I’m in the Northern San Joaquin Valley in California, zone 9b. We had some pretty severe heat last summer, hottest reaching 110 in July and a string of days over 105.
Looking for something that will survive the heat, sweet and with good flavor. High production is less important.
Thanks,
gary
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Rabbiteye or southern highbush would be best choices. How many chill hours do you have?
Look into Brightwell, Vernon, Krewer, O’Neal, and Star.
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For what it’s worth… I am a little west of you, in the east bay hills. Just the other day I was asking my blueberry-growing neighbors what their favorite was, and they both answered O’Neal without hesitation.
Adding: My O’Neal bush has been badly neglected and has finally been put in a good location, and it’s looking like it will produce a good fruit set, especially considering what it’s been through.
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Definitely prefer Highbush plants here. Many rabbiteyes suffer frost bloom damage. And have years of off production.
A good pdf read of Georgia’s Blueberry cultivars could be good for your area:
We do have good luck with Alapaha and premier as rabbit eye partners.
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Rabbit eyes will stand the heat, but as said above, late frosts may whack the bloom. Also, Ison nursery recommends to grow 2 or 3 different varieties for cross pollination. May want to get a mixture of early, mid and late fruiting ones.
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UC Davis only shows the current season. Google AI says we get 1000+ hours but I find that suspect. I’d guess less than a thousand at this point, the winters are getting warmer.
We only had a couple of days of frost this year, in late February.
I’m going to check the local nurseries to see what, if anything, is sill available.
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You might check Home Depot. They had Vernon blueberries in containers just last week.
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Here’s a video with Ed Laivo,at his home in Modesto.This may have a similar climate.
I like his choices,except for Reveille and want to try Southmoon,since seeing this.
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Thanks for the replies. Looks like I’m too late for this year. I’ll have to plan better. It’ll give me time to work on my soil.
Cheers!
gary
I recommend Sweet Crisp, Southmoon, and O Niel southern high bush blueberries. These are by far the best choices in the Sacramento area with very similar weather conditions. Also, blueberries ripen before the excessive heat of the summer. Good luck, remember to use acidic soil!
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I never trust google ai or my local weather apps. lol
UC Davis does give several years here’s a link. Chill Calculator | Fruit & Nut Research & Information Center
And here’s a pic I snapped of your chill hours. You can choose different locations by you too.
Thanks, I wasn’t digging deep enough. 2023-2024 shows 1,150 hours between 32-45 degrees. I have a calculator on a mothballed computer that I used for years, I thought I was through with plants with needed that kind of information. I’m just growing potatoes and onions, now. Otherwise, I’m down to just long-established mulberries and pears (Warren, gets a bit of fireblight and keeps on ticking). My apple and peach trees (only one of each) have “aged out” and I haven’t replaced them.
I had one blueberry plant, probably 30 year ago. It didn’t do well and since then I’ve only considered them in passing. I’m a bit lazy and they seemed too much like work.
I visited two nurseries today, one only had four “Star” plants. The other had about 5 different varieties. The only one I recognized was “Misty” (not that I’m at all knowledgeable . I bought one of those.
I have a few months to study up on other varieties. I’d prefer to buy local to maybe save on shipping but the two nurseries here don’t show much interest in them.
They also never have anything on dwarfing rootstocks for trees like cherries and peaches.
Going to take a soil sample in to get tested next week.
Star is a flavorful variety.The Misty I had produced many small berries,but one grower said,he had better fruiting with his.
Star was recommended as a pollination partner with O’Neal. I listed it as a suggested variety above. My Star is a fairly productive plant. I had to work on the soil for a few years to get it adjusted where Star was happy. Now that pH and organic matter are at the right level, it is growing and producing as expected. It is also a tasty blueberry though IMO O’Neal is far better.
Misty produces medium large acidic/semi sweet fruit. The Sweetcrisp, Southmoon, and O Neil are soo much better, look for those varieties! I would not ever buy Misty again, too tart. I have tried most varieties here in Orangevale Ca. and I like sweet tart fruit, but not tart fruit!
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I guess my mother will be making pies 
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Chandler is my favorite. I don’t know how it’ll handle your heat, but I can say it’s been unfazed by my few days in the 100s. Very large, tasty berries too.
Everything I read about Misty says spicy-sweet, medium-large, heavy producer. It was the one of those available to me that I remembered. Maybe that was just “propaganda”. There was no Southmoon. I read good things about It. There was no O’Neil, which surprised me. I’d heard of it before. There was no Sweet Crisp. Isons only shows rabbiteyes. I wasn’t deliberately ignoring your suggestions. I memorized the names before heading out. I just had little to choose from this late in the season so I decided to give Misty a try.
I read that it’s best to plant in the fall. Is that true or does it only apply to bare-root? If true are there any online nurseries that ship in the fall?
I’m doing this because my mother always complains that blueberries aren’t fit to eat. She’s 93 and her kidneys are starting to fail. She may only have a few years left and I want to give her the opportunity to taste a fully ripe blueberry and not form her opinion based on those hard, flavorless things from a grocery store.
gary
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