Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum)
[follow the Wikipedia links]
Blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium - "wild", lowbush and Vaccinium corymbosum - "cultivated", highbush) are native North American berries typically grown in southeastern Canada and northeastern USA in relatively cool climates near lakes, rivers and the Atlantic Ocean.
After all, berries love oceans! click
With the global demand increasing for blueberries, locations such as Peru, Argentina, Florida, Texas and, yes, even California are now supplying the world markets.
But California?? The world's leading producer
of strawberries is now expanding acreage for blueberries.
There are unique challenges to producing high-quality blueberries in a climate without distinct seasons native blueberries expect for the usual cycle of growth and hibernation.
The Los Angeles Times journalist David Karp recently reported an interesting article on the new blueberry industry of California, click!
Let's list of a few of the most notable features of this great research
-
1997 blueberry acreage in California, 196 acres. Now, 4,500 acres
-
California blueberry
cultivars are from Florida where they have already developed adaptations to heat
-
as blueberries prefer acidic soil,
sulfuric acid has to be used to lower pH
-
the blueberry season in California is actually over before summer begins, extending from February-May
-
falcons are used to discourage birds like starlings and waxwings from feeding on the blueberry bushes
For a summary of the nutrient content in blueberries and other background,
visit this essay by World's Healthiest Foods, click!
Check out the
new Archives just for superfruit essays, click!
Twitter for Superfruits News
We're starting a new online update feature using Twitter, a free micro-blogging service where we can periodically broadcast news updates on berries and superfruits.
Twitter is simply a "short message service" (SMS), just 140 characters for quickly broadcasting a message to our educational network of subscribers for the Berry Doctor's Journal. SMS is the same technology as cell phone texting, short messages being used by over 2 billion people. It's the fastest growing network service on the internet.
And you can reply using Twitter to stimulate a conversation or follow-up question.
To give Twitter a try and receive these news capsules -- even on your cell phone! -- go to Twitter.com and sign up with your own name or handle.
Then visit twitter.com/superfruitsbook where you need to click on "Follow" to be linked into Berry Doctor "tweets" on superfruit news.
