I have Climax and Premier along with Brightwell, Tifblue and Powderblue planted in two different patches. One patch I planted in Feb 2004 and the other was planted in the fall 2006. The PH in both fields is around 5.2 and for me they seem to grow about a foot a year and should reach full maturity (around 6 foot tall) after about 5-6 years in the ground. As far as fruit goes, they will produce fruit the first year; however, as painful as it may be, you should remove all the bloosoms the first year so that the plant can focus on growing rather than producing fruit that first year. In fact, "they" say you should remove the blossoms the first two years in the ground, but I could never do that. They taste to darn good. Also, make sure you get at least one of each for cross-pollination. They are self-fertile, but you will have better fruit set and larger berries if you plant at least two different types which blossom around the same time. As far as how old the plants at the local nursery are, I would spend the extra $$$ and buy the 3 gallon varieties if they are noticably larger in size. You will be glad you did as they are slow growers and the sooner they get to chest height, the sooner you can stop bending over to pick them. Just a thought.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Rabbiteye Blueberries

If the seller doesn't know the age, then he doesn't know that age is important to the production of blueberries, which means he's just buying them in bulk from a mass producer who's gonna sell em as soon as they possibly can be. The one gallon size are probably the youngest they can get out the door. Might well be worth it to pick up the three gallon, but only if you're really sure they're any older.

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