Varieties
Blueberries belong to a family of woody shrubs known as Ericaceae. This large family grows naturally in acidic soils and can be found throughout the world. Other members of the Ericaceae family include azaleas and rhododendrons.
Within this family, blueberries belong to the genus Vaccinium. Other familiar berries in this genus include the bilberry, cranberry and ligonberry. Some less familiar berries are the sparkleberry, farkleberry, whortleberry and partridgeberry!
Within this group, blueberries are certainly the most popular. There are three common varietal groups
of blueberries: lowbush, highbush and rabbiteye.
Lowbush
As the name suggests, the lowbush variety is a dwarf shrub that only grows to a height of between 30-60 cm. Despite its small stature, the lowbush produces a large quantity of small and intensely flavoured berries. They love colder climates and need very low temperatures for the fertilised flowers to “set” and form berries. For this reason, they are not suitable for Australia’s milder climate and are not grown in commercial quantities.
Highbush
The highbush variety, which can reach heights between 1.5–3 metres, has many different cultivars that are well suited to the Australian climate.
In the southern states of Victoria, Tasmania and Southern New South Wales, you are more likely to find the Northern Highbush, high chill variety. This cultivar has a higher requirement for winter chilling (over 1000 hours below 2°C) but they are still able to tolerate high summer temperatures. The fruit of the Northern Highbush is harvested later in the season, from December to April.
The Southern Highbush is a low chill variety meaning it requires fewer chill hours, between 250 and 600, to produce set fruit. As a result, it is grown in milder regions of Australia, particularly in Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland where there are plenty of warm, sunny days and cool nights. With a season that extends from July through to February, the production of low chill varieties accounts for 80%, or 1,900 tonnes, of Australia’s total annual production.
Rabbiteye
Rabbiteye is another low chill, late season variety. However, more so than any other variety, the rabbiteye can endure warm and humid summers and tolerate dry conditions, making it right at home in Northern NSW and Queensland. And where does the name come from? During the ripening stage when the blueberry is pink, if you look closely you will notice the calyx appears to be little rabbit eyes looking right back at you.
Highbush Blueberries
Growing Blueberries
Blueberries love warm, sunny days and clear, cool nights and thrive in organically rich and well drained soil. They grow best when planted in full sun and in acidic soil with a pH of 4.5 – 5.5, although rabbiteyes can withstand a slightly higher pH.
When planting many blueberries, allow sufficient space between each plant and each row to ensure there is enough room to grow. Highbush varieties should be planted about 1.5 metres apart, lowbush 1 metre and rabbiteye about 2.5 metres apart. When planting in rows, allow 3 to 4 metres between each row.
Blueberry plants have very shallow roots, therefore it is important to tease out the roots and plant in a shallow hole (about 20 cm deep) with a handful of peat moss; this will help the plant to establish a good root system. To help the roots retain moisture and to prevent weeds, add a good layer of mulch of straw or chip.
By mid spring, the blueberry plants should have sprouted little, white, bell shaped flowers. About two to three months later, depending on the species, weather and location, these little flowers will wither and the fruit will begin to develop in bunches at the end of the branches. At first, the berries will be green then pale pink, before becoming a pale blue. Although turning blue is a sign of ripening, it is not a sign that the berry is ripe and ready to eat. Generally, it will be another two weeks before the berries turn a deep dark blue and are ready to be picked. However, a cluster of blueberries will not all ripen at the same time. The best way to tell if they are ripe is if the berries twist off the stem with ease and, of course, by taste.
| Rows of Blueberry Planting | Picking Blueberries |
Cultivation: from farm to you
Ever wondered about the travels of a blueberry before it arrives at your door? Or how long it has been since it was basking in glorious sunshine in an open field? You may be surprised to learn that a blueberry hanging on a plant today, may very well end up in your hands tomorrow. Even more incredible, that very same blueberry could have travelled all the way from Tasmania to central London and be eaten only 24 hours after leaving the farm!
The Incredible Adventures of a Blueberry....
New blueberry plants are grown from small cuttings taken from established bushes. These cuttings are planted in trays filled with nutrient rich soil to enhance their growing potential. For the first couple of months, the cuttings bask in the warmth and humidity of fog houses which support strong root growth.
Once cuttings have developed good roots, they are replanted into larger 10cm pots. For the next three months, these small blueberry plants require plenty of TLC. This includes full sun and daily watering, plus weekly fertilisation.
When the blueberry plants grow to about 30cm tall, generally after about five months, they are ready to be replanted and live the rest of their days in the open field. Although many growers tend to vary their technique, and it differs between varieties, plants are usually spaced 1 metre apart in long rows.
Being the delicate little morsels they are, blueberries must be carefully hand picked by people who know how to spot a perfectly ripe blueberry. During peak harvest, farms require many extra pickers to cope with the large number of ripe blueberries.
As blueberries ripen at different times, each blueberry plant can be picked many times throughout the course of the harvest season. At each pick, the pickers will move along the row and take the largest and ripest berries from each plant. A week later they will pick again, and repeat this process until several weeks later all the berries are gone.
Once the picker has a full bucket, they transfer their blueberries into picking crates. The crates are then collected from the field and taken to the packing shed.
In the air conditioned packing shed, blueberries are inspected for fruit quality and transferred from open field punnets into clamshell punnets. Here only the plumpest and largest blueberries pass the quality test. Fruit unfit for sale is removed.
The blueberry punnets are individually weighed to ensure they contain exactly the right amount of blueberries. Twelve punnets are then packed into cardboard trays. Trays are placed onto pallets and air cooled to 4 degrees. Once the correct temperature has been reached, fruit can be loaded onto a refrigerated truck. This ensures the blueberries arrive at their destination just as fresh as when they were picked.
These trucks could be headed for wholesale markets in capital cities, independent fruit shops, supermarket distribution centres or the airport where they are air freighted to Asia, Europe and America.
Retailers can have blueberries on their shelves within 24 hours of picking so you can buy, and enjoy, the freshest blueberries.