The late arrival of spring seemed to set the stage for the berries. But the warm early summer combined with the intense rain since midsummer has created almost perfect conditions for the berries.
“It can look a little different in the country depending on how the weather has been, but here in the Moratrakten the conditions have been perfect,” says Ola Langvall, who is the experiment leader at SLU’s (Swedish University of Agriculture) unit for forest field research.
Frosty nights in early summer can cause it for the berries, but Ola Langvall has not received any reports that any iron nights, as single frosty nights are usually called, have affected this year’s berry stock.
It is possible to pick blueberries right now if you want a few berries for the file or a pie, says Langvall, but he recommends waiting a couple more weeks if you want to maximize the outcome of the berry picking.
— The berries ripen quite unevenly this year. There are still a lot of green cards. For those who want to collect larger quantities, it is best to wait until the end of July.
Until 2017, SLU made forecasts about the berry stock, but since no one wants to pay for the forecasts anymore, compilations are made afterwards instead.
– We see that it varies greatly from year to year and therefore we cannot see any trend that neither the climate nor forestry affects, says Langvall.