Southern or Northern Highbush Blueberry Bushes?

What would you guys choose for 8A, PNW, Mediterranean climate, 4200ft elevation, short season?

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I have been using this guide

You don’t want southern varieties because they were developed for low chill, but the PNW has maximum chill (about 2200 hours at the southern end, 3400 where I am)

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Do you live up past north bend towards the summit, or up towards mt Rainer or mt st Helen’s. I ask because raintree and burntridge are both up in the elevation between Raineer and st Helen’s.

Scratch that, must be on the back side of the Olympic peninsula to be rain shadowed to Mediterranean climate.

Not prying, promise. I just have piles of blueberry cuttings I would offer to give away if you are not to far away… They parents were all planted in 1980 and I have no idea what they area besides fruiting well around here. You also may be look in for adult plants and not small cuttings, no worries either way. :blush:

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I grow them all here,about 15 miles east of Seattle.
OP’s location is Shingletown,California,east of Redding.Is that right,Sarah?

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I guess just like it says in the bio. Ha

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Thank you so much for the link!

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Yes, that is correct. I am 40 miles away from Reeding. I’ll try to start paying attention to what direction, but I was born missing an internal compass.

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We live not far away from Mount Lassen. I’m not sure about the locations you mentioned. Does Mount Lassen ring a bell to you?

Thank you for the cuttings offer! I don’t mind cuttings, I know you just wait longer but that’s not a big deal. I’m waiting on a lot of things lol.

I did want to mention that Costco has a sale on a package of different plants that are all berries and grapes or 4 counts of only grapes raspberries or blueberries.

The grapes are White Marquis . The raspberries are Red Latham and the blueberries are Patriot and Bluecrop.

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When do you want them to get ripe? That’s how I decide.

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Mount Lassen is just east of Shingletown which is east of Redding.

You know, I’m thinking they might end up all blooming at the same time because I have a short growing season. I’m not sure I should even pay attention to when it’s supposed to ripen because the tree doesn’t know what month it is. It just goes by the weather, correct?

Case I point, my nectarine started budding “too early” because of El Niño. My garlic is shooting up at a time when we had a ton of snow last winter.

I am thinking the blueberries will probably start blooming at the same time at some point.

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Blueberries in Georgia are bred to ripen at certain times.
Early market and late market. Recently they’ve bred some for the middle and late zone. I would contact my county extension agent for the best varieties for your county. They are a wealth of knowledge.

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If you haven’t already, test your soil. It likely has a higher PH than blueberries prefer. Also, I would look for varieties that are tolerant of your 100*+ days you have in the summer.

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Thanks for the suggestions, the runoff from watering is 5.5, have not tested soil but we are in a coniferous forest and so there are a lot of pine needles (acidic). Also, we do not get 100 plus usually, those temps are normally 4200 feet lower, in the valley. We have snow right now.

I have four blueberry bushes right now and was looking at more, but was wondering if one was better for my location than others.

We have legacy, pink lemonade, sharp blue, and sweetheart.

I can’t tell you how good any of them are because I think we’ve had them a year and a half And last winter lasted darn near six months, and then the deer chewed them down Now all have grown so maybe this year or next.

I ordered the four pack of blueberries from Costco and then wondered if that was a good decision. Both varieties are northern highbush, patriot and blue crop. That is why I was asking. I don’t know if anyone near me that has cuttings so I’ve just been looking at plants when a reasonable price.

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Thank you for the suggestion.

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Wow do blueberry cuttings root easy? They look very healthy.

Another Northern Highbush,that I can recommend,that ripens in the early category,is Spartan.Could be my favorite.

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Any advice on places to get Spartan for a good price?

Also, I just found out pink lemonade is NOT self fertile and needs a friend to get berries.

Any advice on another rabbit eye variety?

I am so glad you sent me that guide as I found out my pink lemonade is a rabbiteye and needs a pollinator and I only have the one rabbiteye variety.

I added Pink Lemonade this year, I normally can’t grow rabbiteye, but this is really a hybrid. So it should grow here, I’ll find out soon. If it’s low producing I’ll just put in something else down the road. Worth a try. I have Nocturne which is part rabbiteye too, hoping that will be enough pollen. It’s known to have a lot of pollen and is considered self fertile because of it. Besides being a super cool blueberry. Gun metal blue with excellent flavor. Berries are red at first, turn to almost black, beautiful.

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