Soil pH effects on yield and fruit size of two rabbiteye blueberry cultivars

The effects of soil pH on yield and average berry weight of rabbiteye blueberry cvs Delite and Tifblue were investigated. Over a three year period, the higher soil pH decreased from 6.5 to 5.9, but the total yield of both cultivars decreased more than 60% as soil pH increased from 4.5 to 6.5 in the first two years and to 5.9 during the last year. Percent marketable yield was less influenced by the change in soil pH than was total yield. ‘Tifblue’ produced more fruit and had higher marketable yields, but the fruit size determined by average berry weight was smaller than ‘Delite’. When the soil pH was at a more desirable range for maximum yield (4.5 to 5.3), ripening was more uniform for both cultivars. This study illustrated that: (a) two rabbiteye blueberry cultivars differed in tolerance to alkaline growing conditions, (b) the response of the two cultivars to the change in soil pH varied from year to year, and (c) total yield of both cultivars was maximized when soil pH was below 5.0.