gtarman Posted April 20, 2013 (edited) Hey guys. So I've been reading a lot of great literature about how good for your brain Bilberries/Blueberries are, and I remember once somebody telling me you could only grow them in colder climates. Is that true? Would you have any chance of making either of them work around South East Queensland? Edited April 20, 2013 by gtarman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hypnotoad Posted April 20, 2013 I'm in SE QLD and my blueberries grow fine. My mate down the road is a pretty novice gardener and has a poverty stricken blueberry bush that gets berries on it too. (you can also get special warm weather varieties at bunnings.) So I say yes. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quarterflesh Posted April 20, 2013 They sell blueberrys at every hardware store and nursery iv been to from the sunshine coast to cairns. I also have one and its going fine 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bullit Posted April 20, 2013 there r huge farms of blueberriez on the coast!!! grow like weeds.... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gtarman Posted April 20, 2013 Cool, thanks guys. Just bought a seed packet of the European Bilberry type (Vaccinium myrtillus). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
endorfinder Posted April 20, 2013 Berries go like weeds in north QLD. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poisonshroom Posted April 21, 2013 yep - iv got blueberries (small ones in pots) that produce the odd fruit or 2 in north qld. They look like they are only about a year old and iv had them since late last year, so they wouldnt be producing much anyway. the fruit they do produce is still sweet and tasty 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Illustro Posted April 22, 2013 Just buy some from a local nursery, if you can find any, they will have species / varieties / hybrids suitable for your local clime. Look out for Southern Highbush plants. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mindperformer Posted April 22, 2013 you need a sour peat-soil and water only with rainwater because a too calcareous water will kill it over time. There are some tropical blueberry-species, endemic only on eastern polynesian islands like Vaccinium cereum (from Rarotonga to the Marquesas) my blueberry (upper half, V. myrtillus) and bilberry (Vaccinium uliginosum) in the garden: Northern cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idea): Vaccinium macrocarpon (cranberry) and american wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens): Blueberries in the very northern part of Finland: flowering cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idea) in the Engadin, Switzerland: 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waterboy 2.0 Posted April 22, 2013 My highbush varieties do well in pots with a dash of sulfur every coupla years and with an acidic mulch (pine needles in my case). The Highbush varieties cover a broad range of chilling hour requirements, and there is loads of cultivars. I grow a couple of lowbush (rabbiteye) types, but they will only perform where it gets cold with plenty of hours to meet the chilling requirement. Check you local supplier, they will have varieties to suit the climate. They dont have fine root hairs and majority of roots near the surface, so they get knocked around a bit with fluctuating moisture conditions, keep them constantly moist for the sweet spot. Don't let lime anywhere near them as Mindperformer points out, they are calciphobes. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mindperformer Posted April 22, 2013 the chilling may be the reason why the wild blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) is found on mountains in some few tropical locations but mostly in peat-lowlands and the mountains of the North. They can also distribute vegetatively. Distribution of Vaccinium myrtillus: http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?kind=Vaccinium+myrtillus waterboy, you grow Vaccinium corymbosum cultivars with the bigger berries? There are some interesting rare polynesian Vaccinium cereum varieties: http://www.polynesien.minks-lang.de/a.pol.deutsch/pol.arten.v/vaccinium.cereum.html 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waterboy 2.0 Posted April 23, 2013 @mindperformer - growing a couple of the Northern highbush cultivars (V.corybosum) which are a much larger,stronger bush, larger leaves and bigger berries and very good producers . A favored berry during the season here. I've noticed differences in chilling requirements in the cultivars I have grown here, which is only a very small amount of the cultivars that my climate can grow. Which includes the minimum temps required for chilling to start, and then there is the amount of hours required from that temp ...like apples. We have a lot of small blueberry farms down this way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mindperformer Posted April 25, 2013 i see, so the high bush varieties are more adapted to warmer climate, I didn't know this I always make liqueur from some berries I collected in the forest to conserve the wonderful taste of wild blue-, bil-, straw- and other berries Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waterboy 2.0 Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) The Highbush varieties come from the colder areas, but breeding/selection has produced a few with much reduced chilling requirements. I am definately at the coldest end of the aus. climate and can grow a larger spectrum of the highbush cultivars we have here as I can meet the minimum chilling (and exceed lol). However some cultivars do get some frost damage to their growing tips, and hence selection of proven types. The lowbush do come from warmer climates, but also have a chilling requirement that typically cannot be met by the warmer climes (yes it is kinda a contradiction...lol). I think in the states they do have very low chilling requirement rabbiteyes, but getting clones in is not going to happen because the highbush are a better production berry. Also frost knocks rabbiteyes around, they are tricky to get the right climate. Edited to make some sense...lol Edited April 25, 2013 by waterboy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nothinghead Posted April 27, 2013 (edited) If you're putting them in the ground it could be worth having a separate bed. As several people have already mentioned, they love the acidic soil. Where I live they thrive in acidic soil that herbs and root fruits struggle with. They also love growing on slopes which suggests to me that although they can tolerate a lot of water, they enjoy a bit of drainage too. One of my favourite plants, best of luck with it! edit: btw I'm talking about bilberries, although they're known locally as blueberries. Edited April 27, 2013 by raketemensch 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mindperformer Posted May 2, 2013 absolutely, the places where I saw it in the Austrian mountains (especially the Wechsel) are also acidic but do have good drainage (not compact peat but rather loose mossy soil), so I prefer peat with drainage-material like sphagnum moss and kanuma for all Ericaceae including Vaccinium- species the tiny (European) Northern Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) thrives well in sphagnum moss with 1/3 peat: and it made many new tiny twigs: 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gtarman Posted May 5, 2013 So I found out today that the preferred variety in SEQ climate is called "Biloxi", one with very low chilling requirements and one of the earliest to ripen. Might have to track some down... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites