BANGOR, Maine - Maine's wild blueberry crop is on its way to ripening, but the berries aren't in the bucket just yet. It's been a drier than average spring, and experts say that could cause some crop loss if things don't turn around.
"There are lots of little berries out there but whether those little berries stay on the bushes depends on whether we get the rain," says David Yarborough, a blueberry specialist with University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Yarborough says a band of recent storms brought some much-needed water to the barrens, but things are still fairly dry. When conditions are dry, Yarborough says the plants can go through something called "June drop" which helps the plant conserve resources in times of stress. "The plant would shed some berries and just kind of concentrate on the bigger ones it has."
That could cut into Maine's annual haul. Additionally, Yarborough says some plants suffered spring injury, due to the unusually mild winter during which the ground, in places, didn't even freeze. That, coupled with warm April temperatures followed by a sudden freeze the same month, caused a 30 percent crop loss in some fields.
Yarborough says over the next two months a more complete picture will emerge.
An average harvest in recent years has been close to 100 million pounds, worth in excess of $250 million.
