Blueberry advice please - Which has the best yield and length of season?

dappledshade

Hello all,

I’m perusing blueberries online, but the choice is mind boggling.
I’ve prepared my south west facing new bed, with ericaceous compost, mulch and mix, plus some grit so it is free draining.
Which varieties give the best berries and for the longest amount of time, please?
I’m torn between “Herbert”, a new variety that crops twice called “Hortblue Petite” and “Duke”, but would love to know your thoughts, since I haven’t really got a clue 😊

BobTheGardener

There are now so many varieties available that it is indeed confusing!  I would recommend getting 3 varieties, an early, a mid and a late season in order to extend cropping time.  Trehane nursery has a good reputation for supplying quality blueberry plants and getting good plants is half the battle.  I prefer larger blueberries and three of mine which would fit the bill would be Patriot (early), Herbert (mid) and Chandler (late).  Ideally, you want 2 different varieties for each cropping period to help with cross-pollination, so 6 in all but 3 would still work as the flowering seasons tend to overlap somewhat.

Pete.8

I bought mine from Trehane too - very good plants.
I got -
Patriot - rather bland, huge yield - but a bit like supermarket blueberries
Herbert - excellent  flavour - half the yield of Patriot
OzarkBlue - very good flavour - very good yield

edhelka

I have (also from Trehane, bought last year):
Duke - didn't do much in its 1st year (3l plant), early
Chandler - huge berries, good crop from a 5l plant, late but ok (over before the frost)
Sunshine blue - a good small variety for a pot, huge crop from a 3l plant but quite small berries (and not too sweet, closer to wild berries, good for cooking and baking), hard to pick (small plant and they are close to the ground) and a bit too late here (some berries got frosted). Long cropping season.

dappledshade

Oh wow, that’s amazing advice from all of you. Thanks! 
My plot isn’t huge - enough for one large plant or two smaller ones. I’ve read they also do ok in pots. Hadn’t realised I needed to worry about cross pollination...

Bee witched

Hi All,
I also bought from Trehane following @Pete.8 's recommendation.
I've got Duke, Bluecrop and Spartan .... all good.

Bee x

dappledshade

Thanks Bee - looks like Trehane will be getting another customer then 😊😅

mrtjforman

I have quite a few different varieties - they all generally perform well. Some years some will underperform but I have put that down to the soil or lack of feeding at times.

My favourite varieties taste wise so far are pink lemonade, Bluecrop, Goldtraube, Chandler and sunshine Blue.

Early varieties are usually not as good tasting like duke or spartan (although the taste got better the more it matured with me) but Patriot has good harvest and good taste and gives the earliest berries.

Herbert has the best harvest with me, but one of my least favourite tastes. It is not soapy but if I had to describe it it would be a blueberry taste with a hint of soap. Some people seem to find Herbert their favourite so it seems a bit of an acquired taste.

Sunshine Blue although small can compete harvest wise with the bigger ones and has the nicest coloured flowers out of the lot + keeps its leaves during winter unless it gets too cold so definetely the nicest ornamental one. 

Trying ozark blue and new hanover this year which is supposed to be a better new "Early" variety from america.

If you can only get 2 I would recommend bluecrop and sunshine blue as I believe they are fairly self fertile and amongst my favourites.

fidgetbones

I had three various bushes. I can't comment on what they tasted like, the blackbirds ate them all.

dappledshade

fidgetbones said:

I had three various bushes. I can't comment on what they tasted like, the blackbirds ate them all.

Noooo! Currently researching netting, but it all looks a bit ugly...

Dovefromabove

Old net curtains ... but  don’t suppose charity shops are doing online shopping and deliveries  🚚