JULY 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


31


Blueberry processors focus on fruit quality Pruning, prompt cooling, pest management are critical for best fruit


Stories by PETER MITHAM


ABBOTSFORD – It’s not enough to deliver fresh, clean berries in convenient clamshell packaging for consumers these days, according to Nathan Sakuma, production manager at Discoll’s Inc. in Mount Vernon, Washington. “It doesn’t take a huge amount of mistakes to offset all the hard work you put in,” he told growers attending the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford this past winter. “One bad eating experience is going to put them off eating blueberries for a long time.” Treating fruit gently when


it comes off the bush is a basic handling practice that can boost fruit quality and improve shelf life. This is why David Mutz of Berry Haven Farm Ltd. has now uses smaller lugs because there’s less fruit lying on top of each other, reducing compaction. The smaller lugs also accelerate cooling, which further limits decay. Cooling should be done


promptly. Mutz and others agreed that frequent trips to the main cooler are preferable to letting berries heat up, but workers should shade the fruit in the field if immediate refrigeration is impractical. But improving quality is as much a matter of how fruit is handled post-harvest as it is everything up till the moment the berries make it into the lug.


Pruning tips


Pruning took centre stage in Abbotsford this winter, with Steve Phillips of Berryhill Foods Inc. in Abbotsford saying that training a bush is a key way growers can improve the fruit he receives. “Pruning, hands-down,” he


said, urging growers to prune for productivity rather than shape. “Prune that old wood out that’s not doing anything.” His comments echoed those of Bernardine Strik, a professor and extension worker specializing in berries at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Pruning is one of the costliest and most idiosyncratic practices blueberry growers engage in but it’s critical to ensuring plants mature with the resources needed to produce top-quality fruit year after year.


She said no two people prune the same, nor can any two varieties receive the same treatment. Duke is relatively easy to prune, for example, while Draper,


Legacy and Liberty all require at least 25% more time. In addition, every field is


different, based on how well it’s been prepared for planting and the distribution of nutrients available to the plants. Uneven nutrition will mean pruning varies plant to plant, compensating for the uptake of nutrients. This could mean pruning to encourage growth in some plants, or more severe pruning to eliminate over-vigorous growth. And then there’s the question of how the fruit is harvested. “Pruning for hand-harvest


is different than pruning for machine-harvest,” she said. With all the variables at


play, Strik attempted to give growers some tips that would help them make the most of their time and effort. She encouraged growers to prune with three goals in mind: • removing twiggy and unproductive growth; • opening up the centre of the plants to ensure light penetration and easier harvesting;


• optimizing bush height for harvesting. Strik reminded growers of


the many decisions they have to make before they even start pruning: on the one hand, there’s variety selection to match the site, then knowing what the site requires in order to encourage even development across the planting. Growers ideally want to


aim for adequate nutrition so that the field develops evenly and enters full production in a reasonable period of time. Pruning plays an important


role in this. “It’s really important to


start pruning from the get- go,” she said. Strik encourages growers to prune bushes to encourage vegetative growth first, channeling its energy into establishment before it even thinks about producing fruit. Having a light crop in the second year is not a bad thing, she said, as it allows the plant to prepare for fruiting. Too many laterals early on


will prevent the development of good fruiting wood; this will impair later fruit production. Liberty, she noted, is prone to producing too many laterals too early, and needs to be kept in check. Duke, meanwhile, needs to be pruned to ensure its energy goes into delivering fruit at a point when the market will deliver the best return. Strik warned that growers


who neglect vegetative growth will find themselves with a plant that exhausts itself on fruit production, and this will come around to bite them the following year.


Vegetative growth will also support colour and flavour development. A balance between vegetative growth and crop load – usually in favour of a lighter crop is an


affordable expense in the long run, she said. “Pruning costs you save


this year will likely be added to your pruning costs next year,” Strik said.


SWD can make timing harvest tricky


ABBOTSFORD – Quality is now the sum of much more than fruit composition, Steve Phillips of Berryhill Foods Inc. told berry growers attending the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford this past winter. While timing is critical to the harvest of rich and resilient berries, too much hang time can leave berries in less than ideal condition and vulnerable to infestation by Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD). “It’s better to err a little bit on the side of earlier,” said John Quapp of Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods Inc. (formerly Lucerne Foods). This gives greater flexibility on later pick dates and in turn quality management. “I would rather have a red, lightly purple fruit than soft, mushy fruit,” he said. The troublesome SWD is a particular risk and challenge for growers, especially if they’re counting on extended hangtime to ripen their berries or as buffer between picks.


This is where Phillips said growers really need to be on top of crop management.


Regular spray intervals


Pruning should allow for good penetration of sprays, while maintaining regular intervals for spraying and picking can minimize the chance for SWD to take hold. “Anything over seven days,


you’re really taking a risk,” he said


of spray intervals. With few effective substances available to fight the pest and


growers anxious to avoid developing a population resistant to the available materials, David Mutz of Berry Haven


Farm Ltd. said he tries to spray strategically. “We like to set up a plan ahead of time to meet our MRLs [Maximum


Residue Limits],” he said. This means applying harder chemicals at


the start of the season so that softer materials enter the rotation just prior to harvest.


This made sense to Quapp, who urged


growers to keep tabs on what gives them the best SWD control. This will ultimately lead to a firmer, more resilient, and more profitable crop. “If you have good SWD control, you have firmer fruit,” he said.


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