Blueberries

Variety	Ripens	Characteristics	Fruit Size	Chill Hours	Pollinator
Climax	Early	Earliest Rabbiteye, sweet, ripens quickly	Medium-large	450	One other variety at least
Tifblue	Mid to late	Heaviest bearing, sweet, good flavor	Medium-large	550	One other variety at least
Premier	Early to mid	Heavy bearing with firm fruit, keeps well	Largest	550	One other variety at least
Brightblue	Early	Productive	Medium-large	350-400	One other variety at least
Powderblue	Mid	Heavy bearing	Medium-large	550	One other variety at least
Austin	Mid	Productive, upright	Medium	450	One other variety at least
Star	Early compared to rabbiteyes, possibly as early as late April (late for a highbush)	Southern high bush, earliest varieity, sweet and somewhat tart, short three week harvest season with heavy yield	Large	400	One other variety at least
O’Neal	Early	Southern high bush, good flavor, earlier than most varieties	Medium	400	One other variety at least
Magnolia	Early	Southern high bush, earlier than Rabbiteye varieties, good flavor and color, productive	Medium-large	500	One other variety at least

Note: Blueberries will self pollinate to some degree. They will bear much more fruit if two or more varieties are planted nearby. Southern highbush varieties only require a few hundred chill hours to properly bloom and set fruit compared to over 1,000 for other highbush plants. All varieties not shown as a highbush are Rabbiteyes. Ripening time depends upon how long the winter is, but the earliest Rabbiteye, Climax, usually bears in early June.

Southern highbush varieties were developed by crossing Northern highbush varieties with Rabbiteyes. The Southern highbush varieties tend to ripen earlier than Rabbiteyes but have low chill hour requirements like Rabbiteyes. Using the two types in combination may allow a good grower up to five months of blueberry production.

Last Updated on Thursday, 21 January 2010 17:17