Cooperative Extension: Cranberries

Armstrong Interviewed for 2012 Cranberry Harvest Report

The Bangor Daily News interviewed University of Maine Cooperative Extension Cranberry Associate Charlie Armstrong about the 2012 cranberry harvest in Maine, which Armstrong said was the best harvest ever and due largely to a combination of suitable weather and better pest management.

Extension’s Armstrong in Cranberry Harvest Newscast

University of Maine Cooperative Extension cranberry specialist Charlie Armstrong spoke with Channel 7 (WVII) for a 10 p.m. report Nov. 28 about this year’s cranberry harvest in Maine, which he said was productive though affected in some areas by erratic weather.

Cranberry Specialist Armstrong in Harvest Report

University of Maine Cooperative Extension cranberry specialist Charles Armstrong was interviewed for a Bangor Daily News article on this year’s cranberry harvest, which he said probably will weigh in at 2.4 million pounds — not a record but good news for those growers who were less affected by erratic weather conditions. The record harvest, at 3 million pounds, was in 2010.

Armstrong Comments in Cranberry Crop Article

University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator and cranberry specialist Charlie Armstrong was interviewed for a Bangor Daily News article on the 2012 cranberry harvest. Armstrong said growers expect the yield to exceed 2.5 million pounds, just shy of the 3 million-pound record set in 2010. He credited good weather and a mild winter for improved growing conditions.

Cranberry Expert Interviewed About Impact of Climate Change on Harvest

University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator and cranberry specialist Charlie Armstrong said in an article in the Maine Sunday Telegram warm weather resulting from climate change could be behind this year’s successful cranberry harvest in Maine. Armstrong also said crops like peaches, typically better suited for warmer, southern climates, could become more common in the north if temperatures continue to rise, even by a few degrees.

Extension’s Armstrong Interviewed for Cranberry Crop Report

The Ellsworth American’s Fenceviewer website, Channel 6 (WCSH) and Channel 2 (WLBZ) interviewed University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator and cranberry specialist Charlie Armstrong for an update on the 2012 cranberry crop. Armstrong said the harvest appears to be an excellent one in spite of some adversarial weather conditions and a three-fold increase in cranberry fruit worms.

UMaine Extension Expert Predicts ‘Super’ Cranberry Harvest

Despite an increase this year in pests such as worms and moths, University of Maine Cooperative Extension cranberry professional Charlie Armstrong says this year’s cranberry crops “are looking super, overall,” and is available to discuss some of the factors influencing the yield. Armstrong says cranberry fruitworm populations were very high this year, as much as three times higher than normal, which affected some growers, but those most seriously affected lost only 5 to 10 percent of their crop. Armstrong blames the mild winter for high fruitworm and moth populations.

Yarborough Interviewed About Spotted-Wing Fruit Fly

[Revised March 21st, 2012] University of Maine Cooperative Extension blueberry specialist David Yarborough was interviewed for a Bangor Daily News report on a new pest, the Spotted-wing Drosophila (a new invasive species of fruit fly native to Asia) (Drosophila suzukii), which has been identified for the first time in Maine. It poses a new threat to Maine blueberry crops (and perhaps to cranberries as well though that is regarded as far less likely than blueberries, which have a softer skin than cranberries). Yarborough says growers must consider spraying crops far more often than normal to control the small flies, which lay eggs on unripe fruit in addition to ripe or rotting fruit. Both blueberries and cranberries in Maine will be monitored for the presence of the fly during the 2012 season.

How to Use and Preserve Cranberries

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension has created an online video that showcases many of the ways that cranberries can be used, and gives instructions on how to preserve them.  You can also visit http://umaine.edu/cranberries/ways-to-use-cranberries/ for even more ideas on how to use cranberries.

Implications of Climate Change for Cranberry Production in the Northeast / Great Lakes Region

An interesting report by the US Global Change Research Program predicts that the US could be in store for significant reductions in overall total yield–at the national level, by the middle of this century–for fruits such as cranberries due to the failure to satisfy the chilling requirement (the chilling requirement is particularly high for cranberry).  In other words, cranberry agriculture in New Jersey and Massachusetts will, they predict, be in serious jeopardy by the middle of this century unless our current course of climate warming is somehow reversed or slowed down below their current models/expectations.  By contrast, the climate for the Great Lakes region as it relates to fruit production is expected to improve. However, even in those regions, the risk of plant frost damage is expected to rise due to the impacts of the ‘warming’, ironically, due to earlier onsets of spring-time conditions, essentially waking the plants up from their winter dormancy earlier than might be ‘wise’ (from a plant survival perspective) when faced with the danger of a late-season frost.  If you are a cranberry plant, do you really want to have lots of new and tender tissues present when such a frost takes place? From a strictly survival standpoint, such a scenario would, of course, be risky.

You can read the entire report at this address (for cranberries, look for the paragraph that begins with the word, “Fruits”): www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts/climate-change-impacts-by-sector/agriculture