North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] Blueberry cages

I should have mentioned that shade cloth comes in different weights.  The very light stuff doesn't block a lot of light, which might work.
    Most blueberries are grown in full sun, and the wild blueberry flats in New England don't have all that much shade, especially since they are burned off every few years to renew the plants.

> I am not a blueberry grower, but aren't they an under canopy crop (dappled sun) in the wild?  Or are they full sun and wet soil in the wild?
>
> Later,
> Tom
>
> Lon J. Rombough wrote:
> >    That's what's known as shade cloth.  It is UV stabilized.  Ginseng usually grows in the forest and needs shade, so commercial growers grow it under shade cloth to get the same effect.  Shade cloth might keep birds off, but complete coverage would shade the berries a lot.  At very least, they would be slow to ripen.
> > -Lon Rombough