Blueberries varieties recommendation

[The_Gardener Member Find all posts View Profile Close The_Gardener]

Hello,

I'm a first time blueberry grower, I just ordered two sweetcrisp plants from Wills, but I like to have about 3 to 4 different varieties that ripen at a different time, so can you guys please give me some recommendation on what varieties to grow? I like fruits that are sweet, and if the tree is evergreen, it's a plus in my book. The varieties that I've read about are (sunshine blue, bountiful blue, southmoon, star, emerald, misty, springhigh, springwide, o'neal, reveilie, sharpblue, and etc)

Thanks

[WillsC Admin / Owner Find all posts View Profile Close WillsC]

My favorites are SC, Windsor and Jewel But for your desire for evergreen there are 3 new varieties to watch for in the future Arcadia, Avanti and Endura. All 3 are truly evergreen and designed for warmer climates. They have now been released and are "available" but not to home growers and won't be for a LONG time as they fall under the new ridiculous rules from the university.

[Harborseal Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Harborseal]

I've heard that O'Neal is one of the best tasting BB around but I've never grown it and don't know anything about productivity and vigor.

[AscPete]

I grow O'Neal and Misty in pots they are productive and very tasty, much better than Northland, Jersey, Bluecrop and Elliot (Northern Highbush cultivars planted in ground zone 6)

[Gina Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Gina]

Hello,

I'm a first time blueberry grower, I just ordered two sweetcrisp plants from Wills, but I like to have about 3 to 4 different varieties that ripen at a different time, so can you guys please give me some recommendation on what varieties to grow? I like fruits that are sweet, and if the tree is evergreen, it's a plus in my book. The varieties that I've read about are (sunshine blue, bountiful blue, southmoon, star, emerald, misty, springhigh, springwide, o'neal, reveilie, sharpblue, and etc)

Thanks

Where do you live? The number of chill hours that your zone gets is important when choosing which varieties will work best for you. For example, O'Neal is a good tasting, older variety, but simply does not do well in my warm climate.

[WillsC Admin / Owner Find all posts View Profile Close WillsC]

He is east of LA Gina

[Blueboy1977 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Blueboy1977]

My earliest to ripen and one of the best tasting varieties I have is Springhigh. Decent production....a lot like SC it seems as I never have to thin fruit.

Emerald is mid season, big producer, stout healthy plant and the fruit is good if you can let it hang blue for at least a week and 1/2....with out the birds getting them! Fruit thinning is a must, it will way over produce if you let it and alittle more work.

SC is the bomb so what ever you do get more of those! You won't have enough of them I promise.

[The_Gardener Member Find all posts View Profile Close The_Gardener]

So far, I got one snowchaser, sunshine blue, southmoon, and two SC. The next one that I want to get is spring-high, it seems only FHN has them for Californian.

[Sarahkt Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Sarahkt]

I found some Springhigh plants on eBay from the seller helloorganics. He sells blueberry, blackberry, etc. varieties in 4-packs as quite small tissue culture plants but they grow quickly. Not sure if he still has them available, but he had other blueberries and blackberries last time I checked.

Also, I was kindly informed by DanW that O'Neal is apparently an amazing blueberry based on various reviews, if you have the chill hours for it. I'll be trying that one too!

[Gina Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Gina]

I tried growing O'Neal for a number of years, and it just didn't work here. Not enough chill hours. It would bloom and put out a modest number of fruits, but just not enough leaves so the fruits never ripened properly. But it has a good reputation for taste, so it was worth trying. I got rid of the last of my O'Neal last year.

Southmoon is one of my favorites. Great flavor and later ripening. It is also marginal chill-wise here, but it works much better than O'Neal did. I'm thinking of getting a couple more.

[Sarahkt Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Sarahkt]

I was worried about chill hours too, since this winter was a little odd and the blueberries bloomed and started putting out fresh leaves a lot sooner than I was expecting so I figured the blueberry crop might be lost if there was more cold weather/not enough bees in the upcoming weeks. But there's been at least two or three bees on the blueberries every day, and that's apparently been enough to set a TON of blueberries on Jewel, Star, Emerald, and some on the smaller and/or younger plants (Sweetcrisp, Springhigh, plus 1 each of Sharpblue, Misty, Tophat, and Sunshine Blue). Lots of clusters of blueberries getting bigger, some at full size now on the bigger bushes in 15-gal pots. The bushes are all setting out new leaves spectacularly too, so I think I've been worried about nothing.

So far I've only tasted Sunshine Blue homegrown, so I'm really looking forward to a varied crop this year. Am especially looking forward to the Sweetcrisp, Springhigh, and eventually O'Neal, maybe next year. I'd like to get a Windsor too, based on Wills' reviews.

[figgrower Veteran Find all posts View Profile Close figgrower]

I like Legacy--large plants, heavy production, and evergreen.

[The_Gardener Member Find all posts View Profile Close The_Gardener]

I like Legacy--large plants, heavy production, and evergreen.

It's listed for zone 5-8, don't know if this will work for Central California.

[Inkfin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Inkfin]

It's listed for zone 5-8, don't know if this will work for Central California.

I am unaware of number of chill hours you get in your area. Legacy requires 600-800 chill hours. Legacy, by the way, is one of the aluminum toxicity resistant variety. When the soil pH drops below 4.0, blueberry plants suffer with aluminum toxicity. Legacy is also resistant (moderate to high) to Anthracnose fruit rot and moderately resistant to mummyberry.

[The_Gardener Member Find all posts View Profile Close The_Gardener]

I am unaware of number of chill hours you get in your area. Legacy requires 600-800 chill hours. Legacy, by the way, is one of the aluminum toxicity resistant variety. When the soil pH drops below 4.0, blueberry plants suffer with aluminum toxicity. Legacy is also resistant (moderate to high) to Anthracnose fruit rot and moderately resistant to mummyberry.

Will try to add this into my collection in the future.

[Sarahkt Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Sarahkt]

If you're looking for evergreen varieties, I think it has more to do with your zone having mild enough winters, which in your zone should be fine. You would be fine with most southern highbush varieties in zone 9b. I'm in the same zone and even with a week or two of frosts all of my blueberry bushes kept their leaves and continued to grow, albeit more slowly, over the winter. Now that the bushes are growing more leaves, some of the older leaves are looking seedier and being shed.

[Italianstallon99 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Italianstallon99]

Is rabbit eye good??

[Blueboy1977 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Blueboy1977]

IMO brightwell is worth growing. Need to have another for pollination. There are some newer varieties I haven't tried that may be worth growing.