ABSTRACT
The wild blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.) is an indigenous plant that has developed into an important horticultural commodity in northeastern North America. Although commercially managed, the fields originate when competing vegetation is removed from native plant stands found in forest clearings. Wild blueberries are members of the Ericaceae family and have been characterized as calcifuge (i.e., acid-loving) plants that grow on nutritionally marginal and poorly structured land (Korcak, 1988). Fields are commercially managed on a two-year cycle with the perennial shoot being pruned in alternate years to maximize floral bud initiation, fruit set, yield, and ease of mechanical
harvest. Selective herbicides are applied to control competing weeds in the spring of the first year and fertilizers generally containing N, P, and K are also applied.
