2018 berry plant progress and harvest report

Show off!! :grin::grin:

All but a few of my blue berries dropped. Yours look yum! What’s the variety?

1 Like

Blues keepin me busy
Sunshine blue
Patriot
Some Elliot
Blucrop (very light crop this yr)
Jersey
My pink lemonades :two_hearts:

8 Likes

Those look huge, nice harvest. How old are yer plants?

We have 4 bloobs, planted last year. Only our Patriot gave us any fruit, four measly berries. But, can’t expect too much after 15 months. I think my Blueray bit the dust, only has a few leaves left on it, think it got drowned with all the rain we had in the spring.

1 Like

3 yrs old, bought as small potted. They love fish emulsion u can see the new growth a week after application and it always seems to pump up the sugars and acids in all my fruit, but the blues big time

Patriot will grow into a solid producer for u im sure. I have 2 to make the backbone of the harvest. They never fail me.

They do hate wet feet. I agree prolly smacked your blue. I have awesome drainage but the blues are plants i really mound high.

1 Like

I’m not sure the variety but the bushes are 6 years old now. I have made sure to add sulfur to the soil and multiple layers of wood chips every year. Then in the fall, after all the berries are done, I cover the area in leafs to prevent the mummy berry disease from splashing up onto the bush the following year.

Despite putting up a net, I am battling catbirds on a daily basis.

2 Likes

@subdood_ky_z6b Blueberries are tough to grow successfully if the soil is not the right level of acidity (e.g. pH level). I spent a couple of unsuccessful years trying to grow them until I got it right. The one additive that helped me get mine growing well was this one: Encap Fast Acting Sulfur 20lb. It also is helpful for raspberries, which like a slightly acidic soil. You can buy it at a number of retail locations including Home Depot. I grow both Northern highbush and rabbiteye varieties. IMG_0096ieties.

3 Likes

I have been harvesting blueberries for about 10 days now. I try to leave them on to hang. I pick about 40-50 a day. Once I reach that amount I stop. Some plants hang fruit longer than others. Most blueberries hang well. Here is Legacy 5 minutes ago.

Toro hangs well too, one of five branches.

Here’s the whole plant, with about 1/3 of it’s berries left

Spartan and Pink Popcorn are done. Cara’s Choice is just starting to get a few ripe berries.

I also have Raz and people here said it doesn’t really taste like raspberry. Well I tried some today and they have a raspberry like flavor, not quite, but not like other blueberries. often said to taste like others. I did not think so. Definitely more acidic. Not my favorite, but i will keep the plant. Nothing tastes like a real raspberry.
I would say I’m in the middle of blueberry harvest now, still a few weeks to go at least.
My favorites are Cara’s Choice, Spartan, and Chandler. I just like the way those berries tastes. All are good, but these I favor a touch. I like Liberty because it is a very good producer. It is almost done now. Pink Popcorn was decent too. Toro is fairly sweet, berries are good too. Ka-Bluey also has an excellent flavor, performance is not really known yet. I would like to add ten more, but I tink I’m done. I’m removing plants this year. I can’t keep up with it all. I’m keeping the plants that work well here or superior cultivars.

6 Likes

I had commented earlier that my Bluecrop bloob looked dead, I assumed because of having wet feet for an extended time back in the spring.

Well, this evening I was out weeding and mulching my four plants. What I found out was not too much water, but apparently some kind of boring insect damage. There was a brown, woody like residue, under the dead canes, one was the main cane on the Bluecrop, and a side cane on a Nelson.

I know that brambles are known to get cane borers, but I was not aware of there being such a pest for blueberries. Anyone else seen this issue with your bloobs?

birds have been pecking at ripening prime ark freedoms, so I installed bamboo and paracord tresllises in the PAF containers; the bamboo stakes will also serve to hold up netting.

and snap — as I was repositioning canes, a heavy side branch with 10 berries broke off. (PAF berries can get monstrously big.) some berries are almost ripe, others are green. i stopped working on the netting project to place the branch in a cup of water. don’t know whether the branch will be able to pull off the biology of bringing these berries to maturation.

anybody here have a feel for how this is going to play out, whether these berries have a fighting chance?

1 Like

It seems I read about someone putting branches in water when there were still green berries at killing frost, so it might actually work. Let us know how it goes.

2 Likes

will definitely report back here—and with pictures. there’s always something new to learn.

correction: 11 berries. the consternation of breaking a branch likely messed with my basic counting abilities.

1 Like

About half of the aronia harvest this year, our first. Planning on making a syrup for flavoring tea.

4 Likes

Great harvest

1 Like

just harvested my consort/ boskoop giant black currants yesterday. got about 15lbs. made jam with some and froze the rest. man i love b. currant jam! bloobs are starting to ripen. as is the black raspberries. my baby cakes dwarf blackberries are covered w/ blooms and green berries! starting for the 1st time to send up new shoots. should be ready by the end of the month! really excited about those! they were slow to establish but now are taking off!

3 Likes

I got my first harvest of aronia this year also. Not as many as you. I’ve never had them before. Are they always astringent or am I picking them too early? They look similar in color to the ones you have.

thanks

1 Like

From what I understand they are always this astringent and should be processed for consumption.

3 Likes

Yes, I have had the same experience with one of my Southern Highbush blueberrys, the borers killed it and I removed entire bush. I swear I am going to send a couple Rabbiteyes up to you next year. I have a hunch they could do just as well for you as amazing as they have done for me. Hope you are well!

2 Likes

I’m harvesting a second crop from my Ouchita’s. this is the 3rd. bowl this size in two weeks…

6 Likes

Thanks, I don’t know how one would be able to ship a blueberry plant, but I appreciate the offer. RE’s aren’t supposed to do as well this far north, but I’ll never know until I try. I might order a couple of them next year, especially if my NHB plants don’t get after it.

All I got from my four plants this year were 5 berries from my Patriot bush. It was prob the healthiest looking of my plants, albeit kinda small. My Blueray has a couple tall (3ft) canes, but looks kinda scraggly, and the Nelson looks OK, even though I had to cut off a cane because of it being killed by the borers. I only gave them a couple hits of Hollytone this year, so that prob didn’t help.

1 Like

i mix mine with other berries in jam. by themselves the taste isnt that great. they mix well with apples in pies also.

1 Like