We had a wet fall and a mild winter, but winter injury was seen in some fields, on up to 30% of the stems, which eliminated any possibility of a large crop. The dry weather during pollination increased the potential crop and reduced any loss from mummyberry disease and blossom blight disease, the latter which was not observed this year in the fields.  We did have numerous outbreaks of flea beetle which devastated individual fields, if they were not detected and treated in a timely manner. For precipitation at Blueberry Hill Farm, in April we had 16.4 inches (with about 10 inches coming from one storm at the beginning of April), in May we had 3.93 inches, and in June we had little precipitation - 2.75 inches.  In July we had 3.27 inches and in August only 3.25 inches, so except for April no month had the four inches of rain per month needed for a good crop.  Despite all the furor over the bee decline, bees were available if you were willing to pay the higher price.  We had 65,050 honeybee hives brought into the state for pollination, and the weather was conducive for good pollination. The cool temperatures delayed development and the lack of moisture resulted in smaller size fruit.

Used with permission of David E. Yarborough, Maine Extension Blueberry Specialist . For more information, see Maine Wild Blueberries – January 25, 2008.
and http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/New_England/Publications/Special_Reports/index.asp