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Carolina Gardening

Blueberry & strawberry cultivars that do well in carolinas

15 years ago

in southern greensboro and wanted to find what blueberry/strawberry cultivars do well. Not really going for volume more for tasty/sweet/etc..

I put in 150 blueberry bushes over the past 2 yrs. up north but never really was around for the "pay off" but they were (jersey, coville, and 2 others duke might be one of em...I am not remembering).

I ran a few varieties of strawberries, annapolis, ozark and sparkle but wasn't really impressed with them by any means.Sparkle was by far sweetest but the yield was less and berry size was much smaller.

So tastiest strawberries/blueberries that anyone has ran down here...Taking all insight and suggestions. All input will be greatly appreciated. I am patient even if certain things are hard to find/get a hold of...I always enjoy a good goose chasing session.

thanks for your help.

j

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Comments (5)

ncdirtdigger
15 years ago
In my opinion, tif-blue is the best blueberry, and premere and climax are also good performers. It is best if you plant at least two varieties (rabbit eyes are best for the south) for cross pollination.
As for strawberries, I have only grown Ozark and it has done well for me although I have nothing to compare it to.
okatie
15 years ago
Rabbiteyes are definitely best for the south.
I bought several tifblue's and a homebell and an unnamed rabbiteye at Lowe's last month for about $9.00 each -- they are growing well now in the garden.

I mail ordered some bareroots from Finch's a few years ago; their website has decent descriptions of what's good for each zone.

Here is a link that might be useful: Finch Blueberry Farm
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shariplant: Your have planted a very large, mature blueberry plant. Probably 3 years old. It is in fact blooming age, and if it were mine I would pinch off all those blooms the first season to allow the bush to become well established before it tries to produce fruit. I hope that bush is able to gather sufficient sunlight, enclosed, as it is, by a high fence on two sides. Sunlight will be your limiting factor for that blueberry bush, assuming you prepared the soil with peat moss etc. on planting. Your little strawberry plant can be regarded as a pet, which may produce a few berries for you, but again, depending on its exposure to sunlight. It is certainly nothing to worry about as a competitor to your blueberry bush. If the strawberry plant sends out a few runners, as is the habit of strawberry plants, you may have more plants and better chances at producing a few strawberries in '08 or '09. For now, that little strawberry plant is not much of a threat to anything. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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You might want to contact" berry-nut 4b-SouthWestWI " http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0202381110877.html I didnÂt notice anything out of the norm for planting and growing instructions, water well, donÂt over-fertilize. It also, just may not be suited to the soil into which it was planted. Some like sand Âsome like clay, or at least tolerate it. -------------------------------------------------------- Hardiness zone 3 Maximum height 1,5m / 5' Maximum width 1,25m / 4' Exposure Sun Notes : From Michigan State University, U.S. a mid-late new variety with the largest blueberry on the market today. We were really amazed by the size of his fruits. Self-pollinating. ItÂs a new variety "Bonus shows promise as a large fruited, late type, but is little tested." http://web1.msue.msu.edu/fruit/bbvarbul.htm "Very good hardiness and very good productivity. Bushes are vigorous and fruit is very large, very firm, medium blue with very good flavour. This bush has the largest blueberries we have ever seen. 'Bonus' blueberries are quarter to half-dollar size. Largest blueberry on the market today." http://www.heartlandblueberries.com/Plants_for_sale.php more info. http://www.blueberries.msu.edu/pdf/BlueberryVarsForMich.pdf http://www.therussellcorporation.com/OldSite/berries/blueberry_types.htm
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Nice plants and fence! Unfortunately you planted your blueberry too close to the fence. You can leave your strawberry for now (blueberry is still small), it will spread and you can re-plant new plants after they root. There is a Fruits forum here on GW, it has a lot of advises on blueberries and strawberries.
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nancyofnc
15 years ago
The tastiest and most plentiful strawberry I grow is Sweet Charlie. This is the second year of my new bed since I tilled under the spent three year bed and I already have flowers and beginnings of fruit. On half of the plants I've removed the flowers to get a later and larger sized berry harvest. I believe it was bred in Florida for hotter and more humid weather conditions, which NC certainly has. I use the matted row method, having tried the others, and the only problem I ever had was with slugs. A little Sluggo or Escar-go cleared the problem. It is a must to sprinkle them with some lime in the Winter since our soil is so acidic from all the rain we get in the Spring.

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jeremiah1
Original Author
15 years ago
thanks all. I will look into these sweet charlie strawberries. I think I am going to build a mound and separate it into tiers so I can take runs from top and let them fill the next tier in each season. once they get rooted, snip em, so on and so forth until I have 3-4 tiers worth so I can cycle easily. I will check into all the different rabbit eye cultivars and will get on the tif-blues and run a few and see what happens and continue digging and searching. Thanks again for all insight/opinions thus far, always appreciated.

j
Iris GW
15 years ago
You might like this publication - it lists a lot of the cultivars and has them divided into early, mid and late season groups. To ensure cross pollination, it is recommended to have two or more different ones in a single group (of course you can have more than one group).

Here is a link that might be useful: Home blueberries

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