Did you know blueberries are more than just a pleasant look small tree or bush? Scientists have just discovered that blueberries are actually a natural source of fruit! The fruit comes in berry form and is a bluish color. After much testing scientists have found that blueberries can be used to make pancakes, syrups, wines, fruit cups, and stains on light colored garments.
Read more about this amazing plant here: http://www.extension.org/blueberries
Ways to boss around a plant – experiments for middle schoolers (and the young at heart)
You can try the following experiments at school or at home to see how good you are at “bossing” a plant around. Repeat the experiments several times to increase confidence in the accuracy of your results.
Is a greenhouse better for plants?
Does crowding affect plants?
Does colored mulch affect soil temperature?
Does colored mulch affect the growth rate of a plant?
Follow the link to find out: http://bit.ly/xXa85f
I’ve always said: “Got a sick plant? Spray it with some fish oil!” Apparently fish extracts do help control disease, but not by acting on pathogens directly, instead they boost defense mechanisms in the plant. Use of fish oil extract may reduce Septoria leaf spot in blueberries which can cause defoliation after harvest.
Read more here: http://bit.ly/wd8UAV
Good News! Bad News! for Florida Blueberry Farmers. Bad February freezes may cause crop losses of 20%, but a corresponding price increase of 20% could leave farmers in the clear. Read more below.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20120221/NEWS/120229862?p=1&tc=pg
True or False: there really is a “Southeastern Blueberry Bee”.
Find out if you got it right here: http://bit.ly/pLePwS
Love your bees, and they will ignore you. Which is for the best really. Bees are important pollinators and are already out on warm days in the south. Don’t spray or treat your blueberries with pesticides while they are in bloom!
Homemade blueberry wine in the summer begins with planting the right bush in the spring. Here is a video on how to pick the best variety: http://bit.ly/nx9uwP
What do you do once you have buckets of ripe blueberries? You might find some answers here: http://bit.ly/yW4QEn
Or maybe you’re not into DYI and just want to sip the fruit of someone else’s labors? See what other people have to say about blueberry wine: bit.ly/ApKwns
Cheers!
Check out these tips to protect your blueberries from freeze dangers.
Small Fruit Freeze Protection Passive or Alternate Methods: This course covers: winter freeze dangers, species sensitivity, methods of protection, spring frost and freeze dangers, as well as methods of protection to use for protecting blueberry crops from freeze damages.
In the past few years, research has uncovered that there are healthful phytochemcialsin fruits and vegetables, and that is one of the reasons the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that half of our plate should be fruits and vegetables. This PowerPoint presentation by Heli Roy of the LSU AgCenter gives information about the health benefits of blueberries.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Blueberry wine can provide more potentially healthy compounds than white wines and many red wines, according to a new University of Florida study.
Researchers with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences measured antioxidant content in a Florida-produced blueberry wine and compared it to published reports of antioxidant content in white and red wines made from grapes. Antioxidants are compounds that may offer cells protection from damaging molecules called free radicals.
The researchers found the Florida wine, produced from southern highbush blueberries, had more antioxidants than all of the reported white wine values and all but 20 percent of the reported values for red wines, which are considered high in antioxidants.
Wade Yang, a food science and human nutrition assistant professor with IFAS, led the research.
“For people seeking the potential health benefits of a glass of wine, blueberry wine is a comparable, and, in many instances, better alternative to grape wines,” Yang said.
Read more Blueberry Wine Has More Antioxidants than Many Grape-based Wines.
AllAboutBlueberries 