No but I just ordered sweetcrisp and springhigh from FHN, so it sounds like even if they are not true to type I might get something good. Lol.

Ya, I just ordered 4 Snowchaser from FHN. Might as well be totally confused. Do wish I'd have added a Springhigh to see if either looks like what I have.

Probably not Snowchaser. According to description online, berries of Snowchaser are medium size at most. But the plant is a heavy producer. My Snowchaser looks like that. Its berry is smaller than Emerald and Southmoon. It is a heavy producer.

Do you think your unknown variety tastes better than Sweetcrisp?

This post was edited by sandiego4s on Mon, Mar 31, 14 at 19:57

If it is Springhigh it should be an upright grower, bit earlier then Emerald and berries a bit larger. Is that the plant Dr. Lyrene could not ID?

Did you compare the berry pictures in the patent application to yours?

Here is a link that might be useful: Springhigh

This post was edited by bamboo_rabbit on Mon, Mar 31, 14 at 21:24

Sandiego:

My unknown's taste is mild, low acid, but very strongly blueberry flavored. It's definiately the best flavored blueberry I've tasted but not as sweet nor nearly as crunchy as Sweetcrisp. They make a very nice contrast. I'd rate the unknown's flavor way ahead of Star, Jewel, Emerald, Santa Fe, Southmoon, and many others I've tried.

It doesn't sound like Snowchaser. Properly grown the berries are usually pretty big although this year smaller.

I'm eating the first berries of the year and was stuck again by the taste.

Bamboo:

The berries look generally like those in the patent application and after more consideration I'd say the plant is much more upright than spreading. The canes aren't straight upright sticks like Star but I've got plants in 3 gal pots 5ft tall.

PS: one thing I might add is this unknown sets without pollination in my greenhouse. That might be why the berries have been smaller the last two years. The first crop with bees were large. Somewhere I read that springhigh sets well in low pollen conditions.

Also I did get a plant from FHN that was supposed to be Springhigh. It's the same as the unknown. So anyone wanting a really good flavored bb might consider Springhigh.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Mon, Mar 31, 14 at 22:44

Did you get those FHN to bearing size the next year, the ones I received are very small, I read about the weekly applications of ammonium sulfate at weak doses to gain size, but did they bear fruit the following year?

Captaininsano:

Here's a plant exactly one year after a small FHN planting in 3 gal pot. Yes weekly apps of amm sulfate, 1 tps per gal. Plant looks not as good as possible. I cut off fertilizer after August 2010. Should have continued monthly apps of fertilizer in winter maybe more in spring to force a new flush of growth. Can't argue with the fruit load.

{{gwi:74743}}

This post was edited by fruitnut on Tue, Apr 1, 14 at 9:22

YMMV Steve has a green arm:)

Wow! I will definitely use this approach.

Fruitnut, my spring high is very leggy. Maybe I didnt pinch enough or my growing conditions were not optimal for this plant. When I recently repotted it to 30 gallon from a 10 gallon the roots didnt grow down to the bottom 1/3 of the pot. I tried a different potting medium than I normally use. Now its in my normal potting medium and I hope it rebound nicely this season. That being said its 5 ft tall and 4ft across but the canes are thin like sweetcrisp but not alot of branching at this point. It seems to want to grow up right but puts on heavy loads of big berries which really bend the branches. I also tend to over prune my plants as well so right now it looks spendly compaired to other varieties I have. The berries are a A++ though. I will have this variety as long as Im growing blues. Snowchaser and Springhigh are my 2 earliest and my best tasting blues. I will post some pics of it so you can compair.

Wow, blueboy that's great to know. It does sound like I've got Springhigh and now the 4 new plants of Snowchaser. Should be a great way to start the harvest. I won't have expected the best tasting fruit from the earliest varieties. Doesn't work that way in other fruits.

I'm still learning. The Farthing pictured above should have been pinched back more the first summer to make it more compact. Then I should have continued fertilizing but at a reduced frequency to get more foliage that first fruiting season. Then the fruiting clusters should have been shortened. There's too much fruit on that plant for the amount of foliage.

In a couple months I'm going to ask you guys how to prune, train, and fertilize to get bigger berries in 2015. I'll also get bees next year to improve set and berry size.

Any issues with fertilizing in summer in high heat areas, I see that some stop fertilizing in summer is that due to heat or something else?

If Blueberries are fertilized in late Summer to Fall,it will likely cause new young growth,which could,especially in northern areas get killed when cold weather comes and bring disease to the plants.
I'm not sure what the southern people do. Brady

My last fert application is in Sept. I'm using a slow release fert so by the time if fizzles out its close to the end of Oct. It says it's a 3 month slow release but I'm watering often in pots so from my experiences it lasts about 2 months.
I'm going to post some pics of Springhigh and Snowchaser for Fruitnut. Each pic will have its own post due to my photobucket account and phone not jiving at this time.

Springhigh

Springhigh Sorry for the side ways photos, uploading from my phone

Springhigh

Snowchaser

Snowchaser

Steve,

In BlueBoy's pictures of Springhigh I can kind of see what you mean by zigzag growth. BB are just so darn hard to ID for the most part. I have two plants here that are my earliest that I bought on impulse from Lowes labeled as Southern Belle. Problem is they are not Southern Belle and have been trying to ID them ever since:)

This post was edited by bamboo_rabbit on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 8:45

Sorry about the pic quality! I'm going to have to work that!

I fertilize right through summer but once a week only if forcing growth. That would mostly be on young plants. After the plant sizes up it's half or one fourth that. The key in summer is plenty of water. I've had them outside all summer in full sun without issues, high fertilizer and low.

Blueboy's Springhigh look just like mine but I can't tell that the Snowchaser looks much different.

The pic is hard to differ. Snowchaser is a smaller stature plant and much fuller of a bush. Sends out a lot of canes and branches a lot after the first year. It's hard to tell in the pics because I pruned it hard to a open center this spring. This is the plant that had powder mildew bad last year and it tends to fill out fast. It's already getting thick toward the center again but it's still young growth. I'm not 100% on this fact but I believe Snowchaser has very fine hairs all over the leafs which is a very distinct trait. I will double check that when I get home and confirm.

Got to take back the fine hair on the leafs statement. I just looked and it seems it was a different variety or only on the first year leafs. I could have swore it had the fine hairs which I attributed that to the fact it had powdery mildew so bad the first couple seasons with me.

Blueboy,
Do the blue barrels give you trouble with
the summer heat? Do you wrap them?
They sure do look nice right now!

Dr. Winter,
Probably you have already figured out if your FHN plant is Spring High, Snow Chaser or something else. As I had also ordered "Spring High" from FHN and was perplexed to find out it was not true "Spring High" (I think I have complained enough none of the cultivars FHN sent were true type). FHN is indeed a mesh, I don't know if an employee did it or they really don't care and what ever plants comes out they will sell under any variety thinking average home gardeners don't know/don't care about the variety as long as the plant bears fruits at the end. My inquiry has not been responded. Anyway, FHN ensured terminating my future business with them, possibly permanently unless they come up with an acceptable reason.

Anyway, here are some findings through patent search for the preliminary clue differencence between SpringHigh and Snowchaser
Leaves:
Shape: Ovate (both SpringHigh and Snowchaser) - not helpful!

Size: Spring high leaves are larger (Mean 68 mm) and broader (36mm) compared to Snowchaser (56mm length and 29mm wide) - not much help unless you compare both plants side by side.

FIRST CLUE
Leaf margin: Spring High: (ENTIRE) vs. Snow Chaser: (MINUTELY SERRATED)

SECOND CLUE
Growth habit: Spring High: Upright, with multiple upright canes from the base with low twigginess. Snow Chaser: Between upright and spreading with medium twigginess.
(Blueboy's picture and description above also supports this pattern of Spring High vs. Snow Chaser.)

THIRD CLUE
Relative time of leafing and flowering: Spring High: Under normal spring conditions, the plants flower and begin to produce new leaves at about the SAME TIME. Snow Chaser: Tends to flower BEFORE it begins to leaf when coming out of dormancy.

Average number of flowers per cluster: Spring High: 10, Snow Chaser: 6 (Not a distinct clue but helps a little bit)

Hope this helps. My so called FHN "Spring High" has none of the above characteristics.

Inkfin:

Thank you for the input. I've got three plants that are supposed to be Snowchaser from FHN. If I look hard enough I can see faint serrations on the leaf margin. The plants are young but both spreading and upright. I'll get fruit next yr. Either I'll like it or not but maybe at least it will be really early like it should be.

I hope yours turn out to be as tasty as my "Springhigh".

Chad, sorry for the late response but I do wrap them. I used tin foil for a couple seasons but this past season I started using that bubble wrap that's foiled on both sides. I can't remember what it's called but it comes in rolls at the big box stores. Works great and no heat stress on any plants except Sweetcrisp. The new growth gets limp every day when it's 95+ out. Watering the roots doesn't seem to do much but I have found they love a good shower in mid day. Those limp branches will perk right back up!

Hope you got the right varieties Steve! Snowchaser was on the bottom of the flavor chart for me this season. About par with Jewel. I don't think I thinned them enough this past season, especially Snowchaser. It's set a ton of fruit and never really ripened to that strong flavor I had last season. Goin to thin it hard this next season and see if the quality improves. It should if I can replicate last year.

blueboy:

I'll thin my Snowchaser hard as well. I've already pruned all my blueberry plants hard so as to limit foliage and crop to something my smallish pots can handle. We can compare results next spring.