they approach ripening. They drop to the ground before the healthy 

 berries are ripe and the skin sloughs off leaving the hard fungus 

 mass which dries and hardens into the mummy which winters over. 

 The cycle is repeated the following spring. 



Control . No control is needed if weather is dry from the time buds 

 begin to swell until "flowers" drop because the disease is not like- 

 ly to be serious. 



But if weather is wet during this time, some cultural practices 

 and a spray program will be helpful in reducing the loss of fruit. 



1. Keep the diseased plants and plant parts removed from the 

 planting and remove wild or neglected blueberry bushes around the 

 borders outside of the planting. Such plants often harbour diseases 

 and are a source of infection in the planting. They make disease 

 control in the planting difficult. 



2. Rake or hoe under the plants to disturb the mummies or 

 sweep them into the rows where they can be cultivated. Disturbing 

 the soil about one inch deep is enough. 



Mummies that are disturbed frequently, so that contact with the 

 soil is broken, do not produce mummy cups and mummy cups broken 

 from mummies do not produce spores. Disturbing mummies should be 

 done several times at weekly intervals during the time they form 

 mummy cups usually from about April 15 to about the end of May, de- 

 pending on the season. It is practical only when the planting is 

 in clean cultivation and not in sod culture. 



3. Spraying - Do not expect complete control. In carefully 

 controlled experiments carried on for several years, research work- 

 ers could get only 50 to 60% reduction in mummy berry. Ferbam was 

 more effective than other spray materials tested. 



Use ferbam for the first few sprays at 2 to 3 lbs in 100 gal- 

 lons of water and apply to "drip-off." Time the applications long 

 enough before rains so they dry on and will be there to give pro- 

 tection during the rain. Applications after rains are usually too 

 late to prevent the disease from entering the berries and will not 

 eradicate it from inside the berries. 



Make the first application of ferbam about May first and re- 

 peat in 7 days if weather is wet, otherwise in 10 days. Repeat 

 again in 7 to 10 days. The Environmental Protection Agency does 

 not allow ferbam on blueberries closer to harvest than 40 days. 

 For this reason, after May 15 or 20, use captan at 2 lbs in 100 

 gallons of water at 7 to 10 day intervals until harvest time. Cap- 

 tan is allowed during harvest and on the day of harvest. These 

 late sprays will help reduce the amount of brown fruit rot during 

 harvest and post-harvest fruit rot. 



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