I used to grow about a dozen NHB varieties here in 7B Maryland.
Blueray was my clear favorite.
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In my limited experience, Pink Lemonade doesnāt produce [much]. Iām in Silver Spring MD.
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Over the past 10 years there are 4 days that went below 5F. Two where 4F, One 0F, and One -3F. These where the lowest. I think I will try it and maybe mulch with wood chips with some greens to heat it up before January. I donāt know maybe.
I was going to get a few Blueberry Bushes from Florida Hill. Is there something wrong with this place? I donāt know of there reputation
Yes, see I donāt really care about this sour, bitter, tart berries. I never ever really enjoyed a bitter blueberry. I had this saying that you needed to buy a pound of blueberries to get 12 sweet berries. I dislike tart berries. I find plenty of flavor in sweet berries and donāt need tartness for my taste buds.
I got clay too. 5-5.5 ph Im glad you can just drop rabbit eyes in it. I am however so very disappoint to hear about your pink lemonades. I will try it and see what it does.
I looked at Blueray on burpee. What makes it your favor
Can you describe what you mean by taste as it could mean a balance of tart and sweetness. I am after sweetness no tart.
If im not mistaken from what I read the grocery store blueberries are highbush mostly bred for production. What about the Blueray and oneal you like in its taste and growth
They have a super bad reputation for mislabeling their plants. Such as they sold dozens of plants as Sweet Crisp to many member here, and it was something else. It didnāt seem like an honest mistake as they refused to fix the problem with any customer.
As far as tartness, with many itās just a matter of letting them ripen longer. They all taste fairly sweet if left to hang blue a month. The sweetest blueberries I have tasted are Toro, which can be tart if bad conditions. Cloudy, cold, rainy. The berries never sweeten up. The very sweetest for me has been Pink Popcorn. It has been sweet every year even bad ones. I grow only plants that are at least partial northern highbush. Iām not in a warm area. Although I like it! I tried sweet Crisp and gave up on it and all southerns. They bloom way too early for this zone. I tried to delay bloom but nothing worked. Other plants I could but not blueberries.
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Kansas has alkaline soil but i mixed an area once with sulphur and grew blueberries after a year of bringing down the ph. Gooseberries are much sweeter in kansas than blueberry
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I remember big and sweet, no tart.
I do a taste test at work most years. I wait until everything is ripe then I take in every kind of blueberry I am growing at the time- not a lot but 4-6 varieties that have varied over the years. I usually try to bring in store-bought berries also. 90% of the time people tasting them all prefer OāNeal berries. They are very sweet and have such a bright flavor. I have heard many, many times people saying they couldnāt believe how good the berries tasted, that they didnāt know blueberries could taste like that. No one has ever not liked my OāNeal or blueray berries. Both are sweet but with a good blueberry flavor. But as everyone is pointing out, each spot is different. You just need to plant them and see what happens.
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Maybe I should give OāNeal another try. Something like 20 years ago, I wasnāt happy with itā¦and my written notes were destroyed in a fire, so I donāt recall all the āwhyā.
Elliott is another that I avoid, too small for one thing. Legacy and Liberty are two Iād like to try, but havenāt.
Been growing blueberries for some years. My 2 favorites for taste had been Oneal and Legacy. However, Carteret is also now a favorite since I planted one a couple of years ago.
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volume is king here. #2 son will eat a gallon of blueberries in a day. no joke.
then thereās the robins and mockingbirds
NHBs neednāt applyā¦they canāt compete with REs for sheer productivity.
Flavor? yeah, REs can be tart unless you leave them on the bush for a few days after they reach full colorā¦ but we also find that they sweeten up quite nicely just sitting in a bucket on the kitchen counter for a couple of days after picking.
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Mine do fine. I have to thin Liberty as it just produces too many berries!
After thinning. Not a big plant yet.
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Iām in zone 6b/7a and have much better luck with Rabbit eyes. Iāve grown and replanted and grown pink lemonade many times over the years and never had much luck at all. They are not vigorous at all, either in terms of the plant, leaves, or fruit. They always (at least in my soil which I amend a great deal) seem to be unhealthy and they produce 1/2 the fruit of other BB their size. Iāve seen lots of other people say this as well. They are pretty tasty, but nothing spectacular. Iāve continued to try with them just because they are unique (you donāt see many pink blueberries) but unless you are really interested in them for that reason, Iād advise you not bother. Just my two cents-others may feel otherwise but I doubt it from what Iāve seen
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Iām guessing you live very near to me.
Iāve done ok with potted blueberries on the southside of Richmond, but last year the birds stole everything. Iāve got a bunch of northerns, and Springhigh & Sweetcrisp this year. Springhigh & Sweetcrisp both started flowers really early, though. Theyāre in bloom right now.
I donāt really know if they will work in-ground with Richmondās red clay everywhere.
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Thatās good to hear that as I have debated getting this 4 or 5 times! I do have a real northern rated to zone 3 Pink Popcorn. The berries can be eaten when they are white. The birds donāt touch them. When fully ripe they are a light pink. Much lighter than Pink Lemonade. The 2nd year PP fruited and the berries were very sweet but not much flavor. The 3rd year the berries came in 2 waves. The 2nd wave if left way pink were really good.
You have to get used to them They are not firm, but they are not soft either. They are chewy! Kinda waxy! Off putting at first. As this 2nd year of fruit went on these berries got better and better and I started liking the chewy texture. They ripen super early, it produced very well the 2nd and 3rd year for a little plant. If this ever gets big as it tends to sprawl like a half high. Oh this is really a northern and might not grow in zone 7 or 8? I just donāt know? Out of Minnesota U of M or MSU developed it. I like this plant a lot!
My wife is the ultimate judge. I told here Iām growing purple and red potatoes this year, she says gimmick! I say potatoes with antioxidants! Plus you get to eat something purple isnāt that enough? 
So when she saw these white to pink blueberries her thoughts were āgimmickā She had a very bad first impression. Plus the berries were not that good the first year the plant fruited. But by the end of the 2nd year of fruiting my wife said āthose pink blueberries are really good!ā I was shocked! OK itās a keeper!!!
The berries are chewy and have a mild blueberry flavor, no tartness, very sweet even when fully white. Leave on till pink for best flavor. They can hang a month easy! Birds donāt bother them. Unknown how it grows in warmer zones? Iām zone 5b/6a seems to grow well here. This is a winner for me! I started liking the chewy texture! Reminds me of candy! At first I didnāt like it. I kept eating them, and love them now. A really nice plant!
This is the kind of thing you just cannot buy. It is why I grow my own!
No photos I will document the crap out of it this year. So early I wasnāt thinking of photos yet. Way before SWD problems berries are ripe!! Ripens before Spartan. Keeps ripening for some time. Iāll know more as plant becomes older.
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Yes we are neighbors. Im going to be mixing some peat with the local soil as it has good minerals and 5.5 ph. Only gonna use a bit though. A lot of people say use some organic matter in the soil but im not sure what exactly to add thatās not going to eventually raise the ph. I want to bury a fish under one wonder how it will turn out. Id love to try any of your fruits if you are feeling in the southern hospitality like mood even though every body here is so rude lol
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it should do okay here. its on the list. It can be done in zone 7 butā¦ sometimes here our summers feel like its so hot. Im gonna give it a shot where did you get yours from?
wow. If my plant got just this big id be completely happy
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