Vernon Blueberry Information

The most distinctive feature of the rabbiteye blueberry, ‘Vernon’, is its combination of late bloom/early ripening, favorable commercial fruit attributes, high and consistent yield, excellent plant vigor, and large berry size.

Vernon is an early season rabbiteye blueberry, having favorable fruit attributes, large berry size, good yields and excellent plant vigor. Plants of Vernon flower relatively late (7 to 10 days after Climax in south Georgia), yet ripen early (same time as Climax but before Premier). Berries of Vernon are large in size and have excellent firmness, color, flavor and dry scars which contribute to good shelf life. Vernon is recommended for trials where rabbiteye blueberries are grown successfully as an early ripening cultivar replacing Climax and/or Premier. The new cultivar has an estimated chill hour requirement of 500 to 550 hours below 45 degrees F. It is recommended that Vernon be planted with other rabbiteye blueberry cultivars with similar time of bloom, such as Alapaha and Brightwell.The outstanding characteristics of Vernon are late flowering with early ripening, and vigorous plants with high yield of large fruit of excellent quality.