 and the canes had been there around 20 years, which appears to have been the last time they were pruned, if ever! We pruned them in 2011, although not nearly enough, and production increased quite a bit but the real gains were had last year. We pruned more heavily in 2012 and 2013 but still have a lot of thinning to do, I think. We've taken some soil samples and added a cup or so of ammonium sulfate per bush for the last two years (not 2013) but we don't spray anything on them at all (this may account for the higher price we glean at the farmer's market??) No irrigation right now, either.

Oh - SWD traps; Bob T came out in 2011 and placed some traps (I think they were for SWD) but I don't think he got anything of significance and he hasn't been back for more.

Not having any other fields around, will definitely keep your diseases down. Consider yourself spoiled!

Dunno about the value of unsprayed but not Organic Cert., If the others are getting the same price, it's likely due to the dearth of fresh fruit and a much less competitive market. Enjoy it, and expand on it!!

With expanding, and bringing in plants from outside, you might consider looking into a good systemic fungicide this fall though.
Even "Certified" plants bring ugly stuff with them, and it can be devastating. Been there, and it's maddening.
Pristine in the early fall, and then Sulforix at 1gal per A, or plain old Lime sulfur before bud break the following spring, cleans things up nicely if you suspect any crud has creeped in.
I wont even let other people drive out into my field. I don't know what kind of crud they are bringing with them.
Fungicides are expensive, and getting rid of bad outbreaks can kill a seasons budget quick. You're really blessed with the isolation aspect.


Bob T?
He's still the the Small fruit guy over there AFAIK, and should still be covering Blues.
See if he can hook you up with SWD traps, or show you how to make them, and walk you through identifying the flys.
They thrive in the wild blackberry's, and every other soft skinned fruit, and will jump on Blueberry's in a heartbeat.
Our season was cut short last year because of the things, and nobody wants to eat maggots. Just another nasty invasive unfortunately.

Have you linked into the Blueberry alerts?
Michigan Blueberry Facts

Reviving old Bushes can be nerve wracking if done piecemeal.
Most guys just use the bush hog and take them all the way down, then snip all but 3-4 of the new canes in the spring.
Folks that don't know or understand, immediately start spreading rumors if they see one of us chopping away, and it's always fun to hear that we "Went off the deep end".

If ya get over to this side of the state, holler.
I'll give ya the 50 cent tour, and see if I can't get you a tour of a couple other operations.

 

[David P]

Not having any other fields around, will definitely keep your diseases down. Consider yourself spoiled!

Dunno about the value of unsprayed but not Organic Cert., If the others are getting the same price, it's likely due to the dearth of fresh fruit and a much less competitive market. Enjoy it, and expand on it!!

With expanding, and bringing in plants from outside, you might consider looking into a good systemic fungicide this fall though.
Even "Certified" plants bring ugly stuff with them, and it can be devastating. Been there, and it's maddening.
Pristine in the early fall, and then Sulforix at 1gal per A, or plain old Lime sulfur before bud break the following spring, cleans things up nicely if you suspect any crud has creeped in.
I wont even let other people drive out into my field. I don't know what kind of crud they are bringing with them.
Fungicides are expensive, and getting rid of bad outbreaks can kill a seasons budget quick. You're really blessed with the isolation aspect.


Bob T?
He's still the the Small fruit guy over there AFAIK, and should still be covering Blues.
See if he can hook you up with SWD traps, or show you how to make them, and walk you through identifying the flys.
They thrive in the wild blackberry's, and every other soft skinned fruit, and will jump on Blueberry's in a heartbeat.
Our season was cut short last year because of the things, and nobody wants to eat maggots. Just another nasty invasive unfortunately.

Have you linked into the Blueberry alerts?
Michigan Blueberry Facts

Reviving old Bushes can be nerve wracking if done piecemeal.
Most guys just use the bush hog and take them all the way down, then snip all but 3-4 of the new canes in the spring.
Folks that don't know or understand, immediately start spreading rumors if they see one of us chopping away, and it's always fun to hear that we "Went off the deep end".

If ya get over to this side of the state, holler.
I'll give ya the 50 cent tour, and see if I can't get you a tour of a couple other operations.

We certainly feel blessed as we had absolutely no idea the bushes were even on the parcel when we put our offer in. Bought it with the idea of building there eventually and hunting/recreating until then. Now were farmers lol!! It's a great experience for my three half-pint helpers, too. We have somewhere around 5 acres that we'd like to get fully planted in the next few years. Our plan is to add bushes each spring in order to manage our growth. Thanks for the tip regarding fungicide. I'll look into it and touch base with Mike D (over by you) as we purchase our bushes through him.

I can't believe how well our bushes have responded to pruning. In the year before we pruned, I noticed that a row of bushes by the water had a really small berry that was quite sweet and tasted great. But there weren't many of them on the bushes at all, just a handful per bush. Additionally, those particular bushes just didn't look up to snuff. Being so new to this I still can't really tell you what was going on with them but they just didn't appear to be as healthy. Well, in the year after we pruned them they really came back to life and now produce berries that are much, much bigger and seemingly thousands more per bush. The whole orchard seemed to respond very well to the pruning but these bushes really danced after pruning.

We'll be over there in August or September sometime to pick up our bushes. Would love to meet you and see your operation. How close to Mike D are you?