The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) has released a new video resource entitled Hands-On Blueberry Pruning Workshop at the Small Farm Unit. The video features NC Cooperative Extension Research Specialist Bill Cline and provides a detailed overview of small-scale blueberry production in North Carolina including site selection, soil preparation, and pruning.

Since 1995 Bill Cline has served as the Blueberry Extension Horticulturist for NC State, supporting Cooperative Extension agents statewide. Cline also maintains the N.C. Blueberry Journal, a blog where he posts information about the latest disease concerns, cultivars, propagation and guidelines for timely blueberry maintenance, such as pruning and fertilizing.


Find the video on the CEFS website, here or on CEFS' YouTube channel, here.

The most common cultivated blueberry type is Vaccinium corynmbodsum or Northern Highbush Blueberry. In the southeastern United States, Southern Highbush and “rabbiteye" [Ericaceae: Vaccinium virgatum (Rabbit eye blueberry)] blueberries are also commercially important. Southern Highbush cultivars, like the “rabbiteye" cultivars produce better in warmer climates, tolerate droughts and have lower chill requirements. Rabbiteye blueberries get their name because they are pinkish, resembling the eyes of albino rabbits till they ripen.

Lowbush blueberries were the type enjoyed by the indigenous peoples and early European settlers of the North America. That changed in the late 1800’s when Elizabeth Colman White convinced her family to underwrite the research of Dr. Frederick A. Coville (US Dept of Agriculture). The collaboration resulted in the first hybrid, highbush blueberry varieties. Lowbush blueberry varieties are typically marketed as “wild" blueberries.

Lowbush blueberries, Vaccinium angustifolium, are commercially important to Maine and Canada. Fire hardy, lowbush blueberry “barrens" are still managed by burning off top cover.

Summer Berries: Blueberry Vaccinium: The ultimate bird-friendly, people-friendly native plant. Blueberries support 286 moth and butterfly species in North America. Birds who love this plant include Northern Mockingbird, Blue Jay, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher and Red-bellied Woodpecker. - http://nc.audubon.org/news/meet-2018-bird-friendly-dirty-dozen