ABSTRACT
The lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton) is a very important crop in eastern North America, and especially in Nova Scotia (Hall, 1978), where it is the largest fruit crop in value and acreage (Mclsaac, 1999). The lowbush blueberry is unique among cultivated crops, naturally invading barren fields by way of an existing seed bank or seed deposits in animal scat (Hall et al., 1979). Common management practices of tree removing and elimination of grass and shrubs by burn-pruning and/or herbicide application, create barren fields for V. angustifolium colonization. The expanding rhizome system of established V. angustifolium plants grow radially at different speeds, which results in colonies differing in stem densities, heights and areas.
