No opinion on the blueberry variety for your climate, I live in Wisconsin, so what grows here has no relevance. However, I am up on pH & blueberries, so I will say that you must know the pH of the irrigation water you are using on these shrubs. Neutral water is OK-but if your tap water has dissolved limestone, it will be very difficult to keep the shrubs healthy, for very long. Rainwater would be perfect, if you can collect enough.

Patty:

Try Emerald and Jewel if you want huge production. Some growers in your area are getting two crops a year off these varieties. Both are very low chilling, will leaf out good in spring, and carry a good leaf canopy thru winter.

A new very low chilling variety I'm trying is Sweetcrisp. The name describes it's attributes. I have hope that it will be better than most for eating quality.

Misty sets huge crops but isn't known for eating quality. Sunshine Blue is supposed to be more tolerant than most of high pH and might be worth a try.

I'm also trying Scintilla, Farthing and Primadonna, all low chill vigorous varieties.

Southmoon is a decent choice that many like. Quality is above average. It's very low chilling and evergreen.

All the varieties I mentioned are about 200 hrs. Emerald and Southmoon, which is sometimes listed at 400 hrs, will I think flower with almost zero chilling.

Here is a link that might be useful: low chill blueberries

Patty:

I've used the following to try to get sweeter blueberries.

Let them hang longer after they turn blue. I have on occasion let Southmoon hang 6 wks. They've taken on a much stronger flavor that I like and have been sweeter. But this hasn't worked all years.

Hold back a little on water. Apply about 80% of full watering. This one can be tricky but does work.

Prune or thin berries to reduce crop load. The easiest way to reduce crop load is to nip the ends off all or most of the small wood. Too many berries and not enough leaves will ruin fruit quality. That is why I stressed strong leafing in the earlier post.

Aim for 8-12 inch fruiting shoots but don't apply more nitrogen than needed.

I'm really hoping that Sweetcrisp will be "the one" for quality. It's supposed to be similar to Bluecrisp which is highly acclaimed but I've never been able to find. It doesn't overset fruit which can be critical to high eating quality. I also like the suggestion that it will hang on the bush for a long time after getting ripe because that's how I've had by far my best eating berries.

I'll have first fruit on about 6 of these varieties in a couple months. So more later.

Patty:

I'm in Poway, and planted b-berries about a month ago.
When selecting what to plant you have to choose cultivars

1. with low chill hour requirements.
2. 2 different varieties for improved production.

After a lot of research I've chosen O'Neal & Misty (200 chill hrs) both are blooming at the same time, and have very good reviews.
I purchased them from Walter Andersen's nursery in Poway.

Jeff

I am in Houston and grow Oneal, Georgia Gem, Misty, and Legacy. To my tastes they are similar. Misty has been a shy bearer for me. All my varieties have to be all the way ripe....very dark before they sweeten. A couple of days difference in color varies sweetness greatly. If I had to start over, I would grow the traditional low chill rabbit eyes. They are much sweeter and tastier compared to the high bush that I grow.

Wow, thanks everyone, great response! Waiting for Kevin (applenut) to weigh in, running downstairs now to grab his apple tree book that has a free chapter about blueberries - forgot about that! Fruitnut, as always, excellent info, appreciate it and looking forward to your report on all your varieties. Wish I could grow more than just three, but I have to put them in containers for proper soil and moisture, and to keep varmints away. Jeff, I was eyeing O'Neal, good to know you're trying them. Think you get more chill hours than I do, as you're more inland than me, but I may just try O'Neal and see how it does for me. Kingwood, you mention O'Neal, too, this is encouraging. Eric, my water's pH runs from 7.0 to 7.9, so not that bad. And, it's easy to adjust the pH by putting a few drops of vinegar in the water bucket. Plus, these blueberries will be in very large pots that will be filled with special azalea/camellia potting soil, top dressed probably once or twice a year with a wee bit of sulphur and fertilized with azaelea/camellia fertilizer. The perks of container gardening ;-) Plus, they'll be up high and super easy to net and to pick. I actually have THREE big pots, so I think I'll try to pick three varieties and see which end up doing the best for me, as well as which ones I like the taste of the best. Hoping I get enough to be able to make some blueberry preserves. Yummm!

Patty S.

You sound like you have about the same number of chill hours I have. Haven't found a way to calculate those, yet, or a web site that has a way to check my chill hours (UC Davis' site doesn't really have a station close to me, so I use the Mirmar station to estimate chill hours). I wasn't going to try Misty as I was reading it wasn't as sweet as other varieties, but maybe I will, as I know it does well here. Where are you finding your varieties, at a nursery or online?

Patty S.

Thanks, Brian. I have a Green Thumb close by me in San Marcos. Just called and they still have a good selection of blueberries - Jubilee, Misty, Sharp Blue and South Moon. So, I'll have to make a decision on varities. And, our local Farmers Market in Vista on Saturdays has a vendor that sells blueberry bushes, too, and I know they have Sunshine. So now it's just a matter of which 3 varities I'll end up with :-)

Patty S.

I live in Simi Valley in Ventura county and have blueberries Misty, O'Neal, Southmoon, Sunshine Blue. I have found raised beds and pots work the best, like the videos on Dave Wilson. They all produce well, I use vinegar with tap water to water them. Never thought I could grow blueberries.

And that is exactly what I bought today at Green Thumb, Misty, O'Neal, Sunshine Blue and South Moon! They're going into tall pots. I'm going to remove about 1/2 to 2/3 of the regular potting soil and replace it with 1/2 EB Stone compost and 1/2 EB Stone Azalea, Camellia, Gardenia mix, plus a little soil sulphur. I'll test the soil to make sure it's acidic enough. If not, I'll add a little bit of aluminum sulfate. Plan on watering with acidified water (vinegar) on occasion, but I'll have the pots on drip. Going to put about 2-3" of pine needle mulch down. My water pH isn't too bad 7.0 to about 7.4, so I think I will have some very nice BB's this year, I'm so excited!

Patty S.

I just tasted a friends southmoon blueberries here in coastal san diego. Love them. Does anyone know where I can buy them in san diego?

Matt

O'Neal is great it gets woody after a few years. SharpeBlue and Southmoon are excellent also.

It might just be me and my unrefined palate, but I can't tell too much difference between the taste of the various Southern highbush blueberries. I have O'Neal, Misty, Jubilee, Emerald, and Sunshine Blue. They all taste great, but basically the same. I just can't say that a taste test winner has emerged. So, I would suggest picking up a number of different varieties to extend the season and then see which ones you prefer. Then you can just double up on your favorites if one emerges.

I did just that mrclint. I have Misty, O'Neal, Sunshine Blue, South Moon, Emerald and Sweet Crisp. So, we'll see how they all taste for me. I also am going to try Lingonberries, which may not do so well here, as it isn't Sweden, lol! But, I got a free one (Red Pearl) from Raintree when I ordered a few things on sale, then ordered a second one (Balsgard) for cross pollination. So, I'll put them down in the coldest spot in my yard and see what happens!

Patty S.

Sunshine Blue has done well for me in San Diego. They are planted in the ground with a heavy clay soil that has a pH of around 7. They are irrigated with city water too. Not very fussy for a blueberry.

They are mulched heavily with wood chips, get organic azalea fertilizer every few months, were planted with a 50/50 mix of peat and native soil.

Patty,

When I first read your post I thought "there's no way she's going to buy just two varieties for her pots". I bought one of every kind at all my nurseries.

>>> I would suggest picking up a number of different varieties to extend the season and then see which ones you prefer
The "trap" we fruit lovers fall into. ;-) Easy enough to just buy more containers and get another bag of azalea mix. But they will get bigger and you will need to upsize each year if you bought smallish pots for them (like 12" or 5gallon).

And about pH: even with azalea mix, acid-loving fert and one application of sulfur you will constantly fight the pH if you decide to use your drip system with your water (unless you have an injector). I assumed the same thing, used the DWN recommend mix of peat, azalea mix and bark and hand watered with vinegar-water & Miracid still have to apply quite a bit of sulfur three or four times per season.

Be aware the DWN recommended mix changed from a 75% bark-based mix to a mostly peat(66%) one. The only containers I don't have to fight pH as much came in 100% peat.

How has it gone so far for ya?

Yup. Right on that, cebury :-) I do have almost all my blueberries in very large pots. 3 will be in slightly smaller pots, which I can then transplant to larger pots when the time comes, but the remainder are in pots large enough for them to stay in permanently, mainly because I'm just too darned lazy to be bothered with a lot of transplanting. And I know my watering system will eventually cause the soil to become more alkaline, but my water is super alkaline - around 6 to 7. We're kind of lucky, and I was actually pretty surprised it was that neutral, and even a little acidic. So, I just top dress with either aluminum sulfate or water with ammonium sulfate dissolved in a couple of gallons of water. And, I can also carefully top dress with soil sulfur to maintain a more prolonged acidic environment. Since I work a very full time job, there's just no way I'm going to be hand watering all my blueberries. They really, really don't like getting dried out, and that can lead to either a demise of a young plant, or severely affecting a mature plant in our climate (especially in the summer). So, they're safer on drips with me around :-)

And so far, my 1/2 peat compost and 1/2 azaela mix has held up pH wise. I'm more inclined to leave this mix, as it provides good drainage. I did have to re-treat right in the beginning with a little ammonium sulfate and a tiny bit more soil sulfur to get the pH down a bit. I didn't want to go too far down, and then end up with a low pH disaster, so it took a bit of adjusting at first. But now they look great, are flourishing and leaves are green and not reddish tinged.

Patty S.

Been eating my Jewel Blueberry's for a week now, nice large nickel sized berry, slightly on the tart side with a nice crisp texture, these were a gift, and I didn't have the heart to point out they might not survive the winter, or at least might start flowering in early February here in Brooklyn, but oh well. The berries work great in pancakes and about 16oz of them are currently being used to infuse some 100 proof vodka.

Oh bummer, MoleX. Can you pot up your blueberry and move it inside for the winter? I wonder how a low chill blueberry sort of designed to be grown in warmer climates like California and Florida ended up all the way up in Brooklyn?? Do like the vodka infusion idea, must try that, yumm!

Patty S.

apparently they were selling these Monorovia plants at our local nursery, my mother on a whim, picked up two, 3'plants. They are doing well, I'm going to leave them in the ground over winter and pray for a mild spring next season, if they flower too early in the winter or don't make it at all, I'll dig em up.

I keep my blueberries very moist. I have a 55 gallon drum of rain water that I rang up the other day @4.6 on the PH meter ;p. "Some" acid rain can be good.

This season I am hoping to taste Northland, Elliot and Duke for the first time, they were planted spring of 2010.

I just picked up Misty, Sharpblue and Sunshine Blue. Hoping to add Jewel, Pink Lemonade and Emerald if I can find them locally.

Knowing how blueberries should never get dry, has anyone tried growing them in self-watering containers? Blueberries seem to be the perfect candidate for this.

My blueberries are on a drip, so in a sense, they are in "self-watering" containers :-) They're in large clay pots, so a drip system for me was the way to go. I'm not a big transplanter, so I prefer to start a pot my plants can grow into! They're doing very well this way, and only during our super hot days in the summer, do they need additional hand-watering.

Patty S.

Didn't consider putting blueberrries in clay pots because I thought they would wick moisture from the plants.

Do you seal them or give the pots a good soak before planting? Or just use the pots as is?

Well, the 4 clay pots I have my blueberries (and one Prime Jim blackberry) in are huge, heavy-duty terra cotta pots (not just your thin, run-of-the-mill red clay pots). The walls of these pots are about an inch thick :-) No need to seal them. The pot alone probably weights about 80 lbs. So, not your standard "clay pot". The other 3 pots are decorative plastic pots down in the lower part of my yard, so wicking moisture isn't an issue with those, either. If you're looking for a good pot, I would suggest an attractive glazed outdoor ceramic pot. It was what I had on hand, and wanted to recycle some nice pots that were left on the property when we purchased it :-)

Patty S.

Hi Patty, just curious if a taste test winner has emerged for you? I'm still at a loss as to which one is best. They are all great. Now I'm just looking for absolute earliest and absolute latest varieties to extend the season even further.

I guess they really all do really well for us here in S. California, I was not expecting anything but mediocre for the Sunshine and the Emerald, but both surprised me this last season. The Sunshine produced small, but very sweet "blueberry" tasting blueberries. The Emerald grew at nuclear proportions. It was twice as big as any of my other varieties, extremely vigorous and had blueberries the size of quarters. When I saw how big they were (lost quite a few to rats/squirrels, sadly), I expected bland and mushy. Not at all. They were firm and delicious. All my varieties were quite good, with maybe O'Neal being the least impressive. Waiting for Sweetcrisp this year to see if they're as good as everyone else has said. Will report back this season, since my bushes will be 2nd year, and hopefully have larger crops :-)

Patty S.

Patty,

It really is an advantage for us long season folks as the BB plants get so big so fast. I added 55 more BB plants this winter to bring me up to 125. You will love the sweetcrisp. I really liked the sunshineblue as well. As long as you let them hang on the plant awhile and not pick them when they first turn blue they have a very good BB flavor.

I grew a Mistyblue & an O'Neil, both southern Highbush (and low chill) cultivars in Los Angeles, about 8 miles from the ocean. I have since moved to Northern California, but my Mom assures me they're thriving. Last time I was there, the plants were about 4 1/2 feet tall, and they were harvesting about 4 gallons per bush.