North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

I have a lot of blueberry bushes, but I don’t get any berries because the 
birds and chipmunks eat them all. I also have a large cage, about  3’x4’ and 
about 8’ high, that I built to protect a “Carmine Jewel” cherry.

The cherry is overgrowing the cage. More importantly, I don’t love it. It 
doesn’t have a lot of “zing”. So I’m thinking of taking it out, and wondered 
what i could grow in the cage.

A large blueberry bush! That would fit nicely. And I adore blueberries.

But I only have space to protect one. So I want the very best. That would 
mean:
Lots of flavor (more small berries are almost certainly better than fewer 
large berries)
Lots of total fruit
I tend to prefer fruits on the sour side, and often find very sweet fruit 
bland
Of course, it has to be hardy where I live, eastern MA, zone 6. The soil 
isn’t super-acidic, but all those other blueberry bushes seem to do okay, 
except for the fruit all going away before it’s ripe.

I like a somewhat firm blueberry, but some of the firmest ones don’t feel 
life blueberries to me. I don’t want my blueberries t crunch.

So, what blueberry would you recommend?

Many thanks,
Ginda Fisher
eastern MA, zone 6