That’s the primary obstacle to growing them here in California and I’m really curious if they bred the frost requirement out of the Eureka blueberries, or if Australia is colder than I thought. I’d kill to experiment with growing my own because the blueberries sold here are nothing like the wild blueberries from my childhood
I got some bixoli and sharp blues and they fruit like crazy, where we are lucky to get a few days of frost per year
The farm does have Mountain in the name though so I assume they grow at a higher altitude, but I grow at a significant altitude in California too and it doesn’t drop the temperature enough, at least in high desert climates.
Still seems like they've made some progress on reducing frost requirements.
Most likely, it's just that the common assumption is that all of Australia is hot and miserable, whereas not all of it is. They're not actually in Lismore, they're near it.
My blueberries fruited without needing frost (we get none where I am in South East Queensland); it's definitely been bred out of them as a requirement I think?
That’s awesome!
Do you know what varieties you have? Did you buy seeds online or get plants from a nursery?
You're right that they've doubtless been selecting for quite a while at their site - and will therefore have varieties that are happy with chill hours for the region.
Though I'm surprised they get as cold as -3 given how far north, and how close to the coast (20km) they are.
Lismore - to their west, away from the coast - has an elevation of only ~10 metres. The township they're closer looks to be Wollongbar, and that's showing as ~160 metres elevation. I believe the soil around there is superb (volcanic, not depleted like 'average Australian farming land') which is probably a bigger factor.
I'm south of them by 4 degrees, same elevation, and have Much Optimism for my half dozen new blueberry plans ... once I get them out of pots. Shame that these Eurekas plants don't seem to be for sale.
EDIT: meant to add - some varieties that are popular here in AU - Sharpe Blue, Biloxi - have low chill hour requirements, around 300-400 say, BUT really don't like frosts, so it's quite the juggle.