Horticulture Commons^™

Evaluating The Current Weed Community In Wild Blueberry Fields And Ipm Strategies For Spreading Dogbane (Apocynum Androsaemifolium), Anthony G. Ayers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) is Maine’s third largest crop (USDA 2020 a). From 2017 – 2019 the three seasons yield average was 27,200 tons were harvested from 19,500 acres for a value of $22,468,000 (USDA 2020 c). Lowbush blueberries are managed on a two-year cycle. Every other year, lowbush blueberry fields are pruned to the ground either through the use of a tractor mounted flail mower or a prescribed burn (Yarborough 2009). Pruning is a necessary part of managing lowbush blueberries as the second-year growth produces the highest yield but steadily declines in subsequent years (Drummond et al. …

Consumer Acceptance And Phytonutrient Assessment Of Cold Hardy, Locally Grown Plums, Amber L. Elwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prunus salicina, Japanese plums, and Prunus domestica, European plums, are naturally rich in fiber, minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients. Consuming plums can increase overall fruit intake and can be incorporated into part of a healthy diet. Through local plum production, harvesting can be completed without the need for cross-country shipping, which can increase overall acceptability and nutritional quality of the fruit. Furthermore, the increase in local production can help to boost Maine’s economy and creates a market for new plum product production.

The first objective of this study was to determine consumer acceptance of locally grown plum cultivars at a …

Optimizing Fertilizer And Compost Rates In Organic Reduced Till Agriculture, Nicholas W. Rowley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interest in reduced tillage systems has been increasing and advanced by a need to practice agriculture in a sustainable way to limit environmental degradation. The focus on preserving soil integrity has become commonplace in all scales of agriculture. Recently trends in agricultural production have given rise to numerous small farms centered on local and sustainable farming. In turn, this has led to a growing desire to implement conservation tillage into these systems.

In 2015 and 2016 a collaborative effort between the University of Maine at the Maine Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station: Highmoor Farm and Cornell University at the Homer …

Reducing Tillage In Small-Scale Permanent Bed Organic Vegetable Production Systems, Jeremiah D. Vallotton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The response of field-grown vegetable crops to reduced tillage and mulching in permanent beds was evaluated through measuring crop yields, weed pressure, earthworm counts, and soil basal respiration. Two vegetable crops (“Bush Delicata” squash and “Farao” cabbage) were started in April and May of 2016 and 2017 respectively, transplanted in late June, and harvested on 15-Sep-2016 and 25-Aug-2017. Fruit number and weight of squash, and head weight and feeding damage of cabbage were measured. These results suggest that intensive tillage (8” rototill every year) can be successfully reduced to alternating years of shallow (2”) rototilling and a less intensive form …

Propagation And Container Production Of The Amelanchier Spicata Complex, Gregory J. Melcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amelanchier is a genus in the Rosaceae containing shrubs and trees indigenous to North America that possess traits valued by the horticulture industry. Amelanchier spicata (dwarf serviceberry), a heterogeneous complex of hybrids indigenous to eastern North America, has agricultural and ornamental merit with notable characteristics. White blossoms emerge in early spring, edible pomes ripen in the summer, and vibrant, orange foliage occurs in the fall. I investigated phenological and physiological factors influencing adventitious rooting of stem cuttings, the effects of nitrogen source on the development of seedlings grown in container culture, and phenotypic variation among seedlings of A. spicata from …

The Enhancement Of Wild Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) For Pollination Security, Eric M. Venturini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The acreage of pollinator-dependent crops continues to expand across the globe. Simultaneously, honey bee hives – an annually rented commodity that growers rely on – are more expensive every year and in some cases, scarce. In response, pollinator-dependent growers seek alternative pollinators. One approach is installing bee pasture on farms, a strategy that enables systems-based farmers to become in-situ farm-scale habitat managers. This thesis first presents a review of the literature on bee pasture plantings and provides a brief overview of some methods for assessing their impacts on the pollinator community. There are three major gaps in current bee pasture …

1995 Csrees Reports, Alfred A. Bushway, Therese M. Work, Huanli Zhang, Raoul Pelletier, Rodney J. Bushway, Brian Perkins, Mary Ellen Camire, Michael Dougherty, H Y. Forsythe Jr, Judith A. Collins, Frank A. Drummond, Constance S. Stubbs, Paul E. Capiello, John M. Smagula, Youzhi Chen, Scott Dunham, Walter Litten, David E. Yarborough, Timothy M. Hess, John Jemison

Wild Blueberry Research Reports

The 1995 edition of the CSREES Reports was prepared for the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission and the University of Maine Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include:

1. Factors Affecting the Quality of IQF Blueberries

2. Preventing the Bleeding of Blueberry Fruit in Bakery Products

3. Removing Water from Blueberries Before Freezing

4. Determination of Pesticide Residue Levels in Freshly Harvested and Processed Lowbush Blueberries

5. Industrial Ingredients from Cull Blueberries

6. Application of Heat as a Method of Controlling Secondary Pest Insects on Lowbush Blueberries

7. The Phenology and …