Highbush Blueberry Cultivar Trial in Western Kentucky - UKREC - 2004
Joe Masabni, Dwight Wolfe, June Johnston, Hilda Rogers, and Gerald R. Brown (Professor Emeritus), Department of Horticulture

Blueberries are native to North America. At present, Kentucky has a small acreage of commercial blueberry production. Blueberries have recently been touted for their health benefits because of their high levels of antioxidants. Also, highbush blueberries have been a good supplemental crop for Kentucky growers who want to take advantage of use land not suitable for tillage. Kentucky has a small acreage of commercial blueberry production. For these reasons, this study was initiated in order to evaluate highbush blueberry varieties for adaptability to Kentucky soils and climatic conditions. This report updates earlier results, presented in previous issues of the Fruit and Vegetable Research Reports (1).

This trial was, established in the spring of 1993 at the UK College of Agriculture Research and Education Center, in Princeton, Kentucky. It, consists of eight cultivars spaced 4 ft apart within rows spaced 14 ft apart. There are three3 bushes of each cultivar per replication. Prior to planting, the pH was reduced from above 6.0 to 5.4 with elemental sulfur. The planting is mulched yearly with sawdust and trickle-irrigated with 1 gallon/hr vortex emitters when necessary. The planting is netted during the last week of May, and fruit is harvested from the first week of June through the first week of July.

Cumulative yield from 1995 through 2004, 2004 yield, and average percent ripe fruit by the end of the second week of June 2004, are shown in Table 1. Toro, Duke, and Blue Gold have yielded the most to date. Between 80% and 100% of the fruits were ripe by the end of the second week of June in 2004 for all varieties, except, for Nelson and Sierra. These two cultivars the last to ripen with 66% and 76%, respectively, of their fruit ripe by that time. In general, blueberry fruit harvest is finished for most cultivars by the end of June in Kentucky. Nelson is typically an exception with its fruit being picked through the first week of July. However, this year, the harvest season began about a week earlier than normal, and blueberries in this trial were all harvested by the end of June.  These results are useful to growers in selecting blueberry cultivars since avoiding labor peaks and time of harvest that conflict with production and/or harvest of other crops may have to be weighed against choosing the highest yielding cultivar.

These findings can help growers who need to choose between the highest yielding blueberry cultivars, and ones which, during their peak harvest time, do not conflict with harvesting and/or managing other crops.

1. Joseph Masabni J. , Gerald R.. Brown (Professor Emeritus), and Dwight Wolfe,. 2003. Highbush Blueberry Cultivar Trial in Western Kentucky. 2003 Fruit and Vegetable Crops Report, PR-488:28.

2. John Strang J., R. Terry Jones, Joe Masabni, Dwight Wolfe, John Hartman, and Ric Bessin. 2003. Growing Highbush Blueberries in Kentucky. University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, publication HO-60.

Table 1. Yield parameters of the highbush blueberry cultivar trial established in 1993 at UKREC, Princeton, Kentucky.

1. Arranged in descending order of ‘Cumulative Yield’ column.
¹The Experiment was established in April, 1993. Plant spacing is 4 ft between bushes in rows 14 ft apart equivalent to 777 plants/A. There are 3 bushes per cultivar-rep combination.