Ready to discover the wonderful

world of blueberries?

There is no way to talk about blueberries and exclude the sensational discoveries about their health benefits! The following illustrations
will hopefully explain why blueberries are one of Nature's number one folk healer.Blueberries are particularly rich in bioactive compounds.
No other commercially available fruit even approaches their anthocyanin content. Anthocyanins is one of the very complex group of
bioactive compounds in plants that are estimated to number about 10000. In the plant they ensure a natural defense against diseases,
provide flavour, scent and colour.

Oxidative stress is a natural process in our bodies - or simply: oxidative stress is the ageing process.
Natural radicals ( oxygen is one of them) attack human cells. But our environment provides numerous
so-called free radicals (drugs, smog, pesticides...) and we have hardly any chance to escape. Free
radicals along with natural radicals increase oxidative stress . The red crosses resemble Nature's
best agents against oxidation - the antioxidants. It is not new that vitamins help to strengthen our
cells, to make them 'rustproof', but the bioactive compounds in fruit and vegetables like anthocyanins
have even higher antioxidant or radical absorbance capacity. Imbalance of oxidants and antioxidants
leads to oxidative damage or abnormal functions: diseases, infections, ageing.

Which are now the chief healing actions of blueberry?

But now look at the young consumers and you will understand that blueberries can be
enjoyed directly from the bush by young and old alike. They are really the no-work fruit,
they need no sorting, crushing, pealing, cleaning, stoning, cutting or cooking before being
eaten. The consumer wants to eat safe, attractive looking fruit that tastes good. And mothers
are so happy when kids like fresh fruit. Blueberry is also ideal for pick-your-own operations and local farm sales.

As a general rule: blue, black and red fruit and vegetables are extremely high in antioxidants.
If you are following the 'five a day' - campaign in your nutrition, make sure to cover as many
different colours as possible in order to get the best out of fruit and vegetables . And never
forget: Blueberries are the leader of the pack!
To get the level of antioxidants found in
1/2 cup of blueberries, you need to eat
more of the other fruit and vegetables
broccoli

spinach

2 1/4
cup

2 1/2
cup

corn

orange
blueberry
strawberry

1/2
cup

A little glance into the future of the blueberry

world as I come to the end of my talk. May
thousands of cool trucks carry fresh blueberry
fruit to cities all over the world.

Sonja Dierking
Wilhelm Dierking Beerenobst
D-29690 Gilten
[email protected]
January, 2004

3/4
cup

1/4
cup

If you are not yet hungry enough for blueberries maybe the following images can help.
Blueberries are really incredible edibles. They thrive on very low-nutrient soil and low ph.
The cultivated plant can be highly productive over a very long period of time, 30, 40 years or even longer. More than perhaps any other fruit in
the world blueberries have the potential to be grown organically and are therefore truly a plant of the new millenium. Their shelf life is considerably
longer than that of any other soft fruit, and their long hang time on the bush offers more flexibility to both growers and marketers.
Blueberries is a delicious fresh summer fruit, but has also great potential for all kinds of preserves
like juice, wine, liquour and jam. Or try them as a juicy aromatic ingredient for muffins or
pies! They are not only highly attractive and tasty, they contain those wonderful healthy
antioxidants! I will come back to the health aspect later on, Just to summarize: Add fresh
blueberries to your diet whenever it is possible!

Power for your immune system

Improving eyesight
Lowering cholesterol
Preventing cancer
Controlling diabetes
Improving circulation
Fight sun damage
Slow down Alzheimer and other age-related diseases

The english language is so creative. It took a very short time to collect these slogans from
websites or printed media. My German collection includes less than 50 % of this. Berry fruit
indeed is a hot topic in all media and you as fruit growers should use this favourable opportunity
for your own product advertising. The interplay of bioactive compounds is extremely complicated
and (by now) cannot be manufactured industrially in the form of pills. This is a great chance
for everybody to point out that we shall eat the fruit, the whole fruit and nothing but the whole
fresh fruit.

Dear Blueberry Friends,

Are you ready to discover the wonderful world of blueberries?
I am going to present quite a few images and facts about blueberries
and at the end of the day, hopefully you will believe me that blueberries
have a way of getting into your blood.
Before I start into some blueberry basics please let me introduce myself: my name is Sonja Dierking
and I live and
work on our family farm & nursery 'Wilhelm Dierking Beerenobst'. We are located in Northwest Germany, right in the center of Europe's largest blueberry growing area, the so-called 'Blue Triangle' where
approximately 60 % of Germany's total blueberry acreage of 1350 ha is located.
Our business has been specialising in species of Vaccinium (blueberry, cranberry and lingonberry) for 40 years. Our main work centres on the propagation and growing of the main commercial blueberry
plant varieties, along with growing blueberry fruit for commercial sale. Today our annual production target is 1 million blueberry plants to be shipped throughout Europe. The product range contains liners,
semi-finished and finished plants. We actively support the testing, breeding and establishing of new blueberry varieties throughout Europe by working with breeders from HortResearch, NZ and the US.

2 2/3
cup

ALL THE BERRY BEST...

The expression 'blueberry' can stand for very many different types. To avoid
any misunderstanding I will briefly explain their botanical background. Worldwide
the genus Vaccinium includes some 450 species. Just a handful of species are
economically significant, three are shown to the right. Vaccinium angustifolium
is the native North American Lowbush. Fruit size is small and flavour is mild, not highly-aromatic. Lowbush blueberries are grown
extensively in cooler regions of North America, i.e. Canada, Maine, Washington. A high percentage of the crop goes into frozen or
processed products. Vaccinium myrtillus, also called 'bilberry' or 'forest blueberry', is the European Wild Lowbush, to be found on limedeficient sandy acidic soils. The fruit is very small with dark flesh. As they can only be stored for a very short time, only a small portion
of harvest is sold fresh. Dried berries and tea made from leaves are sold in health food shops as a proven remedy for gastrointestinal
complaints as well as for the secondary treatment of diabetes.The giant blueberry in the center is Vaccinium corymbosum, the Northern
Highbush Blueberry. This is the species we are mainly working with, suitable for most parts of Europe and the world. Not in this picture
is: Vaccinium ashei R., the 'Rabbiteye Blueberry', which is native to the South Eastern United States, and the 'Lowchill Southern Highbush', which are derived from Northern Highbush types crossed with
several species such as Vaccinium darrowi and Vaccinium ashei R. and are proven suitable in warm climates with low winter chill.
Blueberries have gone from a specialty crop known only in a few select regions, to a favorite fresh fruit being enjoyed
all around the world. Let's look at the world production. The market is growing and consumers are excited about
this fruit. Germany continues to be the dominant market in Europe for blueberries. Cultivation there began in the
1930s. Established growers are expanding and new growers are starting in the blueberry business. Starting a blueberry
operation is actually funded, not only in parts of Germany but also in Holland, Austria and Italy. As to acreage in
Poland (late market supplier) they will catch up very soon with Germany. France, Spain, Italy and Holland (heated
greenhouse production) are the early market suppliers especially southern Spain. The US produce some 400 million
pounds of blueberry annually and consumption has hit a new curve. Prices of both process and fresh fruit continue
to be high. Chile has grown from 0 to 1000 ha in < 15 years. This is due to its ideal fruit growing climate, along
with its cheap and abundant land
and labour force. Its close
proximity to the huge North
American market guarantees that
Chile will remain one of the
world's leading off-season
supplier. Other candidates in the Southern hemisphere are Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Worldwide growers
are enthusiastically optimising their environments to make blueberries grow faster and better.
Shall we try to make a prediction of worldwide growth in 5 years ?
Poland will certainly have the fastest growing industry in Europe. And also acreage in off-season countries is expected
to expand remarkably. I am convinced that some of the countries mentioned in this list still have some surprises in
store for us. So the future blueberry market is bright, with still many more markets, and even existing markets to
penetrate and entice to try more delicious and healthy blueberries.

Starting in the blueberry business means you need to consider 4 main areas: 1. select and prepare your site carefully , 2. choose
suitable varieties and find healthy, true-to-type plant stock, 3. organise your forthcoming harvest and decide on marketing strategies,
last not least: 4. make sure you have orchard management and optimised growing techniques in line. All of these areas are very
important, and information should be sought from growers in your region, nurseries, marketers and researchers before you start.
Worldwide researchers are trialing different variations of planting environments in preparation for planting blueberries. A typical
growth site in Germany's traditional growing area might be like this
(top left) : pine forest has been cleared, ground mechanically cultivated.
Soil characteristics: sandy and acid, natural ph is around 3.5, organic
matter content 3 - 4 %. Good site selection can save considerable
expenses later on. Avoid frost pockets and wet or heavy soils. The
picture top right looks almost the same, but this piece of land has
been previously used for agricultural crops. The farmer therefore decided
to replace the soil with substrates. Ridges of 50 cm depth are to be
filled in by substrates.(Bottom left) Instead of filling ridges it is popular to set plants on raised beds, in this case into sawdust and other
substrates. (Bottom right) Blueberries establish a very shallow root system. Nearly 100 % of the root system can be found within only 30
cm depth. You need to have this in mind when you use rotivating or cultivating machines because you might damage the root system.

Different people want different things when it comes to the perfect blueberry. I have compared grower and marketer wants for a blueberry. The order may not be exact but it generally reflects what both
growers and marketers want. Choosing a variety is not easy. To do this you need to have the best information specific to your particular situation. Some of the key varieties on the market will now be
demonstrated. For more detailed information please feel to contact us.

Do you remember the main 4 areas? Harvest & Marketing Strategies is number 3.Once your blueberry orchard comes into its first
considerable crop, (i. e. 2 or 3 years after planting) picking, grading and marketing has to be in line. Blueberries are generally handpicked and mostly need one pick per week. 6 - 7 kg per hour is realistic for a trained picker. Pickers may pick into buckets or directly
into retail punnets. On a hot summer day or under greenhouse conditions it makes sense to wear gloves which prevent finger prints on
the fruit. It is really important to pick carefully and not destroy the light blue frosty so-called 'bloom' on the fruit. Intact bloom stands for
superior fresh quality. I was very impressed by the advanced packhouses in England (picture: David Trehane's) and by the way how
food safety systems are practised on relatively small-scale farms. Blueberries have great potential for long-term storage, however, some
varieties are much better suited than others. CA specialists in Italy hold 'Brigitta' fruit in controlled athmosphere over a period of 4
months. Each of the four pictures reflects a certain marketing strategy. The lady with the bucket may be a pick-your-own client or she
may be picking for local farm sales. The packhouse stands for wholesale growers supplying supermarket chains. CA storage reflects the
strategy of holding back fruit until the market price has come up to a higher level. And finally, superior 'Nui' fruit, carefully picked,
resembles early high quality tunnel house production. A 4 - 5 week advance (or even 8 weeks with additional heating) is possible.
Blueberries growing in large containers is a non-traditional way of fruit production. There are still a lot of questions about it. This
farmer is really taking new steps: what we see is a mobile pick-your-own farm. The idea is simple: look for cities with the best
purchasing power, then borrow land at the periphery of rich cities and offer pick-your-own to the consumer, this is fully independant
of natural soil conditions. Container cultivation allows the farmer to move to other places: to shopping malls, entertainment parks,
festivals ... main point is to be where people are willing to spend money on good quality fruit.Large-scale blueberry growers need to
operate with mechanical harvesters to control costs. After two or three picks berry size is often too small to be hand-harvested
economically. Mechanically harvested fruit is well suitable for the process market . There are a number of varieties with good machine
harvestibility even for fresh market purpose. Supplying
the process market is also a marketing strategy.
There are quite a few growers that fully concentrate
on mechanical harvest and supply 100 % of their crop
to the process market.Shading as a method of delaying
harvest is utilised in New Zealand. Another way to cover late demand could be to plant late varieties in the mountains.
Can we buy fresh blueberries all year round? A sophisticated interplay of growing areas, blueberry species, different varieties,
growing methods and post-harvest techniques is necessary to bring about a whole-year-supply. There are still a few windows
within this calendar which need to be filled by satisfactory volumes, but the worldwide blueberry industry is not far from
that. Here each section stands for a month. 10 countries reflect key blueberry suppliers. In order to understand the illustration
we need to mention different species, for instance 'Rabbiteye' blueberries. They can be grown in frost-free areas only, but
their special feature is extreme late ripening time compared to Northern Highbush. This characteristic makes them play an
important role in warm growing areas. Choose any month and we can tell from this calendar who is then able to supply
the world market. I can tell you that April and October are the most interesting months. Why? In April late Southern
hemisphere production and early Northern hemisphere production meet each other. While growers in the South are trying
to prolong their season by shading, CA storage or late varieties (rabbiteye), growers in the North are heating their tunnel
houses for early production. October - just the other way round: Northern growers are still harvesting small volumes of
latest varieties, they are making use of any available storage capacity in CA facilities. At the same time Southern growers
are just about to pick small volumes of very early fruit in tunnel houses. This calendar is subject to continual change and
development. We expect to find and roll out a number of new and exciting blueberry varieties in the coming years ahead
from our testing and breeding program. At the same time growers worldwide are optimising the environment to get the
best out of their blueberries, such is the demand for blueberries at present.

When it comes to orchard management and growing techniques we can start an endless discussion. So i am going to pick out just
a few essentials. Try to combine advanced growing techniques like organic mulches, raised beds, drip irrigation, fertigation, ph
modification, tunnel construction, bird and hail netting. Flowering & Pollination: Blueberry flowers need insect pollination ( honey
bees and/or bumble bees). We recommend 4 -5 bee hives per hectare. Flowering season is always a critical time of the year.
One frosty night can destroy your crop, therefore frost protection irrigation by overhead sprinklers might be a very useful investment.
Excessive rainfall during flowering can lead to botrytis or other fungul infections. Try to achieve a good balance between wind
shelter and ventilation. Strong wind can damage your fruit, but a lack of ventilation might lead to higher disease susceptibility.
Looking at the ripening times of each variety, you can decide when you would like fruit and what market you will be targeting. Whether this will be for the early, mid or late season, greenhouse or PYO,
will also be influenced by other countries in Europe and when their production seasons begin and finish.
Keeping up to date with suitable varieties means you need to see them as soon and as often as possible. Try to identify which parts of the world best resemble your own situation and your environment.
And visit your plant supplier and if possible variety test plots regularly. Our certified nursery has been strictly tested for quality of plants, professionalism
and service. Certified plant stock is good for you, because you will enjoy the best quality in terms of vital growth habit, clean substrate, insect- and
disease-free true-to-type plant varieties. Purchasing high-quality stock is the grower's wisest and least expensive investment. Field-grown 3 year
old plants will give a small crop in the year after planting. These plants have a strong root ball and herein provide a good portion of mycorrizha
fungus to inoculate your substrate. The existence of mycorrizha is a dire necessity for a vital blueberry cultivar.A few general words about planting:
dormant plants withstand transplanting better than those in leaf. Therefore the best time for planting is October-December or February-March.
Plants should be spaced far enough apart so that they do not touch, for example 1 m distance between plants within the row, and 3 m between
rows. This calculates to 2700 plants per hectare. And plants are usually set at the same depth as they were in the nursery. If plants are purchased
in containers, gently break up the root ball before planting. Container plants offer more flexibility. They can be shipped and planted almost throughout
the year. In our nursery we are propagating softwood and hardwood cuttings. Blueberry liners are grown on in insect-safe, temperature-controlled
greenhouse environments. Mother plants are carefully selected and are replaced at regular intervals to maintain vigour and trueness to type.

Mulching: There are numerous benefits of mulching: as a general rule mulching acidifies the soil effectively, keeps moisture in,
increases porosity, helps control weed growth. Mulches can also help to reduce frost damage by delaying bud development in
spring and leaf drop in autumn. Mulching material can be: peat, straw, wood chips, sawdust, pine bark, dried grass, shredded
leaves. Drip irrigation places water precisely into the root
zone and liquid fertilizer or acidifying liquids can also be
fed through this system. Tunnel construction provides higher temperature for early cropping (or shading for late crop). Canopy
training is another way to improve quality and picking efficiency allowing more sunlight and more ventilation to penetrate the
crown of the bush. The result: quick to pick fruit clusters that do not touch each other.
The object of pruning blueberries is to consistently produce good yields of high-quality, healthy fruit. Regular pruning is highly
recommended. It helps control plant growth and overcropping. Fruit size is more even and large throughout the season. Thinning
out all dead, injured and unproductive old wood is also your orchard's most effective health insurance. Spray coverage and air
circulation within the plant's canopy is increased. The best time for pruning is late winter or early spring. All prunings should be
removed from the orchard and burned.