2021 Final Keeping Quality Forecast

The final forecast is POOR keeping quality.

We obtained 4 points out of a possible 16 to arrive at this keeping quality forecast for the 2021 Massachusetts cranberry crop. This score makes the final keeping quality poor.

The final keeping quality score of 4 was based on (i) the favorable sunshine hours for February (110 hr.) which were less than the 50-year average for that month (143 hr.), (ii) the sunshine hours in March of 252 hr. which are greater than the long-term average of 179 hr., and (iii) the total precipitation for April 2021 which was less than the average of East Wareham and Middleboro precipitation of 6.70 inches. However, the average temperature for April and May for Middleboro were both above the required values to gain additional points. 

Implications
  • This suggests that the fruit rot incidence could be high unless timely and effective disease management strategies are employed.
  • Fruit quality will be sacrificed if you reduce your fungicide use drastically.
  • Be conservative…

 If the beds are cultivated for fresh fruit.

 If the beds were not managed or sprayed with fungicides last year.

 if the beds had significantly higher fruit rot in the previous year.

Additional Notes
  • Follow ALL-label instructions, including application interval, recommended rates, water holding time and pre-harvest interval.
  • Alternate fungicides with different modes of action. Use FRAC (Fungicide Resistance Action Committee) codes on the labels to determine the mode of action. Fungicides from the same FRAC codes have similar modes of action. 
  • Above normal sunshine hours during June, July, and August (especially July) have been associated with good or better quality than predicted.

Peter Jeranyama and Leela Uppala