North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mike Levine <mlevine@umich.edu>]

Interesting note because I've tried both bilberries and 'Little Giant' and
my bilberries are having a rough time getting established.  In fact, they
probably won't make it.  My 'Little Giant' plants, however, seem to be doing
better and will probably set fruit this year.  Neither does well here though
due to limestone parent material even though I've created raised beds with
peat and I use coffee grounds for mulch as well as an organic soil
acidifier.

Mike Levine
Ann Arbor, MI zone 5b

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hal Love" <lovehd@comcast.net>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 3:46 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Re: nafex Digest, Vol 4, Issue 2


>
> > will bilberry make it in zone 4?
>
> Bilberries are well adapted to cold climates and zone 4 or 5 may be
optimal
> provided they get plenty of moisture. My attempts at growing them have all
> failed. They do not seem to tolerate heat well at all and die out in 1 or
2
> years. However, my lingonberries seem to thrive in the same location.
>
> Bilberries are not very productive and are very small plants, so you could
> be waiting a long time to grow them in quantity. I recall having read
> somewhere that the blueberry variety 'Little Giant', which is a hybrid
> between a rabbiteye blueberry V. ashei and V. constablaei from the high
> elevation balds of North Carolina, has very high antioxidants, approaching
> that of european bilberries and may be a much better choice. However, I
> think it is only hardy to zone 5.
>
> Hal Love
> Zone 6, TN
>
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