Things have thawed out after the blast of icy weather we experienced in December, and we went out to the field to assess the damage to dormant buds. Temperatures here in Lowell, Oregon got as low as -7 or -8 degrees Farenheit which is unusually cold for this area.

We cut the buds on three canes from various plots of blueberries on our research farm, and found that some varieties did indeed have necrotic areas inside, indicating the bud primordia had been killed by the low temperatures (see photo). Here are the numbers:

Plot	Variety	Type (southern, northern, mid chill, rabbiteye)	number of healthy buds	number of dead or damaged buds
sec 2 demo	Legacy	Mid chill	4	33
sec 2 demo	Duke	Northern	40	0
sec 2 demo	Rebel	Southern	5	35
sec 2 demo	Emerald	Southern	0	43
sec 2 demo	Jewel	Southern	0	32
sec 2 demo	Draper	Northern	44	0
sec 2 demo	Northland	Northern	46	0
sec 2 demo	Elliott	Northern	36	0
sec 2 demo	Bluecrop	Northern	37	0
sec 2 demo	Ozarkblue	Mid chill/Northern	41	0
Sec1 demo	Cargo	Northern	38	0
Sec1 demo	Clockwork	Northern	37	2
H08_0056	Blue Ribbon	Mid chill	35	2
H08_0060	Duke	Northern	31	0
H08_0068	Top Shelf	Northern	27	4
H08_0076	Draper	Northern	33	2
H08_0077	Liberty	Northern	38	0
H08_0090	Legacy	Mid chill	4	33
H08_0102	Last Call	Northern	38	0
H08_0115	Aurora	Northern	45	0
H09_0024	Draper	Northern	33	0
H09_0037	Aurora	Northern	38	0
H09_0069	Duke	Northern	32	0
H09_0087	Liberty	Northern	31	3
H09_0102	Legacy	Mid chill	7	26
H10_0122	Ochlockonee	Rabbiteye	8	35
H10_0123	Powderblue	Rabbiteye	11	22
sec 2 demo	Ochlockonee	Rabbiteye	18	15
sec 2 demo	Powderblue	Rabbiteye	16	21
Sec1 demo	Overtime	Rabbiteye	9	28

As you can see, most of the northern highbush had few or no damaged buds. The southern highbush and rabbiteyes are a different story. The mid-chill variety ‘Legacy’, which has southern highbush ancestry, was also badly damaged here. Around the valley though, it may be a different story. In Salem for example, temperatures never got as low as here in Lowell and there may be a lot less damage to ‘Legacy’. How does it look in your growing area? I’d love to hear from growers and other researchers!

Peter

Frost Damage Report From Fall Creek’s Breeder

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