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Blueberry producers in many southeastern states are increasing production at a rapid rate. This has been driven by increasing consumer demand for blueberries due to their anti-oxidant, anti-aging properties and superior nutritional quality.
Researchers and agents with the LSU AgCenter, Mississippi State University, Auburn University, the University of Georgia and North Carolina State University have joined to form the eXtension All About Blueberries Community of Practice (CoP). This CoP is using novel, diverse educational methods to help our Community of Interest (CoI) increase blueberry production efficiency and correspondingly increase consumption of blueberries in the southeastern United States.
The All About Blueberries CoI is broadly defined as producers (commercial and backyard), distributors, and consumers of blueberries (youth and adult). |
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| How Many Blueberry Plants Are Needed? (Video, 0:55) Now that you've decided which blueberry varieties you want to plant, how many blueberry bushes should you order? David Himelrick of the LSU AgCenter says it's a question of how much you like blueberries. Watch this video and find out how to determine how many blueberry bushes you should order. |
| Thrips Thrips are small, narrow insects with “fringe wings.” Adult thrips have two pairs (four) of wings that are “fringed” with hairs. Thrips are mostly plant pests. |
| Add Blueberries to Your Diet (Audio) Heli Roy of the LSU AgCenter talks about how adding blueberries to your diet can help improve your health. |
| Blueberries on My Plate (Audio) Heli Roy of the LSU AgCenter explains how blueberries fit on the USDA's My Plate to help people meet the new dietary guidelines. |
| Health Benefits of Blueberries This activity has information about how eating blueberries affects the eyes, brain, heart, liver, blood vessels, bones, skin, intestines, muscles, nerve cells and the whole body. |
| The Importance of Soil Sampling for Growing Blueberries J Stevens of the LSU AgCenter talks about the importance of soil sampling in this video. According to Stevens, it is important to get a representative sample of soil in the area where your blueberry plant roots are going to be. Click on the link under the image to watch Stevens demonstrate how to obtain soil samples for testing. |
| Selecting Blueberry Varieties The type of blueberry bush you plant depends on where you live. |
| Collecting a Soil Sample (Video) Do you know what chemicals or treatments are best for getting your garden or lawn ready for the growing season? In this video, J Stevens of the LSU AgCenter talks about the importance of soil sampling and shows the proper method for collecting a soil sample to send in to the local Cooperative Extension Service office. |
| Insect Guide View information listed by the part of the blueberry plant where you suspect insect pest damage is occurring. Then, click on each symptom you see on your plants. You will be brought to a page indicating which insect(s) may be causing the damage. |
| Site Selection and Preparation Full sun is desirable, but up to 50 percent shade is usually acceptable. |
| Blueberry Leaf Beetle Blueberry leaf beetles are post-harvest pests of blueberries in the southeastern United States. Leaf beetles indirectly affect blueberry production and are seldom considered serious pests like those feeding on flowers or fruit. |
| Cherry Fruitworm Adult cherry fruitworms lay their eggs on both the fruit and foliage of blueberry plants. |
| Soft Berries Blueberry maggots and spotted wing drosophila can cause blueberries to become soft. |
| Insect-damaged blueberries Information about how fire ants, leaf-footed bugs and stink bugs damage blueberries. Also, information to use in determining if these insects are damaging a blueberry crop and how to manage these insects. |
| Blueberry Gall Midge Blueberry gall midge occurs sporadically, but when present it can cause reductions of 20 percent to 80 percent flower buds/fruit. |
| Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are generally elongated insects with narrow, leathery forewings; large, membranous flying wings; and chewing mouthparts. |
| Aphids Aphids can cause deformation, wilting and defoliation of new growth of blueberry plants. High infestations can reduce fruiting bud formation for the following year's crop. Aphids produce copious amounts of honeydew and can cause secondary pest outbreaks of sooty molds on foliage and fruit. Aphids also can transmit blueberry scorch virus. |
| Scarring and/or Tunneling of Blueberry Plant Stems by Insects Information about how blueberry stem borers and thrips cause damage by scarring and/or tunneling through blueberry plant stems, as well as information on how to manage them. |
| Defoliation of Blueberry Plant Leaves by Insects Flea beetles and yellow-necked caterpillars are two insects that defoliate the leaves of blueberry plants. Read for information about how to determine if these insect pests are invading your blueberry plants and what steps to take to control them. |
| Drying of Blueberry Plant Leaves by Insects Information about how blueberry tip borers and leafhoppers can damage blueberry plants by drying the leaves. |
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| Yellowing of Blueberry Plant Leaves by Insects Information about the yellowing of blueberry plant leaves by aphids and leafhoppers, as well as information on how to manage these insect pests. |
| Frass (insect waste) on blueberries Frass is insect debris (waste or poop). Two insects can be identified on blueberries by the frass they leave behind. |
| Leaf-footed bugs Leaf-footed bugs can damage larger green and ripe blueberries. |
| Stink Bugs The degree of damage by stink bugs depends, to some extent, on the developmental stage of the plant when it is injured by the bugs. |
| Chewing of Blueberry Plant Leaves by Insects Information about insects that damage blueberry plants by chewing on the leaves, as well as information about how to manage these insects. |
| Leafhoppers These insects (family Cicadellidae) are small (under ¼ inch), mobile insects often found on the stems or undersides of leaves, where they feed by piercing the surface of the plant and sucking plant juices. Most are green or brown, but some are quite brightly marked with green and red. The young resemble the adults but are smaller and wingless. These insects do little damage by feeding on plants. They do some damage, however, when they make a slit in the stem in which to lay their eggs. |
| Yellownecked Caterpillars Young larvae of yellownecked caterpillars skeletonize blueberry foliage. Adult yellownecked caterpillars are seldom seen because they are active at night. |
| Fire Ants Fire ants are active throughout the year. They have little impact on crops and are regarded as pests primarily because they attack pickers and other agricultural workers who tend the bushes. |
| Japanese Beetle Japanese beetle adults are about 1/2 inch long with a metallic green head and thorax, and reddish-brown wing covers. Larvae sometimes kill roots of grasses they feed on. Adults destroy leaves, flowers and fruits they feed on. |
| Spotted Wing Drosophila First detected in the United States in California in 2008, spotted wing drosophila (SWD) is a vinegar fly or fruit fly that attacks ripening fruit, as well as rotting fruit. |
| Blueberry Tip Borer These insects are mostly brown, with orange marks near the tip of each front wing and a silver spot along the hind margin. Internal feeding causes the stem to wilt and the leaves to dry up from the tips. Monitoring for the beginning of this symptom can be used to identify the egg-laying period. |
| Cranberry Fruitworm The cranberry fruitworm is one of the most serious pests of blueberries in the eastern United States. Some fields have suffered 50 percent to 75 percent losses of fruit. Infested berries may be harvested and packaged without detection, resulting in consumers finding larvae in packaged berries. |
| Obliquebanded Leafroller The obliquebanded leafroller is a native species that occurs throughout southern Canada and the United States. It infests apples, pears, cherries, plums, peaches, roses, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, strawberries and many weeds, and it is a major pest of blueberries. |
| Blueberry Bud Mite Blueberry bud mites are microscopic and white, living on the inner bud scales of blueberries from fall to spring. The blueberry bud mite can be found in blueberry crops in the eastern United States from Canada to Florida and among blueberry plantings in the Midwest, including Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. |
| Blueberry Maggot Blueberry maggots have been found in found throughout the eastern United States including Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. In Canada, it is known from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island. These insects make blueberries soft, mushy and unmarketable. |
| Blueberry Blossom Weevil There is typically one generation of the blueberry blossom weevil per year in blueberry fields. This pest is most common in eastern North America. |
| Blueberry Mealybug High populations of the blueberry mealy bug can lead to poor plant growth and decline. |
| Blueberry Stem Borer Blueberry stem borer injury can be minimized by removing infested canes or wilted terminals as soon as larvae are detected. |
| Blueberry Stem Gall The blueberry stem gall is caused by a small chalcid wasp, Hemadas nubilipennis, which belongs to the family Pteromalidae. In recent years, these galls have become a concern because they occasionally contaminate the finished blueberry product. |
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