Picked the last Blueberries here today, 3 Sept; Probably Brightwell.
Picked the first, FL 96-1, about 15 June.
Yeah Iād say OāNeal, blueray, and sweetcrisp. Thatās what Iām growing now and they are all delicious. Remains to be seen how productive sweetcrisp is because theyāre young. Iām on Daniels Road just above PVSP.
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Here in zone 7a ā¦ southern middle TNā¦
I have 2 climax that were started in 2018.
They were my first to ripen and produced fruit 5/30 - 6/30.
Great flavor, large sweet berriesā¦ way better than store bought. They are my older more mature bushesā¦ the rest below are younger/ smallerā¦ except one of my Tiffblue is quite largeā¦ got it from a different nursery and it was large on arrival and has done well.
Also haveā¦
4 - Brightwell. Ripened fruit 6/25 - 7/25
2 - Tiffblue ripened fruit 6/25 - 8/05
2 - Powderblueā¦ 6/30 - 8/05.
I liked them allā¦ absolutely no complaintsā¦ expect the younger ones will get better as they mature.
Ranking them by flavor/sweetnessā¦
1ā¦ Climax
2ā¦ Tiffblue
3 & 4 (tie) Brightwell & Powderblue
This could change as my younger bushes mature.
Yadkin is now on my list to try next time.
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I gave away my climax bushes because they were so much later than my other berries. I was sick of picking blueberries by the time they were ripe. I thought the flavor was pretty decent but not nearly as good as OāNeal or blueray.
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Thanks! It itās so overwhelming. And then being mid-Atlantic, do we narrow it down to southern or northern. LOL
FWIW, Iām down the 29 a slight bit in Columbia. Spitting distance from Wilde Lake. It seems there are a bunch of HoCo folks on this board. We just moved from Nabbs Creek in AA county this spring.
My blueberries are containerized, so that affects ripening time, as does the fact I keep them in part shade. But, I picked my last Premier just 4 or 5 days ago.
My Aurora highbush has been last, but it ripened early this year for some reason. And this is only the second year Iāve had the rabbiteyes here in KYā¦but planted some in North Carolina 15 or so years ago.
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My favorite is Oneal due to its superb taste but also because it is early. Most of the berries are ready to be picked before the SWD show up.
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@PatapscoMike ā¦ could be a location thing on the Climaxā¦ I noticed Auburn gave them high Markās tooā¦ he is in ALā¦ I am in southern TNā¦ similar growing conditions.
Univ TN extension says thisā¦
Recommend rabbiteye varieties for TN growers. Tiffblue and Climax are in their recommended list.
They warn that HB varieties are more succeptable to late frostā¦ which is a big issue for me. I will be avoiding those.
They do say the HB varieties can be grown successfully in TNā¦ but in higher elevation regionsā¦ (cooler regions) and that irrigation system is recommended for HB.
Blueray is one of the HB varieties recommended for those type locations in TNā¦ also Bluecrop Herbert Coville Berkly Jersey.
It gets very hot and humid here in southern middle TNā¦ sounds like I need to stick with Rabbiteyes.
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Depends on if you have room and interest in being āadventurousā.
For a large planting, Iād do the University recommends for starters.
For home use and for curiosity sake, I try any of them.
Iām even going to try āEmeraldā if the big box store puts it on closeout.
Itās a gulf coast variety.
A number of the highbush can take several degrees of freezing during bloom and still produce.
If a really cold year happensā¦rabbiteye varieties may not survive here. But āSunshine Blueā has lived after -19 and has fruitedā¦a southern highbush variety that I tested and like. (Used to be it listed for zones 7-9, but it does fine in 6bā¦in fact theyāve moved it to z.5-z9 in recent lists).
I try a plant of most any at least once!
A little more info I found onlineā¦
From Univ Tenn Hort article link belowā¦ (Dated March 2012)
Note that article is dated 2012, and it list some New Varietiesā¦ which today are not nearly as new.
It does show that Climax is a Early Season berry and that is true for meā¦ it Ripens first of the ones I haveā¦ then my other varieties all ripen about the same time Tifblue, Brightwell, Powderblue (very similar ripening time, Mid season).
These are my climax berries in TN
One reason I included a couple of Tifblue in my collectionā¦ was that one of the UT articles read said that some blueberries bloom early, some mid, some lateā¦ but Tifblue blooms early, mid and lateā¦ (extended blooming) so it will pollinate any others you have.
My Larger Tiffblue put out some nice sized (medium sized at least) and tasty berries this yearā¦ and it was my longest fruting bush.
On the UT Hort siteā¦ I found this articleā¦
Published by : University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service
Which gives a farily detailed description of some of the varieties we have mentionedā¦
Northern High Bush.
Southern High Bush
Rabbiteye
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@TNHunter reminded me - letās see what the local extension office has to say. One of these days Iāll remember to check that first 
For Maryland Selecting Varieties, Planting, and Growing Blueberries | University of Maryland Extension
And again, seeing the same names come up again and again.
Thanks @RubyTue ā I see your article shows both Blueray and Oneal are mentioned as doing well in hot climates or being heat tolerantā¦
When I try NHB or SHB varietiesā¦ sounds like those may be the ones to try.
I will put them on my āTry next time listā.
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Blueray and OāNeal also ripen at the same time, which is nice if you want to do all your picking and preserving at once. OāNeal is a week or two earlier, but close enough.
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TNHunter,
Iām not trying to dissuade you from planting a few NHBs, but from our experience, volume of berries produced by rabbiteyes will be 10X that of the NHBs.
We started out with NHBs, 'cause the UofKY fruit extension folks did not recommend rabbiteyes or SHBsā¦ 10 years out, we planted a few REs my Dad rooted from his bushes back in AL (no idea what variety they were).
With 4 young kids, quantity was of utmost importanceā¦ one of them could easily eat a gallon of BBs in a day. The NHBs were left in the dust by REs as far as productivity was concerned.
15 yrs later, we do not have a single NHB left; almost all REs and a few SHBsā¦ but Iāve mostly lost IDs, so I couldnāt tell you which are Climax, Premier, Tifblue, Woodard, Brightwell, etc. All taste good to me, and if you leave them on the bush to full ripeness (takes some patience, early-on, not to pick them just as soon as they turn blue), theyāre all sweet. Friends weāve been sharing berries with this summer have raved about how sweet they are!
Kinda like American persimmonsā¦ I canāt really ascertain much flavor difference from one bush to another.
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Blueray, then Aurora produced the most for me this year. But my one to three year old rabbiteyeās did fair for a first crop. And my Brightell died either from late cold or from too much moisture in itās container from rainfallā¦in a 10 gallon pot.
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I want to strongly second everything Lucky said there about blueberries/rabbiteyes. (The only thing Iām tempted to disagree about is American persimmons.) Iāll add that Iāve pretty much given up on growing SHBās and NHBās on their own roots but Iām growing a few as grafts, mainly because they offer the potential for substantially extending blueberry season on the front end. It seems like early SHBās and NHBās can be nearly a month earlier than the earliest rabbiteys.
Hello,
Iām hoping to resurrect this thread again. Iāve read all responses and see thereās a lot of good info here already. But, I am still confused about a few things related to blueberries and canāt find the answers on the internet. Iām in 7a (Delaware) and am planning to plant 4 plants in the spring, each in their own 4x4āx8ā raised bed all in a row along a fence (feedback on this plan welcome). As others have said, Iām overwhelmed by choosing varieties. My original plan was to go with 4 NHB that ripen at different stages to extend the picking season as much as possible.
First questions: how do I know what is a good pollinator partner for a given plant? Is it enough to have a partial overlap in blooming period? Is it better to match the blooming period as close as possible?
After reading this thread I am now convinced that I should go with Blueray (NHB) and OāNeil (SHB) for two of the plants.
Next questions: can NHB and SHB pollinate each other? Or should I pick another NHB to pollinate Blueray and another SHB to pollinate OāNeil? (Note: I do realize they self pollinate but keep reading everywhere that planting next to a different variety will yield larger and higher quantity berries)
Last question: do you have any recommendations for my other two plants? I was thinking about Hardyblue because I read itās the sweetest NHB but did not see anyone mention it here.
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Pollination (crosspollination) isnāt needed for almost all Northern highbush.
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Thanks @BlueBerry. But what I keep reading is things like ā While self-pollinating (Duke Blueberry Plant - Stark Broās), this variety benefits from cross-pollination with other cultivars, producing even larger yields.
I take this to mean that itās always better to cross pollinate. Is this not true?
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There are exceptions to many things that are accepted as fact. Varieties that are fully self fertile might possibly produce a little bit larger berries due to the seeds inside them all being fat from full fertilization.
But, mostly, nurseries such as Stark are hoping to sell a second plant.
(Reminds me of non-profit organizations recommending you be sure and send in your contribution before the end of the year so itāll help on your income taxes. They never say, you might be better off waiting until January to make a contribution if you canāt use the deductions on the current years taxes!! lol)