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tech1010 t1_j2xvdfg wrote

This article is total nonsense. I’ve been growing blueberries for 10+ years.

NJ is one of the largest blueberry producing states and their avg winter temp is much warmer than NH.

We’d have to be Georgia/Florida levels of warm for them to not get enough chill hours.

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ZacPetkanas t1_j2xzzaz wrote

> We’d have to be Georgia/Florida levels of warm for them to not get enough chill hours.

And even then there are varieties that are tolerant to zone 10. Which to be fair to the author of the article, they did mention:

> Bartlett says there are other varieties of blueberries he could plant that are adapted to different kinds of weather, but they would take about eight years to start producing fruit on his farm.

What's more of a problem is a lot of cold/warm cycling which can cause a lot of winter kill because the plant comes out of dormancy in the warmth and then the cold kills the newer wood. (As a grower, I know you know that. I'm addressing folks who may not know)

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General-Silver-4004 t1_j32d7tv wrote

But it’s a different variety. NH and ME blueberries and strawberries are best in my subjective opinion. It’s partially the rocky soil but I suspect it’s also the cold snaps and variety’s grown.

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ZacPetkanas t1_j32dwti wrote

> But it’s a different variety. NH and ME blueberries and strawberries are best in my subjective opinion

Possibly. But it may be due more to freshness. Often fruit crops are picked before they're ripe so they'll ship better and then artificially ripened with ethylene gas and the like.

Eating NH fruit in NH means they were likely allowed to ripen naturally, hence the better flavor. When I travelled to Georgia and had a peach from a road-side farm stand I couldn't buy peaches from the grocery store any longer; only tree-ripened peaches for me from then on.

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rudyattitudedee t1_j2ys4mt wrote

It’s Devastating maine wild blueberries. My family has 440 acres of them Downeast and the harvest has been getting worse every year.

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tech1010 t1_j2z06nf wrote

How much do you think is due to warmer winters versus problems with the native pollinator (bumblebees).

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rudyattitudedee t1_j2zhape wrote

Both are huge factors but, especially due to the salt on the coast and less fog coverage, it’s been hot and dry there most of the year and when I was 10-15 summer usually included a windbreaker or sweater. Now all summer is 80-100 degrees, and very dry. We used to be snowed out of the house half the winter and now we are lucky to get one storm. It’s drastic with how close we are to the Canadian border there, you really notice how similar weather is these days to the southern east coast.

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Andromeda321 t1_j2ydujj wrote

(Not so) Fun fact, with current climate change estimates it's predicted NH weather will be akin to what Maryland is like today by the end of the century, which is further south than NJ! So I can imagine change in that short a period will cause a lot of stresses to many plants.

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[deleted] t1_j2yikpd wrote

Predictions https://nypost.com/2021/11/12/50-years-of-predictions-that-the-climate-apocalypse-is-nigh/

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tech1010 t1_j2z0g6f wrote

There's a famous saying -- if you believe what you're saying then put your money where your mouth is.

The fact that all the big doomsday predictors have bought/built massive oceanfront estates says all you need to know.

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