INCREASED BLUEBERRY PROFITS: A SPECULATION 



J. S. Bailey 

 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



With some people, speculation is a popular pastime. Like most 

 speculators, we shall not be any richer, but we may be wiser. 



Birds like blueberries. In fact, the birds like them so well 

 that getting the berries first has become a serious grower problem. 

 If he picks early, he sacrifices both quality and quantity. If he 

 waits, tbe bushes must be covered with some kind of netting or a large 

 part of the crop will be lost. Covering the bushes is very expensive. 

 Can this cost be recovered? 



Let's look at some figures and do some figuring. In 1957, Dr. 

 Shutak and his associates published some interesting figures on blue- 

 berry development. They tagged berries and measured the volume when 

 they turned blue and again after 3 and 6 days. Here are their figures: 



Increase in Volume after Development of Blue Coloration of Highbush 

 Blueberries 



Now, let's do the figuring. Leaving the Bluecrop berries on the 

 bushes 3 days after they turned blue increased the crop by 183 quarts 

 for every 1000 quarts picked. If your yield is about average, 3000 

 quarts per acre, the increase from delayed picking is 3 x 183=549 quarts 

 or 1098 pints. At 3 pints for a dollar, the added income amounts to 

 $3 66. If picking is delayed 6 days, the increased return is even more 

 startling - $764 per acre. 



Now, how much are you losing, if the bushes are not covered? Let's 

 assume the birds get 25 per cent of the crop, a conservative figure in 

 some cases. Then the birds get 750 of those 3000 quarts or 1500 pints. 

 At 3 pints for a dollar, that's $500. 



So you cover the bushes: 



Saved 1500 pints (D 3 for $1 $ 500 



Leaving the berries 6 days to size up 764 



TOTAL Savings to OFFSET Netting Cost $ 1264 



Fantastic? Probably I Even if you cut that figure in half, it 

 would go quite a way toward paying for covering the bushes with netting. 



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