Blueberry Farm Is `Organic' No Longer -- Fungicide Spraying Dismaying To Some

BELLEVUE - The Larsen Lake blueberry farm, long popular for its berries grown without the use of pesticides, is organic no longer.

In an effort to rid the blueberry bushes of a damaging fungus known as mummyberry, the new tenants of the farm, which is in a city park, have sprayed a fungicide twice in the past month.

A third spraying of the chemical Funginex is planned on the 14-acre farm that surrounds the lake.

Gus Anderson, the farmer who holds a new five-year city contract to operate city-owned blueberry fields at Larsen Lake and Mercer Slough, says he had no choice but to spray the berries.

Anderson calls the mummyberry at Larsen Lake "absolutely the worst infestation I've seen in my life." Mummyberry is a fungus that renders berries inedible.

"The product is to the point where, without controlling mummyberry, you might as well let the field go to rot and turn the place into something else because it won't be a viable blueberry farm any longer," Anderson said.

The farm, managed by city parks officials last year, suffered a 50 percent drop in production because of a mummyberry infestation worsened by warm, moist weather during the growing season.

Although Funginex's "acute toxicity" is lower than table salt, according to Environmental Protection Agency pesticide specialist Karl Arne, it is not without a hazard. The chemical can cause irreversible eye damage, its label warns, and users are urged to wear goggles, face shields and impervious clothing.

Anderson, a veteran blueberry farmer from Skagit County, says Funginex also is being sprayed on the 22 acres his family is working in Mercer Slough Nature Park. The fungicide also was used by the previous tenants at Mercer Slough.

Anderson says his son, Terry, who runs the Bellevue farms, does not spray on windy days when the fungicide could drift onto unsuspecting citizens. Trails are closed during spraying, which is done near trails early in the morning. Trails are reopened when the chemical has dried, he says.

Not everyone is happy about the spraying at Larsen Lake, where Kelsey Creek originates.

Tim Randall, who operated the organic farm for eight years, objects to the use of the chemical in a park where public trails meander through the berry fields.

Randall lives just outside the park. He disputes the claim by Anderson and park officials that trails are closed to the public during spraying. "As they're spraying," he said, "I can see people walking right by their stuff."

Funginex is the trade name for a chemical that is known generically by several names, including triforine. The substance is widely used by farmers and gardeners to control fungus infestations on blueberries, roses and other plants.

Anderson calls Funginex "a godsend." The chemical, developed in Germany in 1967, is more effective and less toxic than its predecessors, he says.

It is not safe enough to satisfy Randall, who believes the city park should be an oasis from environmental hazards.

"This farm has been run successfully without chemicals and could continue to be run so," he says. "I have working experience. The chemicals are not necessary."

Controlling mummyberry without chemicals means plenty of backbreaking labor to turn over the soil and disrupt the fungus' ability to reproduce. And, in the end, an organic farmer is likely to have fewer berries than a conventional farmer, Randall says.

City officials would have been pleased if an organic farmer had submitted a competitive bid to operate the Larsen Lake and Mercer Slough farms, says Dan DeWald, the Parks Department natural-resources manager. One organic farmer did make a bid but offered to pay the city less than Anderson promised.