Blueberries may be cultivated, or they may be picked from semiwild or wild bushes. In North America, the most common cultivated species is
V. corymbosum, the
northern highbush blueberry. Hybrids of this with other
Vaccinium species adapted to southern U.S. climates are known collectively as southern highbush blueberries. Highbush blueberries were first cultivated in
New Jersey around the beginning of the 20th century. Numerous highbush
cultivars of blueberries are available, with diversity among them, each having individual qualities. A blueberry breeding program has been established by the
USDA-ARS breeding program at
Beltsville, Maryland, and
Chatsworth, New Jersey. This program began when
Frederick Vernon Coville of the USDA-ARS collaborated with
Elizabeth Coleman White of
New Jersey. In the early part of the 20th century, White offered pineland residents cash for wild blueberry plants with unusually large fruit. After 1910 Coville began to work on blueberry, and was the first to discover the importance of
soil acidity (blueberries need highly acidic soil), that blueberries do not self-pollinate, and the effects of cold on blueberries and other plants. In 1911, he began a program of research in conjunction with White, daughter of the owner of the extensive
cranberry bogs at Whitesbog in the
New Jersey Pine Barrens. His work doubled the size of some strains' fruit, and by 1916, he had succeeded in cultivating blueberries, making them a valuable crop in the Northeastern United States. For this work he received the George Roberts White Medal of Honor from the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The
rabbiteye blueberry (
Vaccinium virgatum syn.
V. ashei) is a southern type of blueberry produced from
the Carolinas to the
Gulf Coast states. Production of rabbiteye blueberries was a focus in
Texas in the early 21st century. Other important species in North America include
V. pallidum, the hillside or dryland blueberry. It is native to the eastern U.S., and common in the
Appalachians and the
Piedmont of the Southeast. Sparkleberry,
V. arboreum, is a common wild species on sandy soils in the Southeast. Successful blueberry cultivation requires attention to
soil pH (
acidity) measurements in the acidic range. Blueberry bushes often require supplemental fertilization,
United States In 2018,
Oregon produced the most cultivated blueberries, recording , an amount slightly exceeding the production by
Washington. In descending order of production volume for 2017, other major producers were
Georgia,
Michigan,
New Jersey, California, and
North Carolina.
Hammonton, New Jersey, claims to be the "Blueberry Capital of the World", with over 80% of New Jersey's cultivated blueberries coming from this town. Every year the town hosts a large festival, which draws thousands of people to celebrate the fruit.
Maine is known for its wild blueberries, but the state's lowbush (wild) and highbush blueberries combined account for 10% of all blueberries grown in North America. Some are farmed, but only half of this acreage is harvested each year due to variations in pruning practices. The wild blueberry is the official fruit of Maine.
Canada , Canada Canadian production of wild and cultivated blueberries in 2024 was 165,608 tonnes, the country's second-largest fruit crop (after apples). Québec production of lowbush blueberries occurs especially in the regions of
Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (where a popular name for inhabitants of the regions is
bleuets, or "blueberries") and
Côte-Nord, which together provide 40% of Québec's total provincial production. This wild blueberry commerce benefits from
vertical integration of growing, processing, frozen storage, marketing, and transportation within relatively small regions of the province. On average, 80% of Québec wild blueberries are harvested on farms (), the remaining 20% being harvested from public forests ().
V. corymbosum only began to be cultivated in
Romania in a few years leading up to 2018 and rapidly increased in production and sales in that time (as with berries in general). it remains relatively unmolested by pests and diseases (see
Diseases below).
Southern Hemisphere '', a wild species of blueberry found in the Andes In the
Southern Hemisphere, Brazil, Chile,
Argentina,
Peru,
Uruguay, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and
Zimbabwe grow blueberries commercially. In
Brazil, blueberries are produced in the states of
Rio Grande do Sul,
Santa Catarina,
Paraná,
São Paulo and
Minas Gerais. Blueberries were first introduced to Australia in the 1950s, but the effort was unsuccessful. In the early 1970s, the Victorian Department of Agriculture imported seed from the U.S., and a selection trial was started. This work was continued into the mid-1970s when the Australian Blueberry Growers' Association was formed. In the 21st century, the industry grew in
Argentina: "Argentine blueberry production has increased over the last three years with planted area up to 400 percent," according to a 2005 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Argentine blueberry production has thrived in four different regions: the province of Entre Rios in northeastern Argentina, the province of Tucuman, the province of Buenos Aires and the southern Patagonian valleys", according to the report. In the
Bureau of International Labor Affairs report of 2014 on
child labor and
forced labor, blueberries were listed among the goods produced in such working conditions in Argentina.
Pests and diseases Diseases V. corymbosum remains relatively unmolested by pests and diseases in Romania, with
Phytophthora cinnamomi,
Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi,
Botryosphaeria corticis,
Godronia cassandrae,
Phomopsis sp.,
Botrytis cinerea,
Naohidemyces vaccinii,
Microsphaera penicillata var. vaccinii, and various viruses being the most common. Insecticide
modes of action must be varied to avoid encouraging resistance in the invasive pest
Drosophila suzukii. Some
insecticides can be counterproductive, harming
natural enemies of pests as well. For example, treatment for
Illinoia pepperi can reduce populations of its
predators.
Kaolin clay for
Rhagoletis mendax also reduced effectiveness of
Diachasma alloeum, its
parasitoid. The pest predator
Harpalus erraticus maintains greater abundance with selective insecticides rather than broad-spectrum MoAs.
Integrated pest management Blueberries are naturally relatively unmolested by
arthropod pests. Nonetheless, there are 24 insect taxa known to be
pests in North America, the worst in New Jersey,
Michigan,
Maine, and Eastern Canada being
Rhagoletis mendax. Secondary but still important are
Acrobasis vaccinii,
Grapholita packardi, and
Conotrachelus nenuphar. These four are the most common targets for the development of IPM practices. , IPM research has also taken an interest in
Drosophila suzukii and arthropods like
aphids (that vector diseases such as scorch virus and
shoestring virus) and
cicadellids (vectoring the
phytoplasma that causes blueberry stunt). Managing pests down to the cosmetic level is necessary for this fruit because they are a premium product. Changes in locale and environment – to new geographies, and into
greenhouses – have required new pest management regimes, including innovative IPM. Conversely, importing foreign potential enemies into North America may yield good results:
Operophtera brumata is a pest of blueberries and
birches which is successfully parasitized by
Cyzenis albicans despite the lack of historical, natural contact between the two. The same results were obtained with
Scirtothrips citri and
Beauveria bassiana. Results are available for
Choristoneura rosaceana and overwhelming numbers of
Trichogramma minutum, and
Cyclocephala longula overwhelmed by
Steinernema scarabaei. This has also been attempted with flower
thrips and potential predators but with inconclusive results.
International quarantine Rhagoletis mendax is a
quarantine pest in
phytosanitary regimes of some countries around the world.
Resistant cultivars Insect resistance was not a priority in
breeding programs until about the year 2000 and is still not a high priority. However, it may become more common as it becomes easier, especially using
marker-assisted breeding.
V. ashei is naturally more
resistant than
V. corymbosum to
Scaphytopius magdalensis.
V. ashei is less resistant than
V. darrowii to
Prodiplosis vaccinia. There is variation between cultivars of
V. ashei in resistance to
Oberea myops. There is variation in resistance among cultivars of
V. corymbosum to
Acrobasis vaccinii and
Popillia japonica. Wild
V. spp. have greater resistance than highbush cultivars to
I. pepperi. There is significant variation between highbush cultivars in the abundance of various
Tephritidae, thrips, and
Homalodisca vitripennis. ==Production==