pest management Persistent problem


Control ofmummy berry can be particularly important for growers eyeing the Chinese and South Korean blueberry export By Grant Ullyot


M


ummy berry is a disease that has been around for a long time in the blueberry industry and is controlled well on many farms — but it is a major concern for those wishing to sell fresh fruit to China or South Korea this year.


Both countries have identified mummy berry as a quarantine pest. Fruit shipped to China or Korea will be rejected if it contains any mummy berry. It’s a fungal disease that enters the flowers, and those infected flowers produce infected berries.


“It can be present anywhere in the Fraser Valley or Vancouver Island,” notes Carolyn Teasdale, the provincial agriculture ministry’s berry specialist, “but we find higher presence in some regions more than others.


“The same farms tend to have mummy berry issues year after year once the disease is established there. Organic farms particularly have issues with it because their spray options are limited, but any blueberry farm can have mummy berry. Disease pressure varies from year to year, depending on how wet of a spring we have.”


Evidence of the fungal disease known as mummy berry.


British Columbia Berry Grower • Summer 2016 13


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