Some consider this Northern, funny, it has both in it. Grows great here too. I consider it northern. Although it is about 75% SHB 25% NHB, enough to work well here. A great plant for sure!
Here in the north NHB out produces everything else. i have a couple SHB I’m trying too. And they don’t do well here so far. But I have hope I can fix the problem.
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I thought all SHB’s were hybrids of NHB’s. In other words, I didn’t think there was any such thing as a pure SHB without NHB genes. And I thought all such hybrids, whether 50% or 25% NHB or whatever were all normally classified as SHB’s.
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My understanding is SHB was developed by crossing NHB with Rabbiteye, or wild southern species found in Florida.
OK, I’m getting old so looked into it a little more. Here’s some info.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs1245
Looks like their is a native wild highbush that grows in the south. As stated in the first paragraph. I used to have links to Legacy’s lineage, but lost the link in a crash (found it!). I know it evergreen blueberry in it too.
I was looking at the ARS cultivars, Legacy, Cara’s Choice and others and they use the evergreen blueberry (Vaccinium darrowii) a lot. Legacy has the darrowii cultivar “Florida 4B” crossed with Bluecrop. This plant is then crossed with Elizabeth. .They grow hundreds of this cross and Legacy was one of the better ones.
Here’s an example how the terms Southern and Northern are used in crosses. In this example it’s the cultivar Sweetheart. Is Sweetheart a Northern or a Southern?
https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md/beltsville-agricultural-research-center/genetic-improvement-for-fruits-vegetables-laboratory/docs/sweetheart/
4 years ago this coming fall I planted 8 Northerns, 8 Southern High Bush and 8 Rabbiteyes. I only have 2 Southern HB remaining and only 1 Northern HB from each of those initial 8 each. All 8 of my Rabbiteyes (climax and premier) are absolutely thriving with a big crop last year and this year looks even better although a late frost (April 20) did significant damage. The Rabbiteyes are all over 5 feet tall now, many are over 6 feet tall. Pretty good for starting out as 1-2 ft barerooters.
The replacements for the dead Northerns and Southerns have all been Rabbiteyes (Ochlockonee, Brightwell and Tif-blue) and are thriving. Can’t say enough about Rabbiteyes in Middle South TN/KY area where I live. Also, they are extremely drought and heat tolerant as I don’t water them at all. They only get what nature provides. The only thing I give them is a consistent twice a year dose of cottonseed meal and sometimes hollytone.
When it comes to taste the Southern Highbush was the best in my opinion(and the wife’s) and the largest size but the taste wasn’t significantly better enough to justify planting more when their fickleness ultimately led to only 2 surviving out of 8.
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@zazlev, when do your rabbiteyes ripen? I’ve been trying to choose early ripeners which is why I haven’t tried rabbiteyes here in VA yet. I haven’t been able to find clear ripening times for our area.
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@irby Last year my first harvest of Rabbiteyes for Climax and Premier was on June 17 and I harvested for another 6-7 weeks. Below are a few pics from June 17, 2017. Also, my understanding is Ochlockonee is another week or so behind Climax and Premier.
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It’s nice when you find what works in your area. Always best to get those first and then experiment if you want to. Here it’s Northerns. They grow 5 or 6 feet tall here. Mine have not bloomed yet, so rabbiteye is not really meant for this area in lower Michigan. Today the first plum flowers opened. So it gives an idea how late we are here. Strawberries are not blooming yet.
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Drew, since you are growing NHB’s what kind of growth have you seen after one, two and three years? Three of mine, planted last year, are no more than 2ft tall at this point, looking a bit bushy. The other, a Blueray is about 3ft tall, and that’s from one cane, with another couple of them shorter. I’m wondering if they’re not doing very well. I was worried that my Nelson plant didn’t make it through the winter, but it looks like it’s finally waking up along with the others. But, it also is the latest producer, so that might be the reason. Are your plants awake yet?
I imagine they might not have done well last year because I only gave them one dose of Hollytone. I’ve already ferted them last week, and plan to give them a couple more doses over the next few months.
Just waking up, no flowers open. You too may want to try rabbiteye, They do not grow extremely fast at first, seems they do pick up with time. Still too early to say if you have a problem. You may be far enough north for them to be fine. Still I would try some rabbiteyes next year, or now! Blueberries do like to eat! Nitrogen hogs! I put on an organic only a month ago, before growing. Yesterday gave them some soluble food for the first time. And another dose of organics. Once a month. Usually the first of the month after growing I give them both. now good till June 1st. In 2 weeks the organic will kick in, so it’s like they get a dose every 2 weeks.
Ok, thanks. I think I’ll give them a shot of HT once a month this year. When do you stop feeding them so they don’t suffer winter injury?
Rabbiteyes may work out here, but I honestly don’t need any more berry plants! I have about 48 strawberry plants in the backyard, and 4 bloobs, 4 gooseberries, 12 rasps, and 8 blacks scattered all over the farm. Add to that 29 trees, and I have my hands full. I still need to mulch and fert all of my trees, and now it’s time to get the veggie plots ready. I plowed last week and will be discing them tomorrow. Lots to do!
Yes, usually August 1st will be the last time. I did have some winter injury this year, so definitely stopping.
Yes, I’m jammed always in the spring. I don’t really need more plants too! I have 19 trees in ground, many have grafts too, 7 in pots. 16 dogwoods at my cottage, cornus mas. One cherry tree left there. Also a beech tree, bamboo, elderberries. many of the trees require none to little care like elderberry, service berry, dogwoods, beech, quince, and mulberry. Harvest is unreal, ton’s of fruit. If you count figs as trees, well I have about 35 of them, 1 orange and 4 pomegranates. This is crazy what the hell am I doing!? .
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I am in South Carolina, I have only rabbiteye.
Of the hundred plants I have, about half are suckers from other gardener, who did not know the name, only that they were rabbiteye.
I have **Southland,
Premier
Tifblue
Climax
Brightwell
Austin
Some are over 25 years old, a few are only eight years old.
have many suckers, so the only reason to buy another Blueberry is size or late season.
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I assume then most blueberries are grown from cuttings/suckers rather than grafted?
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Yes.
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I have never heard of anyone grafting blueberries.
Graft must make a plant better, like American persimmon has a better root system than a Japanese persimmon. So grafting Japanese on the American root system make a better plant.
Other wise it is a waste of time, hybridizing may work, but it would take years to complete. Some blue berry plants do not suck, I have two plant here in South Carolina, that do not sucker, so we root the cutting. The eight or so that sucker can put out a hundred sucks in
ten years. you can use the sucker root like a stem cutting, like black berry root cuttings.
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I am in southern TN and grow rabbiteyes… tifblue, climax and a few others.
Our TN Ag recommends rabbiteyes … so I did that.
They have been no fuss… easy to grow… and work fine in my naturally 5.5 ph soil.
My older bushes are 7 ft tall 5-6 ft wide and produce lots of berries. Absolutely loaded with fruit this year.
The birds do love them… and to make sure we get our share i bag the berry clusters… so I can let them ripen properly and get max flavor and sweetness.
When my blueberries are not producing… we buy blueberries regularly from our local super walmart and other grocery stores.
My home grown rabbiteyes are better than most of the store-bought berries by a long shot.
I hear from several here that Yadkin is a very good rabiteye… tasty/sweet… and I plan to try it at my new home location.
If you grow rabbiteyes and have some early, mid and late ripeners… you should have a Tifblue or two in the mix. Tifblue has a long bloom time… it blooms some early mid and late… and will pollinate many other varieties because of that.
Good luck !
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I grafted O’Neal and Reka onto Tifblue because the rabbiteyes are more adaptable to a wider range of soils and grow well for me, but O’Neal and Reka are earlier ripening. On their own roots they struggled to grow in the same soil in which rabbiteyes thrive.
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Now I know &, (not that you should care what I think) your graft makes
sense, as it improves your plant. Thanks for the insight.
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Oh, that’s something I hadn’t thought of. That’s southern highbush on rabbiteye, yes?
Wonder if northern highbush on rabbiteye is a thing…
Yes. But a lot depends on chill hours.
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