Pollen Source Influences Fruiting of ‘Sharpblue’ Blueberry

Abstract

The effects of cross-pollination, self-pollination, and mixed (self plus cross) pollination of ‘Sharpblue’ blueberry (primarily V. corymbosum) were studied. The pollen for cross-pollination came from V. corymbosum clones ‘O’Neal’ and ‘FL 2-1’. Self-pollination resulted in 37% fruit set, compared to 74% to 91% set for the other pollination treatments. The number of well-developed seeds per matured berry averaged 3.5 for self-pollination, 13.0 for mixed pollination, and 24.4 for cross-pollination. The number of days from pollination to ripe fruit was highly and negatively correlated with berry seed number, regardless of the pollen source. Mixed pollinations delayed ripening an average of 7 days compared to cross-pollination, and self-pollination delayed ripening by an additional 13 days over mixed pollination.