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jspringer4

Tasteless Blueberries

jspringer4
10 years ago

I have two different varieties of rabbiteye blueberries growing in containers. This will be their 4th fruiting season. Last year, I had great fruit set but all the blueberries on both bushes tasted like nothing, no matter how long I left them on the bush to ripen. Should I be thinning out the fruit at all? I included a photo of the slightly smaller of the two to give an idea of the size of the bushes.

Comments (5)

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    10 years ago

    Rabbiteye in general aren't known as the best tasting blueberry. The only one I've heard good reports on is Brightwell.

    Overcropping will lower the sweetness and taste. On my southern high bush I usually remove about 30-50% of the fruit especially on ones like Jewel and Emerald that overset.

    Your bush is rather low in vigor. If it had more growth it could sweeten up more fruit. There are many threads on here about improving growth. In pots they need regular fertilizer.

    You might want to try some SHB varieties like Springhigh, Snowchaser, and Sweetcrisp. I think you will find them more tasty and they are well adapted to Z8. They do bloom earlier than what you have and may need protection on those cold spring nights.

  • jspringer4
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks! Brightwell is one of the varieties I have. I can't remember the name of the other one. I just got whatever they had at Lowe's that year, and from what I remember all they had were rabbiteyes. I'll try removing some of the berries and see how that goes and if it doesn't help, I guess I'll be shopping for some high bush varieties.

  • RobThomas
    10 years ago

    My rabbiteye are also pretty bland. I planted two more plants last year - Legacy and Chandler. Legacy didn't produce last year, but I got about a dozen berries from the Chandler. They are supposed to produce the world's largest blueberry, but mine weren't that big. However, by far the best blueberry I've ever eaten. Kind of a tangy sweet taste. Might be one to check out.

  • blueboy1977
    10 years ago

    Just my two cents but I believe Rabbiteyes either need to be in a big pot or in ground for best results. They have a very large root system and need room to be productive. I had several 4-5 year old Rabbiteyes that were 6ft tall and 6ft wide and that's after pruning all the canes to 3ft after fruiting every season just to keep the size in check. They would have been well over 12ft tall and wide after 3 seasons if I didn't prune them hard. The fruit seemed to get better with age for me. Brightwell was good from the get go and Bluegem, Woodard and Beckyblue got better by year 3 and year 4 were actually a pretty decent berry. None compaired to a good SHB though!

  • Fascist_Nation
    10 years ago

    I had no complaints about my Tifblue and Powderblue.