Blueberries

During the months of July thru September, our valley experiences a large influx of tourism. We wanted to plant our farm with an extended growing season, which means growing from early July through September. For that reason, we have chosen to grow about 8 different varieties.

Some of the berries are pretty standard sized, but some grow as large as a quarter - or bigger. Just depends on the specific type. They are gorgeous! Are we picking yet? yes! 2003 was our first season and the plants yielded approximately 10,000 lbs. This summer 2004, we anticipate about 50,000 lbs. Yikes. That's a lot of "u-pickin'" goin' on!

Check out the different stages of GROWTH for blueberries...

Nope. Not just blueberries...

In addition to the 13,000 blueberry plants we planted, in Spring 2001 we planted 1.5 acres each of Raspberries & Blackberries to be "u-picked" as well.

Check the RIPE FRUIT GRID... and see when other fruits are ripe in our valley as well...

Below is a PARTIAL LIST OF BLUEBERRY varieties we planted...

Patriot

Early season

Patriot was selected at the University of Maine for home gardeners requiring a cold hardy variety that would bear consistent crops of large sized fruit. Production is high, ranging between 10 and 20 pounds at maturity. The berries are dark blue and highly flavored. Patriot is a low growing, spreading bush to about 4 feet, revealing its partial lowbush parentage. It is adaptable to many soil types and will perform better in wetter soils than many other varieties. Patriot makes an excellent landscape variety with its showy white blooms in the spring, dark green summer foliage, and fiery orange fall colors.

Duke

Early season

Medium to large light blue berries with a mildly sweet flavor. This attractive berry is quite firm and retains its fresh quality longer than most varieties. Duke blooms late but ripens early, which protects the blossoms from spring frosts. It is one of the heaviest, most consistent producers, often yielding over 20 pounds per bush when mature. Duke bushes are upright growers but the branches will droop to the ground when laden with fruit. The foliage turns yellow-orange in fall.

Toro

Mid season

Every year Toro continues to amaze us with its striking, full, heavy clusters of giant sky blue fruit. It is almost impossible to walk by a fruit-laden Toro and not pick some of the delectable berries. Toro was named for its stocky, compact bush habit. While not as fast a grower as some of the other varieties, Toro is an outstanding ornamental blueberry. The flowers turn from hot pink to bright white and contrast nicely with the bronze colored spring foliage. The deep green summer foliage turns to the brightest of reds in fall.

Chandler

Mid to Late season

Bigger is better when it comes to our featured release this year. With fruit the size of cherries and surprisingly delicious flavor; Chandler is clearly the world’s largest blueberry. Another great feature that will provide your customers a bounty of fresh picked fruit for over six weeks is Chandler’s long ripening season! The bush is vigorous with large, dark green foliage and a slightly spreading habit to 5-6 feet.