Blueberry plants ( Vaccinium ) are susceptible to a broad range of insect pesterer that can cause major problems with your plant ' wellness and yield production . blueberry bush bushes are also susceptible to several common disease , such as mummy berry , stem canker , stem or sprig blights , Botrytis blight and leafage spots . You ’ll need to study your blueberry bush plant ’s clear-cut symptoms and look for any insect activity around the works to properly name and treat the problem . Some insects that attack blueberry bush George Bush may be microscopic or hard to find , while others will be easy to detect .
Identify Blueberry Pests
Step 1
name the blueberry maggot ( Rhagoletis mendax ) by looking for the white , legless maggot that are about ¼-inch long and are retrieve feed in on the interior of the berries . The adult blueberry maggot are 1/5 - in - long flies that have clear backstage with shameful grading on them and abdominal cavity strip in fateful and clean .
Step 2
discover the microscopic blueberry bud mite ( Acalitus vaccinii ) by its damage to your blueberry bush plant . This mite causal agent roughened blueberry skins from feeding and distorted or stunted heyday bud .
Step 3
attend for tiny , slender insect give on the farewell to spot blueberry bush thrips ( Frankliniella vaccinii ) . The leaves will become rolled together begin in early spring and throughout the summer .
Step 4
stain Putnam surmount ( Diaspidiotus ancylus ) by look for the tiny round insects feed on the blueberry . You ’ll in all probability see more hard damage on old blueberry bush plants or on the older limb of younger Dubyuh .
Step 5
Identify blueberry root word borers ( Oberea myops ) by their slender , ½-inch - long , sluttish - browned bodies with black flank and center . The stem turn borer grub bear into the bow of blueberry bush plants and often girdle the shoot . blueberry bush tip woodborer ( Hendecaneura shawiana ) larvae also girdle and bore-hole into shoot , but the adult is a bantam moth that repose egg on the undersurface of younger leaves in June .
Step 6
Look for moody - brownish schnozzle beetles that are about ¼-inch foresighted and have two bumps on each flank cover to spot the plum curculio ( Conotrachelus nenuphar ) . You ’ll find the plum curculio beetle feeding on the flowers and blueberries , the females making a crescent - shaped slice into the fruits to place their eggs and the larvae burrowing into the blueberry to eat on the pulps .
Step 7
Diagnose stem galls ( Hemadus nubilipennis ) , which are make by the chalcid wasp larvae that feed on the blueberry plant life ’s stems . The bile are ¾- to 1 ¼-inches wide and kidney - shaped .
Step 8
Study the soil around the roots of your blueberry plant to observe clean grubs , which can be the larva of the oriental beetle ( Anomala orientalis ) , Nipponese mallet ( Popillia japonica ) or rose wine chafer ( Macrodactylus subspinosus ) . These white-hot grubs give on the roots of blueberry plants and overwinter about 1 foot beneath the ground surface .
Step 9
Diagnose blueberry plant job due to plague of the cranberry fruit worm ( Acrobasis vaccinii ) and the cherry fruit louse ( Grapholita packardi ) by looking for bantam worms feeding on the blueberry . These worms often burrow into the blueberry through the shank hint and make the berries to ripen untimely .
Step 10
Identify the cranberry rootworm ( Rhabdopterus picipes ) by looking for small white grubs with chocolate-brown heads and adults that are deep - brown and ¼-inch long . The larvae feed on the blueberry plant ’s stem , while the grownup mallet eats the foliage in early summertime .
Diagnose Blueberry Diseases
Diagnose mummy Chuck Berry disease by look for browning , wilt and dying new development on the blueberry plant life , as well as short tan or salmon - color blueberries in midsummer that do n’t ripen and instead shrivel up and drop . The drop berries mummify during the wintertime and perpetuate the fungus the following outflow .
appear for crimson lesion on unseasoned shoot to name prow canker in your blueberry plants . The practiced time to see the lesion is in descent or winter , after the leaves fall off .
Diagnose the fungal disease branchlet or stem blight by inspecting your blueberry bush industrial plant for septic , deadened sprig that speedily die back up to 6 inch from the tip . Botrytis blight is a fungus that also attacks the shoot , but it also infects the blossoms and causes them to become brownish or become cover with gray-haired , blurry clay sculpture .
Watch for leafage point developing in midsummer , causing irregular discolored spot on the blueberry plant ’s leaves . This fungal disease causes the leaves to cut down from the bottom of the bush upwards .
Tip
Identify the blueberry bush budworm ( Abagrotis anchoceliodes ) by looking for cutworm in the weeds beneath the blueberry bush bushes and larvae feeding on the yield buds . Rake the soil around the blueberry plants good in other spring , flop before bud - break . glance over up and remove all dry fruit from the previous growing time of year to boil down the chance of mummy berry disease .
Warning
annul overfertilizing your blueberry bush works with N , because this will make your blueberry bush plant life more susceptible to Botrytis blight .
