Suziblue cultivar
Suziblue is an early season southern highbush blueberry that flowers and ripens about the same time as Star and one week later than Rebel. Suziblue plants are vigorous, precocious and have a semi-spreading bush habit with a medium crown. Leafing has been very good, even following mild winters. Plants can hold older leaves through the winter in south Georgia.
Suziblue berries are similar in appearance to Star and Rebel fruit, but Suziblue has better berry firmness, size and overall superior cropping than Star and larger berry size and better overall flavor than Rebel. Suziblue may be a candidate for machine harvesting as berries generally hold firmness well. However, Suziblue’s tight clusters likely require hand harvesting during first harvests.
Georgia Dawn cultivar
Georgia Dawn™ is a Southern highbush (mostly Vaccinium corymbosum) with good plant vigor with an upright growth habit and narrow crown. It is early flowering (February-March) and ripening (end of April and early May). No notable disease or other pest problems have been observed for Georgia Dawn™ that are not common for other varieties.
This variety is very early ripening—in seven to twelve days earlier than the varieties Rebel and Star in south Georgia and more than two weeks earlier than Emerald—and should be grown with overhead sprinkler frost protection for more reliable production. Georgia Dawn™ has medium to large berries with good flavor. It has good fruit scar and firmness.