The cold, wet, spring has pushed back the harvest in Maine for both high-bush and wild blueberries.
David Handley, vegetable and small fruit specialist with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, says it’s between 10 days and 2 weeks late. He says in Maine, cultivated high-bush blueberries are almost exclusively a pick-your-own product and because of the rough winter, there are some places where the crop is down quite a bit.
“So my suggestion is for people to call the farm that they’re used to picking at and just say, you know, ‘How are we doing, are we ready to pick yet?’ I know a number of farms down south opened this past weekend and will probably have a lot of fruit this coming weekend as we’ve had some warmer temperatures,” he says.
Handley says, because of all the rain, the quality is good. He says growers in central Maine will probably be opening for pick-your-own this coming week and it’ll be another week or so in the north.
He says he doesn’t expect a bumper crop of wild blueberries, but that the quality should be pretty good, if a little late.
