Florida is a large multi-climate state so our widely dispersed Blueberry growers experience quite different growing conditions. One should not generalize how any single farm’s growing season progressed to that of most other farms. However, at Frogmore, our operation in Central Florida, it’s been a bit of a tough growing season so far. June started out hot and dry and stayed that way on into July. To keep our initial leaf flushes going, we had to employ extraordinary effort to protect tender leaves and stay on schedule. Then the rains came with only sporadic respite up till now in mid-September. We have rich soils undergirded by impervious clay, so although it grows berries well, it stays wet with ponding water that retreats ever so slowly. In seasons like this I envy the growers whose sandy soil seems to suck excess water away in a day or two. 

The table below lists suggested blueberry management items for July - September. Suggested management items for the entire calendar year are available in an EDIS publication, Calendar for Southern Highbush Blueberry Management in Florida (https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1363). Specific disease, insect, and weed controls are listed in the 2022 Florida Blueberry IPM Guide (https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS380), as well as in subject-specific publications referenced below. Also, a list of all UF EDIS blueberry publications can be found at www.blueberrybreeding.com/blog, along with a summary description and link to each.

Growers Report High Yields but Steep Price Drop

The 2024 Florida blueberry season was marked by two factors — strong yield and late-season price drop. We spoke with growers around the state to put our finger on the pulse of the Florida blueberry industry. 

Management Tactics for Chilli Thrips, Diaprepes, and Flea Beetle

Chilli Thrips

Don’t Be Defeated by These Common Diseases

Managing Summer Blueberry Diseases

Hurricane Season Planning Tips From the Pros

We are now officially in another hurricane season, and it’s a good time to think about how to prepare your farm for a possible major storm. Florida has been impacted by nine hurricanes since 2000. As of this article’s writing, Hurricane Ian was the most recent major storm to affect the state (September 2022). It made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 mph and accumulated rainfall of up to 20 inches, with estimated losses of more than $1 billion. 

Harvest 2024 was a tale of two seasons.  The one before the market crash in mid-to late April and the one after the “wall of fruit” burst almost overnight from a massive Georgia highbush crop. You’ll get a balanced sense of how the Florida season went from the article on page 10 of this edition of Blueberry News.  

Chances Increase to 85% Going Into Fall

According to the latest NOAA Climate Prediction Center forecast released May 20, the chances for a return of a La Niña phase in the next three months, following a transition from El Niño to neutral conditions, is about 50%, increasing to 85% in the fall. 

by SHELLEY HARTMANN 

David E. Norden was born in Ames, Iowa, on August 2, 1957, the fifth of six children of Catherine and Allen J. Norden. His family moved to Florida in 1958 after his father completed graduate studies at Iowa State University and accepted the job of assistant professor of agronomy at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Growing up in rural Alachua County, he became familiar with the natural and agricultural systems of North Florida. As a teenager, he worked for local farmers during breaks from school and spent free time enjoying the woods and the waters. David graduated from Buchholz High School in Gainesville in 1975 and worked as a tractor driver for the University of Florida vegetable crops department and then as a cabinet maker before enrolling at the University of Florida in the fall of 1977. He graduated from the University of Florida with honors in December 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Science and certificate of specialization in Integrated Pest Management. 

The tables below list suggested blueberry management items for spring and early summer months. Specific disease, insect, and weed controls are listed in the 2022 Florida Blueberry IPM Guide (https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS380), as well as in subject-specific publications referenced below. Suggested management items for the entire calendar are available in the UF/IFAS Blueberry Growers Guide app and in an EDIS publication, Calendar for Southern Highbush Blueberry Management in Florida (https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1363).  A list of all UF EDIS blueberry publications can be found at www.blueberrybreeding.com/blog, along with a summary description and link to each.

Here I am in the middle of March penning my letter with fresh memories of my time visiting with fellow growers at the Spring FBGA Meeting and Field Day at the University of Florida Education and Research Center in Citra. I’m happy to report that most growers I spoke with are quite optimistic about the season as we enter the main blueberry harvest. Although growing blueberries is much like selling real estate, where performance is naturally local, the general trends are tracking toward a big increase in volume over the tough 2023 season. It’s nice to see Florida growers will likely reap the rewards of their tenacity and hard work as they climb back from the damaging weather and economic shocks that plagued us last year.

Woodlands May Host Chilli Thrips in Off-Season

Chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) has emerged as an invasive insect pest of specialty crops in Florida, including in strawberry, blueberry, citrus, peppers, and ornamentals. Something to note here is that these insects are commonly called thrips (singular and plural), and the term “thrip” is an incorrect reference to this group of insects. Based on recent field studies, strawberry plants had more than seven times the fruit yield when treated with an insecticide, spinetoram, compared to untreated fields severely infested with chilli thrips. Infested strawberry fruits appear bronzed and cracked and are considered unmarketable. This pest, native to Southeast Asia, migrates into the crop fields from surrounding areas, but little is known about its whereabouts during the off-season. It was assumed that S. dorsalis may have been spending their summer months on other crop hosts, since this is a polyphagous pest (feeding on various types of plants). This information is crucial since increasing the understanding of the non-crop habitats can assist with the management of this severely damaging agricultural pest. 

Tackling the Challenges of Bark inclusions, Girdling Roots, Plant Collars and Stem Blight

The southern highbush blueberry growth habit is a multi-stem bush with cultivated varieties ranging from upright to spreading. The upright varieties like Meadowlark and Farthing tend to have narrower crowns, which lend themselves to more efficient machine harvesting possibilities. Most harvesting machines rely on movable catch plates that conform to the crown as the harvester passes down the row, with wider crowns allowing a larger gap and more fruit escaping the harvester to be lost to the ground. Upright varieties have become popular with growers for this reason and as labor costs continue to increase and labor availability continues to be challenging, to say the least. 

Best Practices to Maintain Plant Vigor, Balance Growth, and Reduce Pests and Diseases

This article was first published in the Spring 2023 Blueberry News, vol 12, issue 3, p.31

During the years I ran my family’s blueberry farm, the weeks we ran a u-pick made for some of my fondest memories. But as any grower can tell you, u-picks aren’t all fun and games. They can be tricky to pull off successfully. In the grand scheme of things, our u-pick operations only accounted for 2-3% of our revenue, but I never considered them unsuccessful. Here are some of the tactics I think helped us to be successful.

Hall of Fame 
Wednesday, Oct. 23
Bonnet Springs Park,
Lakeland, Florida