The Highbush Blueberry and Its Management

Book excerpt: Here is a book that sets forth vital information growers need to produce highbush blueberries effectively and efficiently. Written from the grower?s point of view, The Highbush Blueberry and Its Management presents technical information in a highly readable manner that is easy to understand. It helps growers make proper decisions before they plant--saving them both time and money. Simply by following the directions on planting, a grower could cut his post-plant mortality rate to less than ten-percent. The Highbush Blueberry and Its Management provides detailed information that growers can apply directly to their work. The author addresses various aspects of blueberry management, including how to select new cultivars, pruning techniques, soil preparation and management, harvesting, pest control, and marketing. He describes over four-dozen cultivars and discusses blueberry growth and development, fruit production, propagation, and more. The problem of pests such as birds, nematodes, and insects and mites is addressed and strategies for control of these pests are included. An appendix provides a chart, the first of its kind, to help diagnose disorders of highbush blueberries. The chart contains descriptions and discussions of these disorders to help growers identify and treat them quickly and effectively. Appendixes also include handy tables, equivalence charts, and calculations for fast and easy reference. An overview of world production of highbush blueberries informs readers of developments in other countries. This thorough and readable book is sure to become a trusted guide for growers of highbush blueberries worldwide. The book is international in scope and contains information useful to growers from Australia and Japan to Chile, Poland, and Finland, places where such information is often scarce, if available at all. Bursting with practical, helpful knowledge, The Highbush Blueberry and Its Management is a vital guidebook not just for professional growers, but for cooperative extension personnel and university-level small fruit researchers as well. With its readable style, it can also be used as an ancillary text at the graduate and advanced undergraduate level.