Which Blueberries to grow in zone 7a-7b

@Fusion_power

Interesting list.

How do Vernon and Krewer do compared to the other Rabbiteye?

I purchased Vernon, Krewer, and Titan last year. I have no idea yet how they will do compared to others. My expectation is that they will make a good crop of very large berries. Time will tell. :slight_smile: For now, I have to focus on keeping all of these alive. A blueberry is very susceptible to transplant shock. These need lots of care and regular watering to make it through the first summer.

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I understand. We planted a couple acres of bare root blueberries with no irrigation a long time ago and had a big drought the first summer. Fortunately, we planted around Thanksgiving so they had some time to become established but we lost a bunch anyway. An expensive learning experience for sure!

We plan to add some more early varieties that ripen with Premier but we are having trouble locating folks who have several years of experience with some of the Georgia varieties.

Iā€™m real impressed that you are able to grow rabbiteye, NHB and SHB. Are you growing in containers or in the ground?

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Iā€™ve been growing over a dozen rabbiteye varieties for well over a decade, and Premier is always one of the very first to ripen (although most of my rabbiteyes start pretty close to the same time.) The big difference I see with Premier is that it ripens a lot of berries in a fairly short window and then is completely done, so it definitely seems to finish a lot earlier than some other varieties. The quality of Premier seems to me to vary significantly from year to year, but some years itā€™s one of the best tasting and often the biggest.

Yadkin is my favorite overall. Brightwell is also very good. I like most of the rest, and some of the others are really good for extending the harvest season, but for taste those three are probably my favorites. I also grow Bonita, Centurion, Climax, Delite, Garden Blue (which is very tasty but very small), Ira, Montgomery, Onslow, Powder Blue, Tifblue, Woodardā€¦ I think thatā€™s all the rabbiteyes I have besides some unknowns/no-names. I planted two or three Legacy bushes. One survived a pretty long time but never hardly grew and I donā€™t think ever produced a single berry. Another Legacy bush is doing relatively better and is still alive, but I probably get 100 times as many blueberries from a good rabbiteye bush. I keep my blueberry bushes pruned to about 4-1/2ā€™, but I have to prune very aggressively to keep them from getting a lot taller.

Iā€™m in NC, right on the 7a/7b line. Some of my rabbiteyes are in pretty heavy red clay and doing just fine. I do mulch heavily with pine straw every year.

I had about given up hope in growing anything other than rabbiteyes here. Iā€™ve tried and failed with ONeal, a couple NHBā€™sā€¦ Grafting has renewed my hope in other types of blueberries. Grafting seems much easier than trying to make highbush types happy in my location. I have Reka grafted, and itā€™s doing very well and giving me blueberries a couple weeks ahead of my earliest rabbiteyes. I just grafted Oneal last year onto some unknown wild vaccinium I transplanted from the woods, and itā€™s doing well but only has a few berries so far. I want to try Sweetcrisp, Blueray, and Sunshine Blue, based on recommendations in this thread and things Iā€™ve heard others say before.

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My blueberries really struggle, even though they are supposed to do well in VA. I am in 8A - according to the new zone guidelines. (formerly a 7A-7B) We have acid soil . . . but perhaps I should have worked in more compost. Iā€™ve tried different spots in my yard . . . and many different varieties over the years.
Toro. Chandler. TifBlue. Blueray. Reka. Elliott. Oā€™Neal. (other ā€˜bluesā€™ whose names I cannot recall.) I keep trying - even have a few in pots. Pink Lemonade is one. This year I put a good handful of ā€˜Hollytoneā€™ in each pot - and they seem to have perked up quite a lot.

We get berries . . . but not enough to fill a bowl - or bake a pie. They trickle in and are fun to pick over a period of time.

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Are your Blueberries being grown in the ground or pots and has the pH of the water been tested?bb

PG, For your area, rabbiteye varieties would make more sense than northern and southern highbush varieties. Tifblue is the only rabbiteye I see in your list. Other than that, get a bale of peat moss and cover the soil under the plants with it. Cover the peat moss with pine straw. Fertilize enough to get the plants growing steadily.

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To piggy back off bb
Our tap water is 7.2 ph unless you have well water

Have you tried Ochlockonee rabbiteye? Researching for a friend and came upon it.

https://www.isons.com/shop/berry-plants/blueberry/rabbite-eye/ochlockonee-rabbiteye-blueberry-2-plant/

I havenā€™t tried any of the newer rabbiteyes. I donā€™t think Iā€™ve gotten any more rabbiteye varieties since 2007, and I donā€™t think any of the varieties I got then were especially new at that time. Some of the newer varieties definitely sound interesting, though.

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@Bradybb - I have not tested the ph of the water. Most of the time, I water with rain water. Naturally . . . and I collect it in barrels and large trash cans. Otherwise, I have a well and untreated water for garden use.
I have some of my blueberries in a bed - and others in pots. I will test the ph of the water. Thanks.

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We have not planted any of the newer rabbiteye varieties either but plan to this fall.

Itā€™s tough for me to get good info on the newer varieties, especially those not introduced by NCSU

I do have solid recommendations for these varieties from the Blueberry doctor for my PYO farm.

Columbus - NCSU

Robeson - NSCU

Krewer - UGA ?

Vernon - UGA

I also know that Titan produces very large fruit but has a tendency to split in a very wet season worse than Tiffblue does.

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Using University research results certainly is sensible. Still, a bit of trial and error by planting a few bushes of newer ones before doing a large planting might be useful, too.

(For instance, if I had depended on university studies, I would never have found that the hybrid ā€œSunshine Blueā€ works out well for me. I found no university studies on it in Kentucky 8 years ago when I first bought a dozen or so plants bareroot and planted them in straight rich soil high in clay ā€¦ in the Bluegrass of Kentuckyā€¦and they all lived. And if they had not, I would have had to replace them at my expense per the contract I had with the guy I planted them for.) So, would they be happier in sandy loam with a lower pH? Maybe.

I really like the idea of trial and error if you are young enough to see the results! If I had a longer time frame I would love to try dozens of varieties in my location and then plant a bunch of the best ones.

In this case we need to get an additional acre of blueberries into production quickly and with no do-overs. The blueberry specialist who works with growers all over my state, helped me carve my list into just a few that he had personally seen do well. Iā€™m only planting varieties that produce early fruit with larger size berries and no significant split or disease problems.

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Iā€™m curious what other varieties might have made your list if you were also interested in relatively later season varieties.

My focus is early and I have not looked at anything beyond Powder Blue so I canā€™t help much with the late varieties

My bird problem starts when Powder Blue are ripening so that is the end of my season. Powder Blue ripens with Tiffblue but with larger fruit and no splits during a wet spell.

I like Premier a lot and Climax a little less since its a smaller fruit

Columbus is highly recommended . Ripens between Premier and Power Blue - a NCSU introduction

Also adding: Robeson which is very early and sweet but too soft to ship - ripens after Legacy but before Premier another NCSU variety

Last 2 are Vernon and Krewer from UGA. Both early large and sweet and should do well in Piedmont NC

Forgot to mention Legacy. Although a SHB it grows almost as well as my Rabbiteyes. They are planted 3 feet apart and two Legacy produce about the same amount of fruit as one Rabbiteye

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If anyone is interested . . . Lowes here in Chesapeake had some really nice Legacy and Brightwell plants. I picked up 2 Legacy . . . thinking one was a Brightwell. I moved and switched - and changed my mind again . . . so many times . . . that I ended up with 2 of the same variety! (I make myself nuts!) :roll_eyes: Oh well.
Anyway . . . check out Lowes, if there is one nearby! Home Depot had really crappy looking, little scraggly blueberries this year, here.
I was late to the ā€˜blueberry gameā€™ this spring . . . whatever doesnā€™t do well this year - is coming out . . . and Iā€™ll place a Finch order in the fall !

Best potted blueberries here in area south of Lexington KYā€¦Tractor Supply had the best blueberries, at best pricing. Had both rabbiteye, and northern highbush.

But, I am just as pleased with progress on bare root plants I ordered from Burnt Ridge Nurseries. Wet weather, growing good.

I did notice one friend whose Sunshine Blue are starting to ripenā€¦that a lot of them are frozen and quality poor this year. Mine are OK, but that person said it got to 23 in MAY for their yard! Sure did freeze their redbud and Japanese maple treesā€¦which were in full leaf.
May end up killing them.

I will say this ALL of the blueberries are doing very well.

I fed hollytone once even though it was recommended a second. I only watered once and nature took care of the rest. still early. lot of summer to go through however but so far nothing has been a problem 1 bit. Beginners luck.

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Bumping an old one because Iā€™m 7a and just get overwhelmed looking a blueberry varieties. I had a couple unnamed big box clearance that did well at my old house. Have since moved. I pulled out the alzaleas and want to put in blue berries. The weather is so gorgeous I plan to prep the beds this weekend. But, that doesnā€™t mean Iā€™m in a hurry to plant. Just thinking about it again, and overwhelmed again my the choices. Iā€™d take a guess Iā€™m really near @PatapscoMike, given the state park nearby. What advice would you give me? Oā€™Neal or blueray I think from reading above.