Johnny:

All the low chill southern high bush have been self fruitful for me. So I think most will work by themselves.

The variety I like best by a huge margin is Sweetcrisp. The name says it all, very sweet and crunchy firm. Only moderate yield. It's new out of Florida so you'd need to order by mail. Florida Hill Nursery probably has them in stock.

If you'd prefer high yield, large berries, and average quality, try Emerald. Everything other than Sweetcrisp are all about the same as far as eating quality in my experience.

Hi Fruitnut,

Thanks for your prompt response. So far, I have one sunshine blue and two misty(s) in my garden. Sunshine blue was flowering a few weeks ago. So far, no fruit.

Emerald is a good choice and it requires only 250 chill hours. Unfortunately, it is out of stock at my local nursery. I was told it needs to be cross pollinated with other varieties to produce fruit.

Anyway, I'm going put Emerald in my shopping list.

Thanks,

Johnny

Johnny:

As Bamboo said don't settle for the rest, get the best, Sweetcrisp. In 5 years maybe your nursery will have caught on, maybe not. By then you can be pushing the bandwagon. My plants purchased for $5.99 each in June are now very nice sized.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sweetcrisp from FHN

Hi Bamboo_rabbit and Fruitnut,

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to place the order for Sweetcrisp in the next few days. I don't mind put another variety into my garden and it has plenty space to glow. I love BB.

Thanks,

Johnny

While I already have 64 BB bushes including 21 sweetcrisp I just started a new bed and will add another 14 sweetcrisps in the coming weeks. One advantage here in Florida because it is a BB growing area is access to inexpensive plants. I have a grower near me that sells about 20 different varieties of BB and you can get everything from small liner plants for $2 each to bushes in 3 gallon pots for $6.80 each. I will go with the bigger plants.

Finally, I see fruits on my Sunshine blue.

{{gwi:125406}}

My misty is also start to flower. That's odd for that late of the season.

{{gwi:125407}}

Also, I finally purchased a few sweetcrisp(s) from Florida Hill Nursery last week, but it not ship out yet. Don't why take them so long?

Thanks,

Johnny

Johnny:

My really low chilling stuff, like Jewel, are flowering a little as well. This happens every year at this time. The vast majority of flowering will occur early next spring.

The stuff that really needs a bit of chilling to flower, like Star, has little or no fall flowering. Either way it doesn't matter. The fruit that forms now doesn't amount to much. It's too cold in winter to make sweet fruit.

Thanks for the head up. I'm looking forward to see my sweetcrisp flowering in the spring.

Johnny

Hi Fruitnut,

Forgot to ask you. Do I have to replace the soil in my blueberry pot every year?

Thanks,

Johnny

Johnny:

I've never repotted a blueberry. The oldest have been in the same pot since 2004 and last year produced 15 lbs per plant or more. They look good and are setup for another big crop.

I did have one that went bad due to the mix setting up and becoming water logged. That one needed repotting but I didn't like the variety, Primadonna, so dumped it.

A Southmoon potted up in 2004 began to lose vigor last year and needed repotting but I gave it away.

My new plants in 5 gal pots are too young to have any issues. I'll consider a repot if they lose vigor.

Wow! 15 lbs of blueberries. That's a lot of blueberries. That's cool, I don't have to replace the soil for a long long time as long as they look green and healthy.

Thanks,

Johnny