Inherent to the wetland environment required for cultivation is intense pest pressure. Many weeds and insects thrive along side the dikes and ditches of the bog as well as on the bog itself. The cultivated environment with adequate water and mineral needs represents optimum growing conditions for many of the cranberry’s natural and introduced competitors. Specialized insects in turn are offered thousands of acres of one of the few foods they are adapted to eat, the cranberry. Moreover, fungi become an increasing threat in the moist environment of the bog.

Many of the cranberry varieties cultivated commercially in southeastern Massachusetts are also native to this area. Consequently, herbivorous insects, pathogenic fungi and parasitic weeds have adapted and thoroughly permeated the local environment.

Learn more by reading the fact sheet on Pesticide Use in cranberries.