This week, the ACGA got to meet in person again for only the second time since last January!

Just as with the twilight meetings, in addition to the importance of new research findings the summer field day is also a great chance for the cranberry community to get together face-to-face. Our team, and the other growers, work with Rutgers all the time, but it’s good to be able to sit down with other growers and find out if they’re having some of the same problems with pests, or fairy ring, or excessive heat.

Dr. Peter Jeranyama of UMass, who gave a talk on frost.

“I thought it was a good meeting,” says Bill Haines. “I really enjoyed all the presentations, and I thought Dr. Jeranyama was a good addition to the line-up.”

The highlight was the presentation made to Dr. Nick Vorsa, who stepped down as director of the center this summer. ACGA President Shawn Cutts, on behalf of the organization, presented a plaque in appreciation of his many years of outstanding service to New Jersey’s cranberry growers:

“Your excellent and steady leadership as director of the Rutgers Phillip E. Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research has established it as one of the state’s and country’s leading agricultural research centers. The ground-breaking work in breeding and genetics to which you have dedicated your career has transformed the entire cranberry industry by providing growers with the next generations of high-yielding, high-quality varieties. Your leadership, expertise, and friendship have made invaluable contributions to our farms and to our industry for which we will always be grateful.”

Many growers as well as long-time friends and co-workers from the Center spoke as well, expressing their own appreciation for everything Nick has done for the growers, the station, and for the cranberry industry as a whole. “He made it look easy,” says Dr. Peter Oudemans, “but he put in a tremendous amount of work to make us what we are today.”

“It was a good meeting!” Joe Darlington says. “We had very good crop growing science, it was good to see everyone together, the food was very good, and it was an excellent award ceremony for Nick!”

Thank you, as always, to Dr. Cesar Rodriguez-Saona, for putting together another informative program!

Longtime Pine Island friend, business partner, and absolute legend Jon Lindbergh has passed away, and we are all the richer for having known him.

The son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Jon Lindbergh spent a lot of time in the water from a very early age. Among the many accomplishments listed in the New York Times:

Mr. Lindbergh was one of the world’s earliest aquanauts. He explored the ocean depths, pioneered cave diving and participated in daring underwater recovery missions, including one to find a hydrogen bomb that was lost in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain in 1966.

. . . He went west to college, enrolling at Stanford; after a time he lived alone in a tent a few miles from campus to avoid dorm life. He studied marine biology; started mountain climbing, skydiving and cave diving; and joined the Naval Reserve.

. . . He later farmed salmon in Puget Sound and in Chile as part of an emerging aquaculture industry and sold the fish to airlines and restaurants.

Jon was one of the founders of Cranberries Austral Chile. In 1996, Jon and the other founders invited Bill Haines to become a partner in the company. They remained partners for twenty-five years. Jon was an active and engaged shareholder, and one of his most valuable contributions was helping resolve the issues of water supply.

“While we all knew Jon as an intelligent, kind, humble, gentle, great, and good man, I had no idea he had squeezed so much accomplishment and adventure into one life,” Bill says. “I am honored to have called him my friend and shared in his adventures in Chile.”

“I was lucky – because of Bill – to have sat with Jon at one of our dinners,” says Pine Island Board of Advisors member Rick Goulding. “We had a wonderful and wandering conversation. The man exuded humility and humanity. He had this natural curiosity about everything. A quintessential American. And a man we’ll all miss.”

As we move into the late summer, we are continuing to implement our PIICM program with late fertilizer applications (or, bud set fertilizer), finishing cleaning the ditches for improved water flow, and maintaining the balancing act of keeping vines cool while avoiding oversaturation. At this time of year, we need to be careful for next year’s bud set (initiation of next year’s flower growth). During bud set, we’re more concerned with keeping the vines healthy; nitrogen is needed for both fruit development and production of the next year’s flower bud.

The berries themselves are beginning to size up and attain color. Some varieties color earlier than others, and that is a factor we consider when planning our picking strategy. Ocean Spray likes a consistent color, so we will take samples before harvesting to check color levels. While the humidity gets worse in late summer, the nights tend to get cooler, and this actually improves the color.

Many of our bogs still contain the industry stand-bys: Stevens, Early Black, and Ben Lear. But as we continue with our yearly renovation program, more and more bogs are being planted with the Rutgers varieties.

The Stevens variety used to account for 20% of the berries grown in New Jersey, according to the Cranberry Marketing Committee. A later variety (meaning they attain their full color later in the season), Stevens are usually the last to be harvested and are thus more susceptible to scald and rot, so we need to monitor Stevens bogs carefully. Another interesting fact about Stevens: the majority of the crop in a Stevens bog is located under the canopy (or surface) of the vines.

Early Blacks are one of the oldest and the smallest varieties, but have the most intense color. (Jeremy Fenstermaker likes to think that Early Blacks are the berries appearing in most commercials due to their photogenic quality.) When we harvest an Early Black bog we like to see as many berries as possible; the greater the weight, the greater the yield (one barrel = 100 pounds of cranberries).

Ben Lears are an early variety noted for its size and distinctive shape, with a deep red color about midway between Stevens and Early Blacks. We will usually start our harvest with Ben Lear bogs.

Our team has been pleased with the results of the Haines variety, a mid-season variety which so far has proven to be quite hardy and consistent in color, shape, and firmness (ideal for Craisins!).

Our primary focus as we continue to monitor and scout the bogs is weed control. Dewberry, for example, is a very persistent plant that competes with cranberries for light and interferes with harvest, so removing it is a high priority task.

As always, we continuously monitor weather conditions, especially as hurricane season reaches its peak. And, all of our efforts throughout the growing season are bringing us toward our ultimate goal: a successful harvest.

Things have been a little quieter as nutrition applications wind down, but our equipment team is always busy!

“We’ve been building some new things to get ready for harvest,” says manager Louis Cantafio. “We’re doing all the usual organizational things but we’re also building racks for the trailer to carry the things the crew will need for the bogside cleaners. A lot of what we’re doing is polish on the berry pump operations, really; the first couple of years we were learning how to use them, then we we were experimenting with various modifications to customize them for our own operation.”

“Each crew used to carry around all the stuff for the pumps, but racks are going to keep things more organized and more accessible,” Louis says, “but it’s going to be much more efficient when a crew can readily see that they have everything they need.”

Welder Larry Wedemeyer also built a rack to go in Bryan’s truck designed to hold the grates for the bogside cleaners.

Larry is also working on our fourth raker, which represents another extension of our raking fleet!

And last but not least, Louis says, “We’ve also been keeping up with irrigation repairs. There’s going to be a lot of work leading up to harvest, as well, but we’re more than ready!”

As we have mentioned so many times before, the key to growing cranberries is water.

Cranberries need about an inch of water each week during the growing season (either via rain or irrigation), preferably early in the morning or at night, in order to avoid losing it to evaporation. We irrigate for two reasons: first, to keep the vines healthy and productive, and second, to protect them from the heat. Keeping them cool helps protect the bloom, the fruit, and the vines themselves. And while it’s crucial in the hot summer days, cooling may also be necessary in May, before the uprights (short vertical branches) acquire their protective waxy coating.

Once the fruit is formed, it’s important to keep them from what we term “scalding”. Scald occurs when the temperature is high but the dew point (humidity) is low; as Dr. Peter Oudemans likes to say, “When people are comfortable, the cranberries are in trouble.” When humidity is low, the applied water will readily evaporate and cool the fruit. During the day, if temperatures get up to around 95 degrees, we will turn on the irrigation in order to cool the bog down to the 80s. We’ll run the pumps for about an hour or two, depending on variables such as wind, temperature, and humidity.

There is also a distinct difference between sending water through the root system and keeping the bog cool. The trick is avoiding complications from too much moisture, which can cause conditions that are welcoming to fungi such as phytophthora, which causes root rot. Vines shouldn’t be damp all the time; it’s a balancing act to keep the fruit at optimum growth conditions while avoiding oversaturation. The key to walking the tightrope is constant evaluation and always being aware of bog conditions.