What's eating my sunshine blue blueberry?

Sunshine Blue is a southern highbush blueberry that performs well in mild-winter climates, including container culture. Birds are the dominant pest wherever it's grown. In warmer US climates, it also faces spotted-wing drosophila and blueberry gall midge. Its compact size makes netting and container management easier than for full-sized highbush varieties.

Ripe berries eaten or knocked off; Sunshine Blue's low, accessible habit makes it easy for ground-foraging birds too; damage can be total in a single day Fine-mesh bird netting draped over the bush and secured at the base; a simple hoop cage works well given its compact size; harvest daily once berries soften

Eggs laid in softening berries; larvae cause internal rot and collapse; heavy infestation can make a harvest commercially worthless within days 1 mm mesh netting physically excludes flies; spinosad-based sprays applied at petal fall through early ripening; apple cider vinegar monitoring traps

Larvae infest flower buds and growing tips, causing distorted, swollen buds that fail to open; worst on early-season warm-climate varieties Prune and destroy infested bud clusters in late winter/early spring; pyrethrin or spinosad spray at pre-bloom if pressure is high; encourage natural parasitoid wasps

Brown hemispherical scales on stems and canes; honeydew and sooty mould; heavily infested canes lose vigor and may die back Apply dormant horticultural oil in late winter before bud swell; prune and destroy heavily infested canes; insecticidal soap for crawlers in late spring