Rabbiteye Blueberry

Size, growth and what to expect

Most bushes reach full size in 7 to 8 years, so our growth estimator gives it the medium rate, about a foot and a half a year. A mature bush stands 6 to 15 feet tall and about 10 feet wide, with many stems from the base.

White or pink bells open from March to May. The berries ripen from June into August, black or dusted blue. They ripen unevenly in each cluster, so picking runs four to six weeks. Cedar waxwings, robins and crows all feed on them.

It is native to the Coastal Plain of the Southeast, from North Carolina to Florida and west to Texas and Arkansas. Wild plants grow in river bottoms, pine flatwoods, hammocks and dry woods.

How to grow Rabbiteye Blueberry

Rabbiteye blueberry wants full sun, at least four to five hours a day, and fruits poorly near hardwood trees, though pines suit it. It needs an acid soil, pH 4.0 to 5.5, that drains well, and sandy soil suits it best. Avoid heavy clay and wet spots, where root rot can kill it. Set plants 6 feet apart and keep them 20 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant bare-root saplings in late winter or early spring and potted ones in fall or winter, at the depth they grew. Work a little acid peat into each hole, and mulch 3 to 6 inches deep with pine bark or pine straw, clear of the stems. Rabbiteye seed is small and needs light to sprout. Keep the dry seed in the refrigerator for about 90 days. Then sow it on the surface of a moist, acid mix, uncovered, in light.

Water through the first two summers, since the young roots are shallow. Use water low in lime and salt, because hard or salty water kills the root fungi the plant depends on. Pick off the flowers the first year so the plant builds roots and shoots. Feed lightly two or three times a year, never in one heavy dose. From the fourth or fifth year, cut out one to three of the oldest canes in late winter, and top tall bushes after harvest.

Rabbiteyes set little fruit with their own pollen, so plant two or more seedlings from different parents for a crop. Plants may bear 2 to 5 pounds each by the third or fourth year after planting, and mature bushes give 15 pounds or more. Birds take the berries, so net the bushes as they ripen. Watch for mummy berry, gray mold on the flowers in wet springs, and blueberry maggot.