Had said in the spring I would post when I was getting them.  Getting the new Ravens and Indigocrisps but due to the new University of Florida rules I can't distribute them, sorry.   

For those that have never had sweetcrisp it is simply the best blueberry, period.  When they turn dark purple they are already as good if not better than every other BB out there and when they turn blue......to die for.  It is not a commercial variety as it is not a heavy cropper until it is 4 years old and it flowers later in the season and the commercial folks make their money on the early berries.  The commercial folks just want early, dark blue, big and plentiful, taste is way way down the list:)  The Sweetcrisps are hard to get and when people do find them a lot of times they get ripped off and charged $20 a plant or they don't actually get sweetcrisps at all.

The plants are generally 18" tall and are field run (bareroot) which is kind of inaccurate as they do have pine bark on the roots.  I would trim them down to a foot tall for shipping, it is better for the plant anyway.  The field run take off faster than potted plants.  I buy them through a BB farmer friend of mine for $5 and anyone that wants them can have them for $6 plus the shipping.  The $1 is just to cover my expenses.  Not looking to make money on the blueberries but don't want to lose either.  

I grow 200  BB and 100 of the 200 are sweetcrisp.  This year ripping out 50 Emeralds and replacing them with sweetcrisp and adding 50 more sweetcrisp on top of that.  If anyone is interested in 25 4 year old Emeralds or 25 2 year old Emeralds let me know....would be pick up only of course.

The sweetcrisps are a southern highbush BB so northern folks it isn't for you.  


First come first serve and very limited quantity......if you are interested send me a PM.  

Very nice of you Wills!  I have a few northern varieties but I am not impressed with them.  But I do enjoy BB pancakes every Sunday when they're in season!

I knew from previous posts this is not for us Northern folks....   : =0 (          Happy you can enjoy them!

Wills, have you grown Indigocrisp?  If so, what are your thoughts?  I read somewhere that it was rated even higher in taste than Sweetcrisp.

Someday I would like to taste some of those. What a great name, makes my mouth water. If they worked here I would take you up on it Wills, I am taking out 2 trailing blackberry plants and will be adding 2 blueberries and a little bit of garden space in that spot. I'm thinking about trying Elizabeth, and another Spartan. Spartan has had the best flavor here so far, although Patriot now in it's fourth year greatly improved in flavor and size this year.

Wills, thanks for the information about this variety (including what to expect with its fruiting habits).  I got Sweetcrisp cuttings from a generous forum member this past Spring and one took.  It is now planted in the ground and is growing very well.  I hope I am not to far north for this variety.  I am growing other southern highbush varieties - like an O'Neal which has done well, so I am hoping Sweetcrisp will do well here too.

Harvey,

The only people that have grown Indigocrisp is the University Of Florida.  The commercial farmers and nurseries did get invited for taste tests. The cuttings from the mother bushes were just released to the licensed propagators a few months back.   From what I have heard it tastes as good as Sweetcrisp with the same crunch but it is earlier and more productive especially when young.   It takes sweetcrisp 4 years before it produces volume on par or almost to other varieties.  For the first few years SC only produces a moderate crop because it grows so darn fast probably.  In a years time SC can go from a foot tall to 6' and in two years multistemmed and 5' with good pruning.  Early is a good thing for the commercial growers but for home growers it is bad.  Early simply means more chance the flowers will be damaged by freezes.  There is no advantage to early for us hobbyists.   The commercial folks need early as those first crops get a major price premium but once the BB in Georgia start to ripen the price plummets because the berries in GA can be harvested mechanically while the Florida berries are all hand picked by the migrants.  Once GA is online it costs more to pick the berries than they get for them.  That is the reason there is such buzz for Indigocrisp as it can be mechanically harvested.  It very well may become the dominant berry in the commercial Florida fields.  It is also the reason I can get the Indigos so quickly.  I have pretty good connections on BB but normally would take me another 2 years to get a new release but I have a friend who is a commercial BB farmer and he is so excited about the Indigos he bought a propagation license for them.  


Indigcrisp has it's down side as well as it is susceptible to blight so you have to watch the bushes for it and Sweetcrisp is immune to blight.  Producing more weakens the bush making blight more likely.  It isn't hard to deal with blight you just cut off the branches that develop it but you have to pay attention.  So I will add 10 or so Indigos and watch them before I commit more space to them.  I know the sweetcrisps, that is why I grow so many of them.  

The Indigos I get will be TINY 6" stems the size of cooked spaghetti......not like the 18" multi stemmed sweetcrisps which are robust.

The public may never get a chance to have the Indigos or any of the new releases from the bird series forward.  The University has changed the rules for distribution so those varieties will never be in a retail nursery.  You have to buy in 50 plant per variety lots.  Have to sign a nonpropagation agreement and the plants can not be resold or even given away.  So a hobbyist would have to get them from a commercial BB nursery....good luck getting them to sell to you unless you want 500 plants minimum.  Basically while you buy the plant and grow the plant it still in essence belongs to the University.  Argued till I was blue in the face that it was not right because the plants were developed at a public university with public money and the public is being denied the ability to legally own the plants.  As you know I like to debate:)  Did manage to get a signed waiver from the 50 per variety rule but that was all I got.  

Would love to try this variety, but without a greenhouse, I doubt the early flowers would survive my later frosts. I wonder how far north this type Southern highbush is successful? I'm in a in between zone for blueberries, with all types having some that do well here, but not all in the category. Plenty of wild blueberries cover the forests here.

Mike in Hanover, VA

Mike,

With overhead water you could protect the blossoms and fruit to 17 degrees depending on the wind but VA is really pushing it.  

Btw here is a few sweetcrisps from last years order before they were trimmed and mailed out.

 

If you can grow figs up north you could grow Sweetcrisp. Zone 6 and colder in a pot. They'd need the blueberry shuffle to protect the early flowers from frost. The big difference vs figs is Sweetcrisp needs pollination. It might be partially self fertile with bees but another variety would be better. I'd recommend Springhigh. It sets without pollination. Springhigh has better flavor than Sweetcrisp but isn't as sweet nor nearly as crisp. It's the crispness that makes Sweetcrisp so good.

Sweetcrisp and Springhigh are the best of about 40 varieties I've grown.

That's Wills for the explanation of the pros/cons/differences between Sweetcrips and Indigocrisp.  I fully agree about not particularly caring for an early variety vs. just a great tasting variety we can get.

What do you do with so many BBs yourself?  I'd like to grow a couple or so....

Harvey,

We freeze a lot of them, we make wine and concentrated syrup and we give a lot of them away, let friends come pick them, that sort of thing.  Ryan (IamKriya) came up last spring andwith his kids picked about 20 pounds.  We have yet to have too many blueberries.    Once you get the soil and water right they are so easy to grow and suffer no insect or disease problems if you pick the right varieties.   

wow!!! Wills  thanks for the info

Charlie,

That is a tough subject and it is kind of long but you asked for it lol.   The soil is easy enough, a mix of pine bark especially finer pine bark and peat is a great mix for a pot.  Even pure pinebark will work if part of it is milled.   For in the ground as long as it is rich in organics it will work and they love mulch because the roots are shallow and need to always be moist.  Never hurts though to add peat and pine bark to the soil.  

Now conventional wisdom is to add agricultural sulfur to the soil to acidify it......I think conventional wisdom has killed a lot of BB plants:)  In my opinion pelleted or powder sulfur should be avoided unless you have soft water.  

If you have just a few bushes and they are in pots save your rainwater and just use that and you will have healthy bushes that are trouble free.  Feed them with ammonium sulfate at the rate of 1/2 tsp per gallon of rainwater once a week, I would use 1 tsp per gallon if they are in ground and they will thrive.  You will have to give them something balanced and with micros now and then especially in pots.  I don't grow in pots so will leave that to the people who are more familiar with that like Fignutty and Blueboy.

I grow in ground and when you do that you have to factor in the soils native ph because no matter what you do or how many amendments you add to the soil the native soil ph will affect your plants.  Now if your native soil is very alkaline just grow in pots.  When your soil is neutral or slightly acidic you can grow in ground but you will need to bring the soil PH down to 5.5 MAX and 4.5-5 is better.   This is when people read up and the advice is to use sulfur.  The problem with sulfur is it takes MONTHS to have any affect because the soil bacteria need to act on it before it starts acidifying the soil.  So people see the plants suffering so add more and more then it does work and the soil PH plummets and sadly the signs of too low a PH are exactly the same as too high lol.  Using sulfur you are just always chasing your tail.  

When you read up on blueberries and how to grow them one point that is not mentioned is the irrigation water.  Now if you have acidic or soft water this does not apply to you but most of us will have hard water.  The water is as if not more important than the soil.  Take peat moss, great acidifier put it in a bucket and add alkaline water to the bucket and if you check the PH of the water in a day or so you will find the water is no longer alkaline but is now acidic.......dump the water out and add more to the peat....you will see the next time the water is still acidic but less so...do it a couple more times and check the water and you will see the water is now alkaline.  The alkaline water has overcome the peat's ability to buffer (lower/neutralize) the PH and that is exactly what happens in the soil.  The soil is the same but you keep adding irrigation water to it and the water will always win.  It is why people will plant the bushes and they do great for awhile then go downhill.  So instead of sulfur in the soil treat the problem directly, the water.   The best way is to simply bring your water down to PH 5 to 5.5.  I use sulfuric acid......battery acid.  You can buy it in any auto parts store.  It is not the acid from cartoons but it is dangerous if you are not careful.  You can though put battery acid in your dry palm with no ill effects.  If you have a cut it burns like hell though.  The acid needs water to work.your eyes are wet....if it gets in your eyes you are in BIG trouble so please be smart.  Always add acid to water NEVER water to acid.  You can get the acid from the auto parts store it is 33% sulfuric.  The stuff I use is 96% so just more concentrated.  You can also take the 33% and cut it with water and make it much safer.  You will need low PH test paper, cheap on amazon $10 for a roll.  I would suggest a 32 gallon trash can.  So fill the can with your water and add a set amount of acid....say a Tabelspoon, stir and test the PH.  If it is too alkaline repeat until the PH reads 5-5.5.  If it took a tablespoon and a teaspoon it will always take the same amount.  So you don't have to test it again.  Next time.fill the can half full add your whatever amount fill the rest of the way and water.  Note that at first when you are testing the PH will not move then will suddenly dive so don't get carried away in the testing add slow measured amounts.



The native water PH is simply an indicator.  I have a friend who lives 6 miles from me on a hill and his waters PH is 7.5 my water is 7.4 yet his water is fine for his blueberries and does not need treated and mine is horrible and has to be aciidified.  Why?  The answer is bicarbonates and their load in the water.  Think of bicarbonates as liquid lime.  If your water is pretty soft it has little bicarbonates.  That is why rain water which is pretty neutral maybe PH 6.5 depending where you live is so good for the blueberries because it has no bicarbonates.  My water is loaded with them which makes it great for the figs btw.  When you add the sulfuric acid to the irrigation water what it does is changes the bicarbonates in to Gypsum the same stuff that makes up sheetrock.  It is permanent and neutral in the soil.  It is also why when you are doing the PH test that the water PH does not change right away as you add acid.....but once the bicarbonates are changed the PH drops fast.  So basically what I am saying is you can't just go by what PH your water is.  

What I use is a 32 gallon trash can filled with PH 2 water and a venturi sucks that very acid mix up and injects it into the native PH 7.4 water as I irrigate and what comes out the sprinkler heads in PH 5.2 water.  You can also do the same with a small venturi that hooks to a hose and a 5 gallon bucket of a bit more concentrated acid water.  I also put the ammonium sulfate in the PH 2 water so my plants are irrigated and fed at the same time.  The ammonium sulfate makes the soil a bit more acid and mind stays about 4.8.  The nice thing with the acid is if your soil PH starts to rise you use a bit more acid.if the PH gets too low you use less acid or no acid for a irrigation or two and let the bicarbonates bring the PH back up.  A good direct read soil PH meter helps a ton.  I would suggest a Kelway.  I only give my inground blueberries P&K and micros once a year.  I do give them 10" of mulch a year, wood chips so guess they get the p&K from that.

Sulfuric acid is not organic.  It is a natural element on some planets in our solar system but not ours.  There are not different grades of it like industrial and food grade, just different concentrations.  It is GRAS (generally regarded as safe) by the government.  

Blueberries are like women....give them everything they want and they will be happy.  In their case all they want is the right PH.

Good info, Wills. But I thought rainwater was more acidic, 5 to 5.5 pH? Might depend on the region/source. I use rainbarrels so I thought I was set, I might have to get a pH test kit now.

I have read people having good success basically removing the native soil and planting in almost pure peat moss. I didn't go that far, but I used a lot of peat when planting and they seem happier with more peat (1-2 years in ground).

Rainwater does vary depending on where it comes from.  Pure water is neutral at 7.   Because rainwater is so pure and has no buffers just the slight acidity it picks up in the atmosphere lowers it's PH sometimes drastically.  But just because it's PH is low does not mean it would acidify a mix because there is no power or concentration behind it.  Does that make sense?  In other words rain coming from a large T-storm can have a PH as low as 2.....but that PH 2 water and the PH 2 water that I make up with the sulfuric acid to be drawn into the water supply by my venturi are VERY different.  My PH 2 water is powerfully acidic the PH 2 rainwater has no ability to change the soil PH.  


Yes you can plant in pure peat, works BUT if you have hard water and irrigate the plants with it that peat will lose it's ability to acidify the water very fast and when that happens the plants go chlorotic, and eventually die.  It is all about the water.  

Yeah, I follow you, that makes sense. Chemistry always was my worst subject, hahah.

Thanks for explaining!

Thanks for sharing all that info Wills.

Figured it would be lengthy so thank you for your time.  Great info.

Wills, you've done a great job explaining the importance of irrigation water as being more important than soil.

My well water has a pH of 6.9 but is much more harmful than my river water with a pH of 7.5 because of the high level of alkalinity as a result of high CaCO3.  I've used NpHuric previously which is a commercial fertilizer product with nitrogen and a fast-acting sulfur (liquid) but am working with an agronomist now to develop a fertilizer program for my chestnuts next year with sulfuric acid being injected into nearly every irrigation (sometimes phosphoric acid).  Water will be extracted from my soil at three depths about 10 times next year to measure the nutrient levels, etc. during the crop season.  I'm hoping to add a few blueberries and irrigate them as part of the same system (just a few, for home use).  I've tried to get help from labs before to get this sort of intensive program but never had success until happening to come across this Spanish company that recently came into California (in about 20 countries).  I'm probably their smallest grower with 4 acres of chestnuts but they are still treating me very well.

Uncle Wills is spot on! I will touch a little on growing them in pots as that's all I have. I have learned some things the hard way mostly regarding to the use of sulfur. I burned several plants in pots using sulfur and will not ever use it again. One reason is I use rain water only on my blues and the use of sulfur with rain water requires a very light hand when applying sulfur. I never could figure out how much to use. It was always a guessing game. Then I quit using it all together and focused on having the right Ph soil mix to begin with and only use rain water as it doesn't change the Ph of potting soil. If it does its very slow, like several years slow! I haven't had to check the Ph of my soil in 2 years now. My plants haven't exhibited any reasons to do so.

For potting, I've resorted to a mix of 50-60% pine bark mulch, 30-40% sphagnum peat moss and 10-20% sifted perlite. The perlite isn't a must but I do feel it helps to keep the mix from compacting over time. One thing to note is the peat must be pre-wetted before its mixed up. Once its wet, it should NEVER completely dry out. It becomes hydrophobic when dry and will actually shed water instead of absorb it.

That brings me to another point! Constant watering! I believe that most the problems people run into with blueberries other than soil Ph is not understanding how much water a potted blueberry requires. Especially a mature plant with a large canopy. I think its almost impossible to over water a potted blueberry plant unless its put into a huge pot with a tiny root ball or if the pot has terrible drainage. One thing I've done is to place bricks under my pots so it drains quickly and increases air flow in the potting soil. If the temp is over 85 degrees and the pot is in full sun it needs a daily soaking. 95 degrees and over, daily soaking, maybe even 2 soaks if new growth is limp by 2:00 in the afternoon. Some varieties like Sweetcrisp will have limp/wilting new growth even if the potting soil is wet. I have found that a mid day shower to the canopy will perk up wilting Sweetcrisp growth even on the hottest days. That being said, Sweetcrisp will wilt with moist soil and perk right back up that evening like nothing happened. Its probably more stressful for the grower than the plant. Some varieties just do that.

For fertilizer I've been fortunate to have access to Microlife Fertilizer. Its made here in Houston and only distributed locally from what I know. Its got all the stuff my plants need including the endo/ecto mycorrhizae fungi. Its all I've ever used on all my potted fruit trees and in ground trees with the exception of citrus. I use a fert specifically for citrus but they do get doses of Microlife as well. I've never used ammonium sulfate but Fignutty and Wills swear by it and the proof is in the puddin! Microlife is all organic which is nice but not why I use it and its a slow release so I apply it every 2 months to my potted plants during the growing season. I use it because it works and I have no reason to try any thing else at this point.

I agree with Fignutty as well that Springhigh and Sweetcrisp are the two best tasting varieties going right now. At least from all the varieties that I've trialed. I will put a plug in for Sunshine Blue as well. Its a great tasting berry but best of all, its the latest ripening Southern High Bush I've trialed so it really extends the season with great fruit! I will have Sunshine as long as I'm growing blues. There are a bunch of other varieties that I haven't tried but if they were true standouts I probably would have heard about them by now. One other thing I've come to realize is you cant rely on nursery descriptions of blues. According to them they are all great and productive when that's not really the case. I learned more from Fignutty, Wills and garden forum than any nursery description.

I had some high bush blue berries for three years that never got taller than 2 foot and only produced a few berries. They dies a few years back in the drought. Just seems to be one thing I can't grow.

I also grow blueberries and over the years I learnted all Will's saying the hard way. Actualy the info he shared is about 90% of all you need to know about growing blueberries. Now let me give you another 1-2%. Using elemental sulfer as acidifing agent is really unpredictable and a very slow process. It is a biological prosess that's why it is slow. On the other hand luckily there are some chemicals that can do the acidifying process via a chemical reaction which very fast. One of those chemicals is Iron sulfate (heptahydrate). If your soil is going neutral or on the alkaline side you can start using iron sulfate. The reaction takes just few days and with a PH meter you can check when your soil is back to disired PH over few aplications. !!!This chemical ofcourse can easily kill your plants if not used properly!!!!. It is very important for people to realise that the need for low PH is mostly because Blueberries can not  absorb the iron and some micros in the soil if Ph is high. So untill Ph is back to normal people may use Chelated Iron and micros fertilizers when watering the plants. These chelates are easyly absorbed even if the soil Ph is not correct for your bluberries.

Good advice Pen.  I would not dare use Iron Sulfate without a good PH meter.   The chealated iron is a band aid but it does help while you are working out the PH issues.  If you use it make sure you dose the leaves with it.  


Btw the sweetcrisps are gone.......The order is at 400 now and that is all I want to deal with unless someone wants to bribe me to reconsider with fig cuttings:)    Steve and Rob did talk me in to buying 25 Springhigh, have never tried that variety.