Blueberry Culture and Pest, Disease, and Abiotic Disorder Management during Nursery Production in the Southeastern U.S.: A Review

Abstract

The genus Vaccinium represents an increasingly important group of plants for the U.S. green industry. In 2012, blueberries (Vaccinium sp.) ranked the second most important berry crop in the U.S. with a total crop value over $780 million. The popularity of blueberries creates opportunities as well as challenges for nursery crop producers. This article presents a review of current nursery production practices of blueberry and explores the challenges and opportunities for nursery crop producers, including pesticide use during nursery production of an edible crop, and discusses current research relevant to the green industry. Needs for additional research and opportunities for breeding are presented. Blueberries are Ericaceous plants and have very specific cultural requirements. This review presents the culture, as well as insect, mite, and disease control from an integrated pest management (IPM) approach for several blueberry species. A serious threat to the blueberry market, spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii Matsumura) is discussed to provide information needed by commercial producers and landscape managers to address client and customer questions. This review also highlights the most relevant blueberry selections for container production in the southeastern United States.

Management of Pest Insects and Plant Diseases in Fruit and Nursery Production with Laser-guided Variable-rate Sprayers

“…This result indicated that almost no blueberry fruits were damaged by SWD in conventional and intelligent spray plots. Blueberry fruit is susceptible to SWD, with yield of blueberry reduced by 30% to 100% in untreated plots (Fulcher et al, 2015). Few SWD were found in 2019 in the black raspberry plots.…”

“…In the United States, codling moth (Cydia pomonella) is the most serious pest in apple fruit (Beckerman, 2018), and oriental fruit moth (Grapholita molesta) is one of the most damaging pests in peach fruit (Brunner and Rice, 1993). Spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) has been a serious pest of blueberry and black raspberry over the past 10 years (Fulcher et al, 2015). Potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae) is a severe pest of maple trees in the Eastern United States (Frank et al, 2013).…”

“…Brown rot (Monilinia fructicola) is the most serious disease for peach under warm and humid conditions (Hartman, 2007). Mummy berry (Monilinia vaccinia-corymbosi) is one of the most serious fruit diseases, and phomopsis (Phomopsis vaccinii) is the most common canker disease for blueberry (Anco and Ellis, 2011;Fulcher et al, 2015). Anthracnose (Elsinoe veneta) is an extremely serious disease of black raspberry in the United States (Ellis, 2016b).…”

Vacciniumspp.: Karyotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, nutritional composition, edaphoclimatic conditions, biotic factors and beneficial microorganisms in the rhizosphere

“…En cambio, los necrótrofos se desarrollan en el tejido muerto de la planta o pueden causar la muerte de ésta, ya que no pueden absorber los nutrientes (Muñoz, 2008). El género Vaccinium posee frutos climatéricos que maduran con rapidez y que son susceptibles a enfermedades causadas principalmente por hongos como Neofusicoccum y Phomopsis (Cruañes & Locaso, 2011;Fulcher et al, 2015). Una de las enfermedades más conocidas del género Vaccinium es la roya, generada por Hemileia vastatrix, que se presenta en la primavera con una incidencia que puede llegar hasta el 84,39%; se caracteriza por generar la caída de las hojas y antracnosis en el tallo.…”

“…Estos hongos tuvieron menor incidencia en plantas cuando fueron colocadas en cuarto frío (Figueroa et al, 2010). A su vez, se ha detectado Phytophthora cinnamomi y P. citrophthora en el arándano (Fulcher et al, 2015), ocasiona la pudrición de la raíz y reduce su desarrollo entre 36,5 y 53,4%; afectando el tamaño del tallo (Larach et al, 2009).…”