By Clint Thompson
An active tropical season this fall is concerning for Florida’s blueberry growers.
According to Doug Phillips, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) blueberry Extension coordinator, this time of year is when blueberry bushes are most vulnerable. Unfortunately, this is also the time of year when Florida experiences a bulk of hurricane activity.
“In most years it seems like we see a lot more of our hurricanes, if there are some, in early fall. I don’t think we’ve dodged everything just yet. It looks like, potentially, what the forecasters are saying, it’s going to be a fairly active hurricane season. It hasn’t been so far, but I think it really gets geared up in September and October,” Phillips said.
According to the National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center, two areas with potential for development are currently in the Atlantic, while another, Potential Tropical Cyclone Six (Francine), was located off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico and forecast to impact Texas and Louisiana later this week.
There is also the sad reality that blueberry growers are defenseless against the high wind speeds and excessive rains that accompany a hurricane or tropical storm.
“All you can really do is make sure that things you need for cleanup and recovery are in place and ready for after the storm has passed,” Phillips said. “Other than that, there’s nothing you can do to mitigate wind damage or flooding damage from a hurricane before it happens.”
Florida blueberry producers have already ‘dodged a bullet’ this year following Hurricane Debby on Aug. 5.