legacy has become my favorite because of its productivity. I think we got about 5 pounds/bush this year and they’re still growing, only 4-5 years old (2.5 years in the ground)
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My four Elliot bushes are loaded. My numerous other varieties have nearly no berries at all near St. Paul.
Duke (in ground) is my oldest and most productive. Legacy (in container) tastes the best. The in-ground Legacy seems slow to establish.
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I think mine is six years old. The berries are excellent. Legacy does well north or south. A good one to consider adding.
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Wow! More than 2 kilos per bush! Good job by you. 
I don’t think my best bush will do that.
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I’m not doing anything special other than being in one of the best berry growing areas in the whole world. OSU quotes legacy’s mature yield as 21 pounds/bush, hopefully I can get there in another three years or so
Growing Blueberries in Your Home Garden | OSU Extension Catalog | Oregon State University - see table 4
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Nice! That certainly gives me something to aspire to.
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I acquired a Legacy
in '21 but has not bloomed yet.
Sounds promising.
Patriot, Sunshine Blue and Aurora are three I definitely enjoy growing.
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Liking your netting cage design - do you have any posts on it or can you give details on the build materials and dimensions?
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It’s rather crude. I stick rebar in the ground and put 3/4 inch pvc or cpvc posts not glued. So one can remove it or modify height. I use a 30 x30’ American netting green net. I fold the net both sides to the middle, repeat until it’s about two feet wide. I role the net up. Then place over each of the 4 pvc cages each with two arches. Place in middle and unfold. It’s so easy to place this giant net over it all doing this. You can use garden staples to pin down if you wish. I’m going home later today and will add photo to see it better.
I make square cages although other methods are possible. It works great room enough to stand under the net. Stays bird free if stapled down.
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Does anyone have hardwood blueberry cuttings they can spare? Im in ND and experimenting with blueberry in amended soil and I planted a patriot last summer and it survived, but didnt grow a lot. Id like to add some more to the row asap. The one I planted is patriot. Id be interested in cuttings from another patriot or spartan or other recommended northern varieties. The row I have amended is about 100ft long so ive got room for a fair amount more bushes.I would like to experiment with a few different varieties to see what performs best in my location.
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@Drew51 thanks for the great reports and advice in this thread. I was super gratified to see how you are doing your blueberries in raised beds. I built out a small raised bed last year for the same purpose and have my berries in there. Also super interesting to see your strawberries on the edges. I’ve literally done the same. I saw you mentioned you removed them? Is that just because of the snow that you need to replant each year? Or did you find other issues?
My biggest issues with the strawberries in the blueberry raised bed so far has been that we’ve gotten a handful and the vast majority are being lost to I think slugs and pillbugs that are hiding in the mulch there. I’m considering removing the mulch but would love any other tips from your experience.
Thanks!
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I may have meant something else. I do thin around the blueberry. Heck I kill hundreds yearly. They grow everywhere! One has to keep them in check. They will crowd each other which lowers berry production. But no all my blueberries except those in pots have them in the beds. My oldest blueberry plants are nine years old. So it’s been working fine as long as you maintain them.
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Thanks Andrew. Good advice on thinning. I haven’t done that and didn’t even think about it since this is my 2nd actual year with the raised beds with stuff in them. Do you have a schedule at which you replace the strawberry plants themselves? Thanks!
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Appreciate it! Will post more there.
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No not really. Strawberries do become unproductive so I try and let the runners or next generation replace the older plants. I play it all by ear. It’s difficult to determine which are old and which are new. I make my best guess.
For actual strawberry production I have a 12x4 bed for them. The ones around the blueberries are mostly just for ground cover. I’m not concerned with production. Sure I’ll take it but if unproductive one year no great loss. Thin heavily and let the few left spread new runners for future years. One bed has musk strawberries and I have found those remain productive for years. It doesn’t matter which ones I remove when thinning. So I take that attitude towards the other beds. It’s about ground cover not production.
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After a few years of fruiting these in z6b Northeastern Pennsylvania- the two (2) blueberries that have emerged as my favorites are:
“Reka” Northern Highbush (bred in New Zealand). I obtained this cultivar from Raintree Nursery. Planted in Maryland mountains March 2017. Dug up; survived 2019 move to PA in a pot. Re-planted in PA spring 2020. Literature says upright growth reaching 6 feet tall at maturity; my bush seems to be following this script- it is already 4 feet high. Most years, this is the best tasting blueberry I have, and I have access to more than a dozen varieties. Taste explodes on the middle of the tongue. High sourness matched with substantial sweetness and a quenching satisfying result. Firm slight crunchiness to the outer texture, but explosively juicy inside. Ripe June 24- June 25, 2023. Photos of my plant follow:
“Northland” Minnesota Half-High. I obtained this cultivar at a Maryland grocery store plant sale, of all places, but it is also widely available from the usual reputable nurseries. I kept it in a pot for a couple years (outside; no protection)… then I planted it in-ground upon relocating to PA. This plant is now 4 feet tall and erect with nice growth habit of branches reaching up and out, with clusters of easily-picked delicious berries everywhere. Each berry easily snaps off from the cluster into your palm with a simple contraction of your thumb; therefore you can pick multiple berries quickly from each cluster using just one hand instead of two. This has become my most reliable cropper and perhaps my favorite overall blueberry, even if Reka might taste a bit better most days. Beautiful plant. Northland berries have crunchy outer texture and explosively juicy interior. Balanced sweet-sour flavor. Heavy producer. Ripe June 20- 28, 2023. Photos of my plant follow:
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Right on! Nourse farm is a fantastic farm for Blueberry plants ranging in starts to a couple years old. They also sell hige variety of strawberry crowns that are fantastically, large, healthy and very inexpensive!
They recommended Blueray for me here in Mass 6b and it’s one of my favorite plants out of the 15 varieties I currently grow!
Thanks for your note! Definetly check out Blueray someday!
She’s one of my favorites out of the 15 varieties I grow here in Mass zone 6b.
Know for being Cold hardy, though i’ve seen some minor discolored (blackish / red) wood on the year 2-3 canes at the end of winter but never any issue with frost damage. The shoots stems leaf and buds grow with lots of vigor. Her buds well it’s pretty awesome. massive rootball in a 15 gallon fabric pot though she does have shallow very spreading roots and would go 10-15 gallon pot minimum or on the ground.
In spring she flowers Mid April abundtly and starts to bear fruit quickly after pollination. My fist pick was end of June with the 1st week July being bountiful for a 3.5 foot tall plant.
Produces very large clusters of perfect blueberries. She’s upright, not really vase upright, more spreading. Good feeder as she has lots of vigor and puts out new canes quickly!l which I find so important given that’s where your best berries are coming from in subsequent years.
Unlike many other varieties (Darrow hardly throws any new canes for example).
Flavor and color is top notch - classic blueberry which is very delicious and near perfect tartness when ripe, again it has that classic bright sweet blueberry tart flavor…
She pretty much checks all the boxes in my book!
Hope this helps. Have fun and be well!
Matty