We want to plant some blueberries here near Atlanta, GA, USA, zone 7b. I hear that rabbiteyes are very easy to grow here. My husband is suspicious that anything so easy to grow could taste as good as the northern highbush blueberries we’re used to. We’ve sometimes bought bland blueberries from supermarkets, and we don’t want to grow those, but I have no idea what kind they are since the varieties are never labeled, unlike apples.
When I shop for varieties to plant, I see the flavor of all the rabbiteyes is described as “good” if it’s described at all, while the flavors of southern highbush varieties are described with a wider variety of words, including “good,” “sweet,” “aromatic,” and “exceptional.” So I’m starting to suspect that my husband is right about this, and we should plant only the more finicky southern highbush kinds.
Can any gourmets here confirm or deny this? Which are the most delicious blueberries for the south?
I have some young Rabbiteyes and most of them are not real sweet.They are Climax,Columbus,Powder Blue and Tifblue.The only one I like right now is Yadkin.
Southern Highbush are sweeter,some sugar sweet.Bountiful Blue is a sweet one,along with it’s cousin,Sunshine Blue,which I think may have more flavor also.These two are fairly easy to grow in the ground.
Matt mentioned O’Neal.I have one that fruited for the first time and I like the taste,sweet and somewhat delicate.
Star is very good,as is Legacy and if possible to get,Sweetcrisp is grape-like in texture.
As a whole,I probably like Northern Highbush more,because there is a wider flavor variety than mostly sweet. Brady
If you can let the rabbiteyes hang on the bush long enough, they really do taste good. The problem is they turn a beautiful blue color before they are really ripe. Then the birds come eat them. There’s another thread somewhere discussing the hanging time needed for rabbiteyes, but I don’t think the rabbiteye discussion was the primary topic of the thread.
Have grown numerous varieties of all three types, here in southern west-central KY. I can’t tell a significant difference in flavor from one variety to another. Now… differences in sweetness - yes, depending upon how long you leave them on the bush - but to me, a blueberry is a blueberry when it comes to flavor.
That said, I’ll never bother with a Northern highbush type again… the level of production is so paltry, compared to what a good rabbiteye will do here, that there’s no reason for me to waste space on a NHB. Rabbiteyes here are more vigorous and probably 10X more productive; I want BERRIES, and lots of them! I have one child who will eat a gallon of blueberries in a day (fresh or frozen) whenever he’s home!
The SHBs here are young; I’m still waiting to see how they do… but if I were in the Atlanta area, I’d be planting rabbiteyes and SHBs… I’ll leave ‘flavor’ recommendations to others.
Legacy is the best Southern Highbush to plant. It is forgiving to grow from a beginners perspective, it blooms later so it escapes the frost easier than the other varieties.
Star is probably my favorite Southern Highbush. Slightly more challenging to grow.
I am trying Vernon and Titan Rabbiteyes now. Rabbiteyes bloom later and tolerate higher PH and mediocre soil conditions. Sometimes they have a seedy taste to them compared to the highbush
The Oneal and Star that I have ripen earlier than my Tifblue and Climax. These two SHB ripen early and don’t require as long a hanging time on the bush to sweeten up. The RE will also get sweet but they ripen later and the sweetness comes late in the hanging time. As an experiment I added about ten SHB grafts last year on top of a RE Tifblue. These should fruit this year. The early sweetening of these SHB makes them desirable to me. I have other varieties of SHB but the two mentioned ripen first. Bill
I agree. Legacy is easy to grow, much like a Rabbiteye. Its about a week or 10 days ahead of the RE Premier. Unfortunately, most SHB have a tendency to bloom in the fall or during a warm spell in the spring which can be a problem. My experience is that flavor is more dependent on the actual variety and how ripe the fruit is, rather than Rabbiteye compared to SHB. The biggest advantage to SHB is the early fruit and perhaps smaller seeds compared to RE.
Blueberry quality and flavor from the supermarket is unpredictable and often terrible. The harvest season starts in April in Florida and moves northward. Normally the NHB get ripe in NJ and Michigan about the same time as Rabbiteye in NC.
After planting about 18 blueberry plants and having lost all the southern highbush varieties, I have to say that the rabbit eyes are what you should grow if you are in south Georgia. That said, if you can grow both and have the space you should. The Southern highbush blueberries are finished before any of the rabbit eye blueberries ripen. By having both, you will have a longer harvest. By the way, I planted about thirty of our native blueberry Vaccinium elliottii that I transplanted from the understory forest on some land I own along the Ogeechee River in Bulloch County Georgia. The V. elliotii which are locally called huckleberries but more correctly called Elliot’s blueberry or mayberry are by far the best for making deserts and jams. They have generally done better as well. For fresh eating, they are very flavorful but tart and small in comparison to any of the commercial types. God bless.
I have to say that wasn’t my experience, but perhaps I would have had even worse results with other SHB’s. I planted 2 Legacy bushes at the same time I planted most of my rabbiteyes. One of the Legacy bushes just barely survived without ever getting taller than about 8" after 8 years. It finally died this past year. The other has grown and produced a little bit. It is earlier than any of my rabbiteyes. It took a few years longer to start producing, it’s less consistent, and even in its best year it didn’t produce anywhere close to as much as my least productive rabbiteye (of those planted at the same time).
I’m interested in NHB’s and SHB’s, especially for the sake of getting some early berries – my rabbiteyes don’t really start until the beginning of July, but I’ll still be picking off some varieties in September, maybe even early October – but I figure if I want NHB’s or SHB’s the easiest way to grow them is either going to be to keep them in pots or to graft them onto something else (probably sparkleberry) and hope they do better on different roots.
I have been plenty happy with the taste of rabbiteyes, though. And I’d give another vote to Yadkin as a particular favorite for taste.
Check your soil PH. Optimum PH for Southern Highbush is between 4.2-5.2. Several rabbiteyes will perform ok around 5.5 PH. You can add sulfur to soil to lower the PH. Sometimes if southern highbush leaves turn yellow it is a sign that soil PH is too high and the roots cannot properly take up iron.
Dead on about the lower PH requirement for SHB. Also need a much larger amount of organic matter for SHB. Got to have both low PH and high organic matter. I grow both RE and SHB. The rows with the SHB got a big dose of peat moss and pine park along with pelleted sulfur tilled in before the rows were bedded. Got the PH down to about 4. The RE only got a shovel of pine park in each hole and even with less preparation they grow like crazy.
My first SHB (O’neil and Starr) get ripe about a month before my first RE. These early blueberries are in high demand, but the plants are not as productive. They are much harder to grow and even after 5 years, quite a few SHB are not doing well.
My experiences with Legacy are about the same as Cuzfloyd, bought 10 Legacy plants a 4 years ago and even with the proper care they were extremely slow to grow and produce. They all got yanked out.
Loud, I recommend you stick with rabbiteye varieties, I also live in the ATL area and our area is about perfect for growing rabbiteyes. My favorites are Titan, Premier, and Brightwell. These are superior to older varieties like Climax and Powerblue.
The PH of my clay is naturally about 5.0 so you probably do not need to lower the PH much. The general recommend for our area is getting a bag of Sphagnumpeat peat moss that you can get at Lowe’s, etc. and mixing it with the clay and plant in soil mounded up at least 3-6 inches then mulch with pine bark.
Blueberries are very easy to grow in our area, I have around 30 plants and looking for room to add more.
Looks like many of us are having trouble getting SHB to grow! I planted mine knowing they might not perform as well as my RE, but a June 1 ripening date gave me a good reason to take a chance.
I planted 300 SHB in three gallon containers in 2013 so its too late to quit now. The Legacy look the best and the O’neil look the worst. The Starr and the Emerald are in between. Some good weather would improve my prospects, but after a very warm fall/winter the two zero degree nights are not what I was hoping for.
Oneal has a tendency to overcrop. Sometimes that will put stress on the plant and reduce it’s life span. It’s taste is pretty good though. Emerald usually blooms to early for my area (N. Carolina). Plan for a decent crop every 3-4 years. Star is good variety as far as taste and appearance. Yields are ok, but be on the look out for red ringspot or fall rust.
Has anyone tried Vernon or had any luck with Titan?
This is my SHB collection: Millennia, Primadonna, Star, and Oneal.
Millennia has performed the best. It has a heavy load of large sweet berries each year. They ripen a little ahead of my RE’s.
Primadonna was planted in a bad location so I’m not sure how it will perform. I have moved it to a better location.
-Star appears to be a slower grower but ripens earlier than the other SHB varieties except for Oneal which ripens at the same time. The Star berries are large and sweet.
-Oneal also has large sweet berries that ripen early about the same time as Star.
The RE tend to need a much longer hanging time to achieve that really sweet taste.
I’ve had Vernon for 2 years now. First year after transplant, it just kinda sat there. It survived some surprisingly cold weather the spring it was transplanted (my orchard suffered late freezes over the past two springs). The late freeze killed other recently transplanted rabbiteyes, including Tiffblue and Powderblue.
In its second leaf, Vernon put on some modest but respectable growth. Still no berries yet.
Ochlockonee is my best rabbiteye so far. Shakes off late freezes and produces tasty berries.
Climax grows well, but so far its berries have not tasted very good.
Brightwell survives in my orchard too, but it has been a weak grower here. No berries yet.
My orchard is in the z6b mountains, 1,600 feet above sea level, in an open clearing surrounded by mature hardwood forest. This is on the fringe of what rabbiteyes can handle. Not their ideal growing conditions. It gets hot here in summer, and they get a good amount of sun, but probably would like even more. They are planted on mounds amended heavily with peat moss, pine bark mulch, pine needles, hickory shells, soil acidifier, fish emulsion, and cottonseed meal.