BLACKSHEAR - Blueberry season is a washout for most southeast Georgia growers.

Colder-than-normal weather decimated high-bush blueberries early in the season. Heavy rains over the past several weeks have ruined much of the rabbit-eye berries now in the fields, which have been too muddy to harvest, University of Georgia Agriculture Extension Service agents said.

"The question is not can we salvage the season, it's can we harvest what we've got and make it attractive to the market?" said Danny Stanaland, area blueberry agent for the extension service.

Southeast Georgia is widely known for producing high-quality blueberries. But much of the high-bush crop perished because high-gusting winds accompanying the cold temperatures prevented growers from using their freeze protection systems, he said.

"We only got about 35 percent to 50 percent of the normal harvest of high-bush berries," said Stanaland, who regularly works with growers in Bacon and eight neighboring counties in Georgia's blueberry belt.

Some of the berries harvested had quality problems, making them less attractive to buyers, which meant growers got a lower price for their fruit, he said.

Now rabbit-eye blueberries are rotting in the fields, which remain flooded or are so muddy farmers can't get their harvesting equipment into them.

"We've gotten about 30 inches of rain so far in Bacon County, and about 40 inches in the other counties," Stanaland estimated.

The rain, humidity and wet ground causes the fruit to split. Although the berries generally can be used in specialty juices or purees, buyers want undamaged fruit.

To make matters worse, the market demand for blueberries is way down because of the bad economy, he said.

The rains also have taken a heavy toll on tobacco, peanuts and cotton in Coffee, Pierce and Ware counties, as well as the rest of the region, county agents said.

"It's too late to replant tobacco," said James Jacobs, county agent for adjacent Pierce and Ware counties.

Jacobs said the rains pounded many of the young plants into the ground, while others were washed out or rotting in waterlogged fields.

He estimated at least 25 percent are going to have to replant their peanuts and cotton because of rotted seed and washed out plants. The corn crop also has been seriously damaged because of flooding and erosion, Jacobs said.

Soggy fields are preventing Coffee County farmers from applying herbicides, replanting or harvesting their crops, county agent Eddie McGriff said.

teresa.stepzinski@jacksonville .com, (912) 264-0405