Over the decades at different home locations I did all the labor myself. This is the first time I’ve paid someone else!
1 Like
I hope @bleedingdirt is paying attention. He is struggling with blueberries in the alkaline Bay Area.
Very nice Richard, any updates?
1 Like
The Monrovia’s are evergreen here, loaded with immature fruit and still blooming. The O’Neil’s are semi-deciduous and slow-growing this time of year – just starting to bloom. Possible staggered harvest!
As mentioned in another thread, I recently added N-pHuric to my fertigation system. The pH in the blueberry bed had been creeping upward but is now back down to 6.25. I’d like it down another 0.5 so perhaps an increase in dosage will be necessary for the ‘acid loving’ sub-system in the coming months.
2 Likes
Richard, I find it interesting that your blueberries have been so successful with a pH that high, it makes me less worried about growing mine in ground with a native pH of 5.6.
1 Like
We don’t grow northern blueberries here – they’d hate the weather. Instead we have ‘rabbit eye’ cultivars (e.g. O’Neil) and proprietary hybrids (e.g. Monrovia). The latter is incredibly tolerant of near-alkaline pH while the southeastern cultivars are fine with pH near 6 – although they do best in the mid to upper 5’s.
1 Like
Duly noted Mr. Richard. The Sunshine Blues are evergreen you say; do they still need chill hours?
Monrovia recommends 150 chill hours for Sunshine Blue.
1 Like
Our Brightwell blueberry bush puts out more berries than all 6 of our other varieties combined. We harvest it over about 4 months. Our pH is also very high, we struggle to maintain 6.5
5 Likes
@applenut how do you like the taste of Brightwell berries? Last year I saw Lowe’s in my area selling Brightwell. I wasn’t sure if they’d do well for me. I thought that was southern variety.
I think Rabbiteye’s are lot more forgiving, pretty cool. My northerns would die at 6.5 I know I did it.
No it’s a Rabbiteye. I have 2 southerns here in Michigan. Some do fine this far up north.
My best is Indigocrisp, fruited early for me. Seems fine here. Sweetcrisp struggles. I often have to threaten it.
3 Likes
I’m interested in comparing it to Monrovia’s patented Sunshine Blue.
It was released jointly by UGA and USDA-ARS in 1983. Dr. Brightwell was a small fruits researcher at UGA from 1944 to 1973. Here’s a few notes about him: http://www.caes.uga.edu/campuses/tifton/about/campus-overview/history/global-impact/wt-brightwell.html
1 Like
The taste is decent, best in pancakes. We’re in Southern California, and it can take the heat and lack of winter chill. Sunshine Blue is good here, but annoying to pick with its tiny berries. And it doesn’t matter how good a variety is if there’s no berries, Brightwell is humongous and bears over such a long period, each long branch covered in berries ripening from the base outward over several months. Every morning there’s something to pick.
2 Likes
That is the same one that I bought this week. Funny thing, tho . . . . no matter where I put it in the yard - I get the same reading. I figured it was a piece’o’junk and bought a soil testing kit. Some more junk. Damn things didn’t even change colors like they were supposed to. So . . . now I’m sending soil to the extension service in Blacksburg. Sigh.
2 Likes
pH is often set by water supply. If all your locations use the same water source (rain or municipal) then don’t be surprised to find the same pH readings everywhere in your yard.
3 Likes
Here are some fruits ripening on our Monrovia Sunshine Blue – they’re mostly 3/8th inch diameter but a few are 1/2 inch. 
2 Likes
Don’t get too caught up with your pH, it will be different everywhere in the soil. Just check it periodically because it’s extremely important.