I don’t know that there is really a disease that goes by the name Deerberry Blight, but that’s what I would use to describe what is happening to the Deerberry,
Vaccinium stamineum, this year. The term blight is generally used to describe a discoloration, shriveling and drying of the plant parts. That’s exactly what’s happening here. This bush hardly has any green leaves left.
The affliction begins with small spots and then evolves into large brown patches. The older leaves were the first to suffer and the condition has progressed rapidly onto the new leaves.
Some of the leaves have browned completely and the stem is beginning to shrivel. I don’t believe this particular stem will be recovering. I would hate for this to be the fate of the entire bush.
Deerberry is closely related to the blueberry and I imagine is susceptible to many of the same diseases. These symptoms are similar to those seen on blueberries suffering from various fungal infections. The plants may be infected by more than one type of fungus.
Whole populations of Deerberry are feeling the effects of the blight. I’ve mentioned the above average rainfall we’ve had here and the resulting increased plant growth. Another thing that thrives in warm, wet conditions is fungi. Shrubs growing in these dry open areas are seldom exposed to extremely wet conditions. I think the plant infecting fungi have just had perfect growing conditions this summer and the Deerberry is suffering as a result.
These shrubs have suffered die-backs before and have always recovered. Extreme winter temperatures and severe drought conditions have both caused the death of most of the branches, but the plant has always recovered by resprouting from a healthy root system. I only hope we don’t have one of the root attacking fungi settle into these plants.
The blighted Deerberry bushes have dropped their leaves and it’s now possible to compare the number of live branches to dead. The living twigs show as red among the gray of the dead wood. I hope some of that top growth remains viable next spring. Deerberry flowers are a valuable nectar source on the barrens.
The twigs may be alive, but they appear to be a long way from healthy. The normal color for this time of year is bright red along the entire length of the stem. Dark sections sometimes appear late in the winter, but I normally don’t see that phenomenon this early in the year.
Some of these twigs were alive a few months ago. Now they are dead and brittle.
It’s hard to say why this species suffered so dramatically this year. Most people want to point a finger at a specific cause for the death of a plant. Sometimes you might be able to identify the final agent at work when the plant dies, even though that may have had no part in the actual decline of the plant. Plants are stressed by many environmental conditions. These stresses weaken the plant and make it susceptible to attack by a multitude of insects and diseases. The stress factors are difficult to identify and even harder to manage. I can’t control the quality of rain that falls on Blue Jay Barrens or the purity of the air or the types of particulates that settle as dust. The best I can do is to learn from the events that occur and hope to discover on site techniques that will help relieve the stress.
Next year’s Deerberry may all be in the form of new sprouts from ground level. I didn’t notice this Deerberry blight in any areas other than Blue Jay Barrens. Areas of prairies and barrens appear as isolated patches scattered across this region. While they all display some similarities in composition and behavior, each is unique and displays that uniqueness in events such as the Blue Jay Barrens Deerberry blight. An understanding of these events can provide insight into the historical factors that created the mix of plants and animals that exist on the site today.
