What's eating my lowbush blueberry?

Lowbush blueberry grows wild and in cultivated patches across northeastern North America and is heavily targeted by birds and small mammals at ground level. Blueberry maggot fly is the primary insect pest in commercial lowbush regions. Deer browse foliage and rabbits clip stems in winter. Its low canopy makes netting impractical at scale; trap crops and timed harvests are key.

Larvae tunnel inside ripe berries, causing shriveled, premature drop and post-harvest rejection; the most economically damaging pest in commercial lowbush production in Maine and Atlantic Canada Yellow sticky traps baited with ammonium acetate to monitor adult fly timing; malathion or spinosad sprays timed to first adult emergence; clean up all fallen berries

Ripe berries eaten intensively; low-growing plants are easily accessed by ground-feeding birds too; flock damage can strip large areas quickly Bird netting at commercial scale is impractical over large native patches; time harvest as early as feasible; reflective tape and scare cannons used by some growers

Rabbits browse and clip stems in winter; deer strip foliage and browse stems, reducing next-year's fruiting wood; worst on young re-establishing patches after burning Fencing with 90 cm rabbit-proof mesh around new plantings; deer fencing for high-pressure sites; individual stem guards in winter

Aphids and bees carry fungal spores to blossoms; infected berries mummify into hard, grey-white structures that fall and overwinter; can devastate a crop in wet springs Rake and destroy mummified berries; avoid overhead irrigation; captan or propiconazole fungicide at early bloom in high-risk years; select resistant varieties where possible