Blueberry Conference 2018 Varieties development Horst 07 March 2018 Andrea Pergher, Fall Creek Fall Creek Founded In 1978 Family-owned 125+ hectares of nursery in production 35+ million blueberry plants produced per year globally 500 team members world-wide The Brazelton Family Fall Creek s Spain Nursery Seville, Spain 1
Variety Insights RECENT RELEASES ESTABLISHED VARIETIES Varieties overview Yesterday Today tomorrow Blue Ribbon Excellent flavor & firmness Start pick slightly before Draper season (mid-early), extended harvest window High yielding Early Bluetta Earliblue Patriot Duke Duke, Blue Ribbon Mid Bluecrop Berkeley Draper Top Shelf, Valor Late Elliott Lateblue Liberty, Aurora Cargo, Last Call Spreading growth habit will benefit from trellis Cold hardiness & adaptation to Northern European growing areas Extended harvest season: begin 1 week after Duke and finish 1 week after Draper 2
Blue Ribbon Clockwork Top Shelf Jumbo-size, excellent flavor Mid-season Vigorous vase-shaped plant Easy to growth, easy pruning Vigorous, fast to establish Extremely high efficiency in picking per hour Cold hardiness & adaptation to Northern European growing areas Off-color berries (red) in early picks especially in cold years Some sensitivity to diseases, similar to Draper Sensitive to Silver leave Sensitive to Botriospheria Clockwork 3
Top Shelf Valor Valor Valor ZF08-070 Workhorse variety excellent vigor & yield, upright & easy to prune Mid-season Good cold-hardiness & drought tolerant Uniform, large fruit size, great IQF berry Excellent self-compatibility, recommended for block plantings Flavor & firmness are average May not perform well in extended shipping with controlled atmosphere Hard to release leaves in young stage 4
Calypso (Michigan State University) Mid - Late season Large berries with excellent appearance Easier to prune & grow than Liberty Vigorous, high yielding & cold hardy Fruit quality texture may be mealy & flavor can be tart It looks more mid than late Cargo Cargo Cargo High yielding & vigorous Late season (Liberty) Narrow crown, firm fruit Easy to growth, very upright Extremely firm, very long shelf life in CA. Fruit quality improve after storage Heavy cropper needs aggressive pruning to balance fruit load Breakage at crown during fall wind storms Early flowering, need attention to put bees on time Sometimes poor fruit set Fruit is tart if harvested too early. 5
Last Call High yielding & vigorous Very late season (Elliott) Flavor preferred over Elliott or Aurora Firmer & larger than Elliott, lighter blue than Aurora Shrivel & cracking may occur after heat and late summer rains Heavy fruiting needs aggressive pruning to balance crop load Very vigorous plants difficult to balance growth with young plants Fruit could be very tart if picked too early First big fruits has a big corolla Last Call Variety R&D Data Last Call BERRY REQUIREMENT IN THE NEW 1) Firmness 2) Flavor MARKET 3) Shelf life 4) Yields 5) Size 6) Constant quality Last Call 6
Yield 2017 5 years old plants Berry size 2017 20-30% of Duke yield and 10% of draper yield lost to birds Cooler trials after 21 days Berry firmness 2017 Berry weight 2017 Harvesting & Varieties: Benelux 7
Harvesting & Varieties: Germany Harvesting & Varieties: Poland Questions? Outlook new varieties Eat Your Blueberries! Today Tomorrow Reason to believe Duke Duke Draper Top Shelf Much stronger plant, very big size, firm easy harvest Bluecrop Valor Bigger size, firmer fruit, productive and easy to grow Liberty Cargo Best shelf life, firmer & medium large berries Aurora Last Call Vigorous & upright, quality of the fruit & nice color Layout #13: Photo with Bullets 8
Thank you! 9