Blueberry Varieties
Blueberries are now grown all over Australia
The warmer areas of Australia grow Southern Highbush and Rabbiteye (low chill) varieties while the cooler areas and areas that experience frost grow Northern Highbush (high chill) varieties.
Blueberry varieties require differing amounts of chill hours for flower and fruit development. Chill hours are the cumulative number of hours where the temperature is below 7 degrees C. Some varieties are self-fertile yet all benefit from being planted nearby another cultivar from the same variety.
Evergreen varieties retain their leaves year round while deciduous varieties leaves will fall off over the winter months. Northern Highbush varieties are deciduous while Southern Highbush and Rabbiteye varieties are semi or fully evergreen.
Understanding Plant Breeders Rights (PBR)
Many newer blueberry varieties are covered by intellectual property protection known as Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) and can only be propagated or planted under licence from the owner of the PBR.
Huge investments of time, resources and expertise go into breeding new varieties of any plant and there is a legal protection mechanism available that protects your ‘invention’ so that it cannot be stolen and used by others outside of your licensing arranegments.
Rabbiteye
With firmer berries and thicker skin, the Rabbiteye variety is a hardy plant which can tolerate a multitude of climate conditions unlike the Northern and Southern Highbush. The Rabbiteye is a low chill, late season variety that requires 450-600 chill hours.
The name ‘Rabbiteye‘ comes from the resemblance of the ripening pink berries to a rabbit’s eyes.
| Name | Bush description | Fruit description | Notes | Related varieties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brightwell | Vigorous, upright bush. Excellent bush shape | Large fruit with reasonable flavour and good scar but has gritty texture and tough skin. Fruits with Premier several weeks earlier than Tifblue. Berries tend to have a gritty texture | Plant with Premier | Premier |
| Centurion | Nice shaped bush showing moderate vigour | Medium sized, tasty, well displayed berries. The fruit is not as gritty as some rabbiteye but is inclined to be a little dark in colour | Good yields | |
| Maru | Bushes are upright with berries well exposed | Berries are dark with a gritty texture and obvious calyx scar. Extremely late cropper with large very typical rabbiteye fruit | Not recommended for cooler districts | Nui Rahi Puru Reka |
| Powder Blue | Moderate vigour | Small/medium light blue fruit. Very similar in looks to Tifblue but slightly smaller | Plant with Tifblue | Tifblue |
| Premier | Moderate vigour | Medium/ large fruit with excellent colour, taste and scar | One of the best eating rabbiteye blueberries. Plant with Brightwell | Brightwell |
| Rahi | Vigorous, upright growth habit | A moderate cropper with outstanding fruit quality. Loose clusters of firm, very light blue fruit. Berries are prone to splitting after heavy rain | Most notable feature is the keeping ability of fruit with good retention of fresh market quality after 4-6 weeks storage | Maru Puru Nui Reka |
| T102 | Vigorous spreading bush | Large firm fruit, good flavour. Berry is dark and somewhat flat with very big calyx. Can split after heavy rain. Ripens a week or so after Tifblue | Very heavy yields | |
| Tifblue | Bushy upright vigorous growth | Medium/large light blue fruit | Released in America in 1955. Still widely grown and accepted as the benchmark for all rabbiteye varieties Plant with Powderblue | Powderblue |
Southern Highbush – Vaccinium corymbosum hybrid
These low chill varieties are specially bred for heat tolerance and low winter chilling. They produce unique foliage, bloom and plant characteristics to that of the Northern Highbush.
Southern Highbush varieties require between 250-600 chill hours and do not survive frosts. Plants live around 10 years.
| Name | Bush description | Fruit description | Notes | Related varieties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biloxi | Biloxi should be planted near Misty when possible for pollination | Fruit is light blue and medium to large | Plant with Misty
Biloxi has a habit of producing late spring flowering and a second harvest | Misty |
| Legacy | Bush is upright and open vigorous | Fruit is large, light blue and picks well | Legacy is a late season variety and performs best when receiving the maximum amount of chill hours for a Southern Highbush | |
| Misty | Fruit is light blue, medium to large and has an excellent flavour | Misty is best grown under the evergreen system with attention paid to leaf disease
Misty is an early season cultivar that has been shown to grow successfully in heavier soils | ||
| O’Neal | Bush has medium vigour and a slightly spreading habit. | Berries are of medium size, are firm and very sweet with an excellent scar | O’Neal likes a pH value below 5.5
Very low chill requirement and seems to tolerate excessive heat | |
| Sharpe Blue | Bush is tough and vigorous | Fruit has a pleasant flavour tailored to the Australian market | Low chill requirement yet berries may become soft in hot weather |
Northern Highbush – Vaccinium corymbosum
Northern Highbush varieties are the most commonly grown around the world. They require between 750-1000 chill hours to satisfy dormancy.
These high chill plants are tolerant to frost. Bushes vary in height and density and are long lived; up to 30 years.
This deciduous shrub has brilliantly coloured fall foliage which is lost over the winter months.
| Name | Bush description | Fruit description | Notes | Related varieties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluecrop | Moderate vigour, but very productive, height to 2.1m. Bush requires excellent drainage | Fruit is light blue, very large and firm with good flavour. Flavour is best with the first few picks and deteriorates over the season. Flavour also better when warm days are followed by cool nights | Heavy yields of big, attractive berries, makes this variety very popular with some growers | |
| Brigitta | Tall vigorous upright bush to 2.4m | Very large, medium blue, firm fruit with good flavour. Excellent picking scar and keeping quality. Clusters can be tight and the bloom damaged easily. Fruit can drop easily so care when hand harvesting is required. | High production
For pollination purposes it is best if planted near another variety Ripens two weeks after Bluecrop with similar size berries. High production An Australian developed variety Brigitta is now being widely grown world wide Probably the best keeping and shipping variety available. A favourite with exporters | |
| Caroline | Medium size plant. Moderate vigour with good bush shape | Fruits a week to 10 days after Brigitta with distinctive aromatic flavoured fruit. Fruit is large with the first few picks best and deteriorating as the season progresses | An Australian developed variety | |
| Denise | Medium vigour and height to 1.5m, with slightly spreading growth habit | Fruit is very large and round, medium blue with red around stem end. Berries usually delicious but can lose flavour once very ripe. Also can tear at picking scar | Heavy yields of big, attractive berries, makes this variety very popular with some growers | |
| Elliott | Medium vigour, semi upright bush | Small to medium, powder blue, firm, slightly tart berries. Berries come off in just a few picks. Berries soften with extreme temperature | Extremely heavy yields
Suits cooler districts | |
| Northland | Spreading, vigorous bush to 1.5m | Fruit hangs without dropping and gets progressively sweeter
Very productive with medium size, dark, sweet fruit | Northland performs exceptionally well in areas of extreme summer and winter temperatures
Large picking scar makes fruit unsuitable for wholesale market sales, but is an excellent variety for U-pick, local sales, and for processing | |
| Nui | The spreading bush is slow to establish. Likes humus rich soils. | Berries are extremely large, light blue, firm, outstanding flavour and superior keeping quality | Moderate yields | Maru Rahi Puru Reka |
| Puru | Upright, sturdy bush of moderate vigour | Fruit is Bluecrop size, light blue, small recessed scar with exceptional highly aromatic flavour | A favourite variety in Japan | Nui Rahi Maru Reka |
| Reka | Upright vigorous growth | Medium sized good flavoured firm berries. Ripening between Earliblue and Bluecrop | High yields
Introduced from N.Z. Reka has displayed exceptional vigour under a wide range of soil conditions overseas, suggesting it should do well in most high chill areas of Australia Suitable for the fresh market, U-pick and processing | Nui Rahi Maru Puru |
