Sweet northern highbush blueberry varieties - need recommendations

They answered already!

The species of the Ruby Carpet is Vaccinium angustifolium and the Little Crisp is Vaccinium pensylvanicum.
Thank you

Hmm, and they cross pollinate? Maybe a good idea to pick up Brunswick too!

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Yā€™all need to try theseā€¦the package says they are wonderful! They are selling them in Tractor Supply in TEXAS!!! :flushed::flushed::flushed:

:joy::joy::joy:

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I grow em where Iā€™m at in Minnesota. They seem to be very fast growing, get large berries, and seem more tolerant if the ph is a little on the higher side than other blueberries.

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i have 2 in front of my raspberry patch. theyā€™re a good blueberry and are great producers.

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Trouble is they wonā€™t grow hereā€¦but thatā€™s where they are being soldā€¦

Iā€™m with you on Oneal. Very good taste. I donā€™t know what itā€™s cold tolerance is but they might be worth a try at least one plant. It has been a little low on vigor but grafting appears to helped that issue.

Is it okay to apply soil acidifier the same time as an acidifying fertilizer? Or is that too much acid at once? I do need to lower my pH another point this spring but also want to give them nitrogen. Thanks!

@JinMA, if youā€™re still looking for a Jersey BB, Indiana Berry is selling them, along with many other varieties. And, in the past couple years, Iā€™ve seen them sold at Loweā€™s as bare root plants in little boxes like in Kateā€™s pic.

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you should be ok to use both but id test ph in the fall to see where its at before adding more sulfur. follow the dosages exactly as sulfur can bottom out ph quickly if overused. i usually add a 1/4c per mature bush in spring and fall and it stays 4.5-5ph. your soil may be different.

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i canā€™t understand why these stores do that! went to TSC the other day. lots of z 5 pears, peaches and plums ! weā€™re z 3b. what a waste as no one buys them and they throw them out!

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Thanks for the suggestion about peat moss and sulfur, Mamuang. Once I figure out where I want to put the bushes, Iā€™ll try to start getting the soil ready this year for planting next spring. I was also thinking about mulching with pine needles, which I can collect in pretty good quantities for free. Does anyone have thoughts on the effectiveness of that approach?

And thanks for the suggestion about Indiana Berry, @subdood_ky_z6b. Iā€™ve read good things about them (probably here), but I will likely end up ordering from Nourse, since they are literally the next town over from us here, like Mamuang said. I havenā€™t actually stopped by yet, but Iā€™ll have to take my daughter up to hit the berry tent some time this summer.

Blueberry bushes is going to be a next spring project for me, though. Iā€™m going to have my hands full moving baby apple trees around this springā€¦

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On pine needles, they make a great mulch, but wonā€™t really acidify soil. I like them for mulch in containers. They work well for any plant.Sounds like you soil is fine, so yeah you should be growing blueberries. Cool plants too. Blueberries have shallow roots, so mulch heavy, and keep well watered, they donā€™t do well in dry conditions. Also too much acidity will kill them quickly so itā€™s best to monitor. In basic conditions they often turn red, and donā€™t grow well, in too acidic soil they turn crispy brown and die.Donā€™t let it drop below 4.0.
Lower than 3.5 it starts to decline.

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Not too long ago more acres of Oā€™neil were planted than any other variety in NC.

The objective was to create an early commercial variety that would command high prices for NC Blueberry producers because of its early ripening.

I have 100 plants. Its my first SHB to ripen, but it does not do especially well in my part of NC (Greensboro).

When Jim Ballington who is the Oā€™neil plant breeder saw how poorly my first attempt with Oā€™neil was doing in the early 90ā€™s he suggested that ā€œif I give my SHB the same care and attention that I give my Rabbiteye blueberries I will kill them.ā€ It turned out to be excellent advice.

I have been a lot more careful on my newer 100 plants. More organic matter, more water, better drainage, more nitrogen, better weed control and prefect PH but they are still hard to grow. I continue to grow them because they are almost a month ahead of my Premier rabbiteye. I hedged a portion of the Oā€™neil row this year as test. The hedging produced lots of new growth. These plants now look great and its going to be interesting to see how the hedged Oā€™neil yield compared to the un-hedged.

As a sideline, I believe J Ballington made the final selection on the Contender peache variety.

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Thatā€™s interesting, and kinda ironic in that the MSU breeder, forgot his name sorry, also helped develop Red Haven.

I gave up on trying to grow SHB here, itā€™s not going to work, and too much effort is needed. NHB only here.

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Very interesting that plant breeders from very different climates in Michigan and NC both produced outstanding blueberry and peach varieties that became standards that other varieties are compared against and often used as a breeding parent. Red Haven (MSU) and Contender (NCSU) are two of my favorite peaches.

I have seen some conflicting info on the parentage and also the plant breeders for Contender so Iā€™m not confident about the real truth. Some info indicated its was a cross between Winblo and something else. Other info suggested it was a cross developed from the Red Haven. Red Haven, Contender and Winblo are great peaches in my area and have a similar taste and texture so I would not be surprised if they were related.

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Did you have success growing bilberry, Vaccinium myrtillus

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sadly no. not even 1 came up.

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@blueberrythrill Iā€™ ve not grown Oā€™Neal, but am researching best varieties for 7B Maryland gardens. Oā€™Neal is a mystery. In U of Md trials it came in third overall in production. In Del trials it was dead last in production among about 20 varieties. A farmerā€™s market grower here says heā€™s disappointed in it. It gets rave reviews for taste online. I wonder if these university trials are geared more to find machine pickable varieties that are production machines? Maybe theyā€™re not the best source for picking a backyard bb garden. So I have taken Oā€™Neal out of the mix Iā€™m recommending to friends.

Would love feedback on my current ā€œbestā€ list for 7B: Sweetheart; Blueray; Chandler; Brigitta; Legacy; Summit; Ozark Blue. Mix of N. and S. highbush.

For rabbiteyes: Alapaha; Vernon; Brightwell; Yadkin; Ochlockonee. Anyone in rabbiteye territory who wants TONS of berries, try Brightwell, from all accounts, although 20% may split in rain. Update: just read Brightwell is blight prone. Three months of berries but I get the feeling highbush taste better than rabbiteye? Anybody know about this?

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Looks like you have a nice list of varietiesā€¦but Iā€™ve not tried some of them, and never done a side-by-side taste test with rabbiteye.

Incidentally, I bought a 6 ounce container of fresh blueberries from Mexico from my local Save-A-Lot grocery storeā€¦and whatever they were, they take the prize as the best Iā€™ve ever eatenā€¦and I have grown over 20 varieties, plus picked wild ones in the woods.

Large blossom scar, darker blue in color, average sizeā€¦yumā€¦at $2.50 I may look for some more next time Iā€™m at the store. Obviously southern highbushā€¦but Iā€™m not familiar enough to know which cultivar.

My home-grown ones are never as good as the store-bought ones for fresh eating. I am still happy with mine, though, and there is the added ambience of eating them straight off the bush in the garden.

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