Ellsworth American interviews Yarborough about highbush, wild blueberries
David Yarborough, a blueberry specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and professor in the School of Food and Agriculture, spoke with The Ellsworth American for the article, “Competition increasing for state’s wild blueberries.” Highbush blueberries — which can be cultivated easily and grow rapidly — are presenting increasing competition for Maine’s wild blueberries, according to the article. Yarborough said highbush blueberries can be propagated in three to five years, while wild blueberry bushes are often a century old. “We have plants we planted in the 1970s and they still haven’t filled in,” he said of UMaine Extension’s research station in Jonesboro. Yarborough said highbush blueberries also are tall — up to 6 feet — and yield more fruit than a wild blueberry bush, which might grow 1 inch per year. He said the number of acres devoted to wild blueberry production in Maine has decreased from 200,000 acres in the 1950s to 44,000 acres, according to the article.