blueberries at PARC is relatively young, with work beginning just three or four years ago and no varieties released yet, said Kempler, although B.C. is one of the largest blueberry-producing areas in the world, with a lot of planting occurring recently. In the coming decade, he expects
to be introducing some later varieties of blueberries to extend the season, and some which are resistant to disease.
The first seedling blueberries went in last year, so work in breeding
Chemainus raspberries.
although the Rudyberry Red raspberry is also resistant, if less so, reports Kempler.
Ukee is short for Ucluelet while the Rudyberry was named after Rudy Janzen, on whose field the cultivar was tested, because he played an important part in the testing and evaluation process, explained Kempler.
The Rudyberry raspberry is early ripening, has medium vigor and the fruit is medium to large and conical, medium to dark red with a high gloss.
This cultivar is productive and maintains good fruit size over its harvesting season. It machine harvests very well, with harvest beginning a few days before Meeker and ending almost a week before Meeker.
Ukee fruit is medium to light red with low gloss and some dusty appearance, but it is a productive vine and keeps good fruit size over its long harvesting season. It is acceptable for IQF and also for types of processing where dark pigment is not required. It is suitable for machine harvesting. and its ripening season is similar to Meeker. With its good flavour and large fruit size, it’s very well suited for the fresh market.
Because of its resistance to root rot it can be grown on wet land where other cultivars die out, noted Kempler.
One of the earliest varieties, but one which shows little resistance to root rot is the Malahat, which is suitable for machine harvesting and is a good choice for the fresh market, he says.
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them is still very preliminary. Blueberries normally begin producing in their third year. Currently, researchers would like to hear from growers interested in testing some of the new varieties. If you’re interested, e-mail Kempler at:
chaim.kempler@
agr.gc.ca He says when he first began
working in B.C. more than 30 years ago, fewer than five per cent of the varieties of berries grown were developed at PARC, while today 25 per cent of production is in PARC varieties.
INTEREST FOR 48 MONTHS
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