July - September 2017

We’ve all heard that childhood rhyme, “rain, rain go away, come again some other day”. Well, someone outside of Mississippi must have been singing that tune often and sent it our way. The blueberry season was set up to be a winner, even with the damage from the mid-March freeze event. Georgia was hurt badly and so was North Carolina. Prices were high and, oh so tempting. And then….and then….the rain started. Even as I write this on July 24 the rain hasn’t really stopped. Our rain gauges in Poplarville measured 21 inches of rain during June. That is about 4 times the normal average for the month. This year was also a low-chill year, so I’ve seen and heard affects of that on southern highbush and rabbiteye alike. We can’t seem to catch a break, but there is no other choice but to push ahead.

In this issue I discuss something that deserves some serious thought — should we do more with southern highbush blueberries and start to reduce our dependency on rabbiteye culti-vars? Also, info on SWD, nematodes, and more.

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