pestmanagement


Detecting blueberry decline


The key is learning to recognize symptoms associated with common pest and disease problems—and there’s help available to do that.


By Judie Steeves I


dentifying declines in blueberries requires getting to the root of the problem. There are a number of


issues that could be causing plant problems, so growersmust play detective in order to narrow it down. Thatmeans theymust pay close


attention to their fields and to individual plants so they notice such changes as unexplained yield drops, poor growth and vigour, poor leaf colour or yellowing, unevenness in a field and some specific symptoms—as early as possible, warns berry specialist with the provincial agriculture ministry,Mark Sweeney. Once such early warning signs are on


their radar, growers can begin to take steps to identify the problemarea so that the issue can be tackled, he says. “Sometimes the symptoms are very


clear and the diagnosis is easy. However, inmany cases,muchmore work is necessary to determine the cause, he adds. “All blueberry growers should learn


to recognize the symptoms associated with the common pest and disease problems,” he says.


There are good field guides available


as well as resources online, including theministry’s website at: www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot Good field scouts and crop


consultants are an excellent support in recognizing and identifying problems in the field, he advises. As well, theministry operates a Plant


Diagnostic Lab that receives samples fromgrowers. The focus is to try and identify pathogens thatmay be contributing to the problem. Its work is only as good as the


quality of the sample submitted, though. So, collect a plant that is


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representative of the problem, showing the early symptoms of decline. A very sick or dead plant should not be submitted, Sweeney said. Lab work is just one piece of the


puzzle of identifying the cause of a problemin the field, so before submitting a sample, do some methodical detective work. Begin by getting the ‘big picture’ of


the field, looking for particular patterns of decline, he advised. “Does the problemfollow the


topography of the field? If the decline is worse in low areas, itmay be root death caused by poor drainage. Are the


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