The standard berry and its alternatives

The 2 to 3 litre pot, tall and usually square, has become the standard in berry plant production. If you wander through the garden centres in the spring and analyse the offers with a gardener's eye, all you see is always the same: almost the same pot, with a slightly different but always large label, nota bene with as little information as possible. It is a well-known fact that customers cannot read. At least that's what our advertising consultants seem to think. Garden centres are no better. I...

Wild fruit breeding at Lubera®

Unknown or little-known, hardly noticed fruit species are also worked on in the Lubera breeding programme. But why do we care about the obscure, little demanded, often not directly edible berry and fruit species, when we could possibly invest more in raspberry breeding? In this article, Markus Kobelt shows the importance of wild fruit species in the Lubera breeding programme and also describes in concrete terms the objectives for which research is carried out on the various wild fruit species.

Lubera Edibles Podcast #20: Gardener's talk: How do I produce blueberries in containers?

The demand for blueberries has increased significantly in recent years, not only for blueberries in the food retail trade, where blueberries have now replaced strawberries as the most popular soft fruit in terms of kilograms sold. A steadily increasing demand can also be observed for blueberry plants that are commercially available. This can only be explained by the fact that blueberries as a fruit are something like 'everybody’s darling', i.e. they appeal to (almost) every palate. And the...

Breeding blueberries for the home garden

As in other fruit and berry species, the blueberry assortment is still largely dominated by varieties bred for commercial cultivation. At the same time as the unstoppable rise of blueberries, which are the second most important berry fruit in professional cultivation after strawberries, breeding has also intensified, but it is rather unlikely that the home garden market will be able to profit from this as it has in the past. Most new varieties for domestic horticulture are proprietary, which...

Producing blueberries – which pot sizes can be produced from which quality of blueberry young plants?

Why is it so important, especially when producing blueberries, to use the right size of blueberry young plants right from the start? In contrast to many types of soft fruit, such as raspberries, blackberries or gooseberries, blueberries grow much more slowly. Due to this fact, it is imperative to use the right blueberry young plant quality in order to yield a successful crop. Which blueberry young plants are right for you depends on the pot size of the end product.

However, it is not only the...

Blueberries for the home garden – The Lubera Edibles assortment

The large-fruited or North American species of blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) has been the up-and-coming star among soft fruits for several years, both in global fruit cultivation and in domestic gardens. Although these bog bed plants depend on very special soil conditions, such a location is quite easy to accomplish and even long-term cultivation in a large tubs/containers is largely problem-free. As a result, the demand for plants is uninterrupted, which means that we are regularly sold out...

Blueberry plant production – completely rethought

Currently, blueberry plant production is mainly limited to the cultivation of 'just' container plants. In order not only to shift the actual plant market but also to expand it, it would be a good opportunity to think about alternative product forms. Occasionally, such new product forms have already been observed on the market in recent years, including standards or colourful pots.

In the following, we would like to present our thoughts on this topic to you. This should only serve as a...