OSU BLUEBERRY SCHOOL March 16-17, 2015

held at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

This two-day blueberry “school” was organized for new and experienced blueberry growers, farm managers, crew leaders, advisors, packers/shippers, and consultants. Experts from Oregon State University, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Washington State University, and the blueberry industry were asked to address key issues of where the blueberry market is going; how you might be more successful in tight labor or volume markets; which cultivars are easiest to grow and are in most demand; how to establish new acreage using cutting-edge methods; projected costs and the resources available to growers for selecting new planting sites; how to best manage existing acreage to maximize returns of high-quality fruit; provide basic information on blueberry plant physiology to help growers minimize environmental stresses and improve yield potential; nutrient management programs for optimal growth and quality; irrigation and fertigation practices for higher quality and better efficiency; use of organic amendments and mulches; planning for and improving machine harvest efficiency; pruning for hand or machine harvest (where can you cut corners….or not), maximizing pollination for good fruit and seed set; overviews of the most important blueberry viruses, diseases, insects, weeds, and vertebrate pests; and tools for good pest management. Information throughout the program addresses the needs of conventional, transitional, and organic growers. Simultaneous interpretation to Spanish has been provided. This proceedings book contains information provided on these topics by each speaker and co-authors. The thumb drive provided in the registration packet for each attendee includes a copy of each presentation. Thank you for attending. It is our sincere wish that this will be a very useful meeting and that you find the accompanying materials a valuable reference! – Bernadine Strik, Professor and Extension Berry Crops Specialist, OSU and the members of the organizing committee Organizing Committee Bernadine Strik, Chair, Oregon State University (OSU) Wei Yang, OSU. Co-chair (sponsorship coordinator), OSU Donna Williams, Rachel Williams & team at OSU Conference Services Dave Bryla, USDA-ARS HCRU Chad Finn, USDA-ARS HCRU Vaughn Walton - OSU Steve Castagnoli - OSU Steve Renquist - OSU Bryan Ostlund – Oregon Blueberry Commission Eric Pond - industry Jon Umble – industry Derek Peacock - industry Steve Erickson - industry Nancy Jensen - industry

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Table of Contents OSU Blueberry School

Title Authors Page

Characteristics of production regions in the Pacific Northwest

Lisa DeVetter, Pat Jones, Bernadine Strik, Kathie Dello

1

Markets - what's the future for fresh, processed, and organic markets? Things you MUST think about before starting or expanding production

Rod Cook, Derek Peacock, Jeff Malensky, David Granatstein

9

Cultivar choices- Tried and true to brand new

Chad Finn and Bernadine Strik 15

Economics of production – resources

Bernadine Strik and David Granatstein 29

Resources available for selecting a good blueberry site

Wei Q. Yang 37

Site selection and establishment of a blueberry field

Wei Q. Yang and Bernadine Strik 41

Organic soil amendments and mulches for blueberry: the good, the bad and the ugly

Dan Sullivan (OSU) 47

On-farm irrigation system design and operation David Bryla 53

Blueberry plant physiology - why it's important to understand the plant to manage it well

Bernadine Strik 57

Irrigation scheduling: when, where, and how much?

David Bryla 63

Pruning - impact of plant age, cultivar, and harvest method

Bernadine Strik 69

Harvesting - hand vs. machine

Bernadine Strik (moderator); Paul Norris (Norris Farms); Frank Brown (Littau Harvesters (Inc.); Doug Krahmer (Berries Northwest)

75

Nutrient management of blueberry -- assessing plant nutrient needs and designing good fertilizer programs

Bernadine Strik and David Bryla 79

Maximizing pollination in blueberry

Ramesh Sagili, Carolyn Breece, John Borden

95

Blueberry viruses present in the Pacific Northwest and suggestions for their management

Robert Martin 99

Blueberry bacterial and fungal diseases

Jay Pscheidt and Jerry Weiland 107

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Title Authors Page

Weed management for blueberry fields in the Pacific Northwest

Tim Miller 115

Getting hit high and low: Options for managing bird and vole damage

Dana Sanchez (OSU 125

Management of arthropods, insect, and plant-parasitic nematodes in blueberries

Vaughn Walton,Nik Wiman, Inga Zasada, Joe DeFrancesco, Daniel Dalton, Amy Dreves, Jana Lee, Lynell Tanigoshi, Wei Yang

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Resources available for selecting a good blueberry site

Wei Q. Yang North Willamette Research & Extension Center, Oregon State University

There is an app for everything nowadays. In fact, you may even be able to pick a good blueberry site by just touching your smartphone. The following resources will help you do just that. Before you start, I highly recommend that you download the “SoilWeb” app developed by the Dept. LAWR, UC Davis if you don’t already have it on your phone. University resources:

OSU Extension Pubs: https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu WSU Extension Pubs: https://pubs.wsu.edu

The most important part of blueberry growing is being able to sell the fruit. The distance the fruit must travel to market may not be that important if you have a vertically integrated operation. However, for most growers, finding a packing plant to take their fruit to is the most critical step.

Distance to market

Oregon blueberry distributors http://www.oregonblueberry.com/distributors.html

Washington blueberry distributors http://www.wablueberrycomm.org/packerlist.htm

California blueberry distributors http://www.calblueberry.org/media/files/HANDLERLIST2013-2014.pdf

B.C. blueberry distributors http://www.bcblueberry.com/site/find_bc_blueberries/packers.html

Economic considerations

AgTools (http://www.agtools.org) The AgTools/AgBiz site provides a free-online enterprise budget to help assess the costs of blueberry

establishment and production. Blueberry economics for conventional (http://arec.oregonstate.edu/oaeb/files/pdf/AEB0022.pdf) and organic production (http://arec.oregonstate.edu/oaeb/files/pdf/AEB0023.pdf) are also available in print and online from the OSU Extension Service.

Agricultural weather sites

Best APP: My Altitude This GPS based app provides your exact location coordinates including elevation and other weather related information.

Oregon Climate Summaries (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/climsmor.html) You can customize your own data acquisition to get air temperature, precipitation, heating and cooling degree-days, as well as forecasting and historical climate information.

Agrimet (http://www.usbr.gov/pn/agrimet/) This site-specific site (select the nearest weather station) provides all weather related data as well as historical climate information for the Pacific Northwest.

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US Pest (http://uspest.org/wea/) This is an excellent site for US crop and pest growing degree-day models and calculators, e.g. SWD.

Northwest Pest Model (http://uspest.org/OR/index.html) This site provides direct access to pest models including SWD.

PRISM Climate Group (http://prism.oregonstate.edu) This is a national and local climate mapping system that provides very nice current and historical weather maps.

Soil surveys

Best APP: SoilWeb This location-based app provides soil information based on your GPS location.

Natural Resources Conservation Service Soil Survey (http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/soils/home/)

A good reference for soil texture and classification can be found for the county in which your field is located.

Web Soil Survey (http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm) You can find soil maps and information based on address or location. Due to maintenance reasons, Web Soil Survey will occasionally be unavailable on Tuesdays and Thursdays after 8:00 PM EST.

Soil preparation

Soil Sampling and Testing • Laboratories Serving the PNW: Soil, Water, Plant Tissue, and Feed Analysis (EM

8677) • A Guide to Collecting Soil Samples for Farms and Gardens (EC 628)

Soil Test Interpretation Guide (https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/ec1478) Provides information on understanding components of the soil test results.

Soil Fumigation Preplant soil fumigation and alternatives for berry production (WSU Extension FS064E)

Adjusting pH Acidifying Soil for Crop Production West of the Cascade Mountains (Western Oregon and

Washington). EM 8857 Nematode Testing And Sampling http://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/diagnosis-and-testing/testing-services

Water availability & quality information

Oregon Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Division (http://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/naturalresources/pages/aboutnr.aspx)

This site provides information about land use and agricultural water quality. . Oregon Water Resource Department (http://www.oregon.gov/OWRD/pages/index.aspx)

This site provides information water rights and water availability, as well as regulations. Oregon Department of Environment Quality (http://www.deq.state.or.us/wq/dwp/wellowners.htm)

This site provides information on water testing. OSU Well Water Information (http://wellwater.oregonstate.edu)

This site provides information on both well water and ground water. Washington Department of Ecology (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/wqhome.html)

This site provides some good resources in agriculture water use in Washington state.

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Managing Irrigation Water Quality for Crop Production in the Pacific Northwest. 2007. Hopkins, Horneck, Stevens, Ellsworth, Sullivan. PNW 597

Irrigation Water Quality Fertilizer Guide. 1998. Vomocil and Hart. FG 76 Other important production resources

A Grower’s Guide to Pruning Highbush Blueberries, Strik and Ketchum (producers) DVD 002, 1990 (can view on-line at OSU catalog site for free)

Nutrient management for blueberries in Oregon. 2006. Hart, Strik, White, and Yang. EM 8918 Estimating plant-available nitrogen from manure. 2008. Sullivan. EM 8954 Estimating plant-available nitrogen from cover crops. 2012. Sullivan and Andrews. PNW 636 Soil fertility in organic systems. 2013. Collins, Miles, Cogger, and Koenig. PNW 646 Blueberry Cultivars for the Pacific Northwest. Strik, B.C, C.E. Finn, and P. Moore. 2014.

PNW 656 Highbush Blueberry Production, Strik, B. (ed.) and 15 co-authors in PNW. 1993. PNW 215.

(being revised at present) Acidifying Soil for Blueberries and Ornamental Plants in the Yard and Garden: West of the

Cascade Mountain Range in Oregon and Washington. EC 1560 Acidifying Soil for Crop Production East of the Cascade Mountains. EM 8917 Acidifying Soil for Crop Production: Inland Pacific Northwest. 2007. Horneck, Wysocki,

Hopkins, Hart, Stevens. PNW 599 Acidifying Soil in Landscapes and Gardens East of the Cascades. 2006. Locke, Horneck,

Hart, Stevens. EC 1585 Soil Acidity in Oregon: Understanding and Using Concepts for Crop Production. 2013. Hart, Sullivan,

Anderson, Hulting, Horneck, Christensen. EM 9061 2014 Blueberry Pest Management Guide for the Willamette Valley. DeFrancesco, J., Pscheidt,

J. and Yang, W.Q. EM 8538-E (revised annually) Blueberry Gall Midge: A possible new pest in the northwest. Yang, W.Q. 2005. EM 8889 PNW Insect Management Handbook. Craig S. Hollingsworth (ed.) and 5 section editors in PNW

(revised annually) PNW Weed Management Handbook. Ed Peachey (ed.) and 3 associate editors in PNW (revised

annually) PNW Plant Disease Management Handbook. Jay W. Pscheidt and Cynthia M. Ocamb (revised

annually) Northwest Berry&Grape Information Network (http://berrygrape.org/blueberry/)

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