BLUEBERRY GROWING IN CHIBA-KEN, JAPAN

Commercial blueberry growing in Chiba-ken (located due east of Tokyo) began in 1977. Highbush (cultivar: Weymouth, Collins, Blueray, Bluecrop, Berkeley, Dixi and Herbert) and rabbiteye (Woodard, Homebell and Tifblue) blueberries are grown at about 8.0 and 12.0 ha respectively as of 1988.

The average temperature during the growing season (April-Sept.) stands at 21.1°C and 5.4°C in the winter season (Dec.-Feb.) at Chiba-city.
The average precipitation is about 800 mm during the growing season.

Flowering season lasts a month from the beginning of April in Chiba-ken.
Harvesting season of fruits lasts from the beginning of June (Weymouth) to the end of July (Herbert) in the highbush, and from the middle of July (Woodard) to the end of August (Tifblue) in the rabbiteye blueberry.

One of the problems of blueberry growing, especially for highbush blueberries is that the quality of fruit (Brix, acidity and shelf life) is rather unsatisfactory, because the amount of rainfall in June and July is excessive with less sunshine.
Another problem is that the method of fertilizer application of highbush and rabbiteye blueberries adapted to two types of soil (volcanic ash soil and marine sandy soil) has not yet been established.

IV International Symposium on Vaccinium Culture

T. Tamada

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1989.241.7