Rabbiteye Varieties
Rabbiteye – Vaccinium ashei
With firmer berries and thicker skin, the Rabbiteye variety is a hardy plant which can tolerate a multitude of climate conditions unlike the Northern and Southern Highbush. The Rabbiteye is a low chill, late season variety that requires 450-600 chill hours. The name 'Rabbiteye' comes from the resemblance of the ripening pink berries to a rabbit's eyes.
Variety Selection Checklist
- Is your location frost free
- Does your location experience between 450-600 chill hours
Brightwell*
| Bush |
Vigorous, upright bush. Excellent bush shape. |
| Fruit |
Large fruit with reasonable flavour and good scar but has gritty texture and tough skin. Fruits with Premier several weeks earlier than Tifblue. Berries tend to have a gritty texture. |
| Notes |
Plant with Premier. |
Premier*
| Bush |
Moderate vigour. |
| Fruit |
Medium/ large fruit with excellent colour, taste and scar. |
| Notes |
One of the best eating rabbiteye blueberries. Plant with Britewell. |
Powder Blue*
| Bush |
Moderate vigour. |
| Fruit |
Small/medium light blue fruit. Very similar in looks to Tifblue but slightly smaller. |
| Notes |
Plant with Tifblue. |
Tifblue*
| Bush |
Bushy upright vigorous growth. |
| Fruit |
Medium/large light blue fruit. |
| Notes |
Released in America in 1955. Still widly grown and accepted as the benchmark for all rabbiteye varieties. Plant with Powderblue. |
T 102*
| Bush |
Vigorous spreading bush. |
| Yield |
Very heavy yields. |
| Fruit |
Large firm fruit, good flavour. Berry is dark and somewhat flat with very big calyx. Can split after heavy rain. Ripens a week or so after Tifblue. |
Centurion*
| Bush |
Nice shaped bush showing moderate vigour. |
| Yield |
Good yields |
| Fruit |
Medium sized, tasty, well displayed berries. The fruit is not as gritty as some rabbiteye but is inclined to be a little dark in colour |
Maru *
| Bush |
Bushes are upright with berries well exposed. |
| Area |
Not recommended for cooler disticts. |
| Fruit |
Berries are dark with a gritty texture and obvious calyx scar. Extremely late cropper with large very typical rabbiteye fruit. |
Rahi *
| Bush |
Vigorous, upright growth habit. |
| Market |
Most notable feature is the keeping ability of fruit with good retention of fresh market quality after 4-6 weeks storage. |
| Fruit |
A moderate cropper with outstanding fruit quality. Loose clusters of firm, very light blue fruit. Berries are prone to splitting after heavy rain. |
* The observations made about these plants, have been made at Moondarra in Gippsland, Victoria. Different climatic conditions and soil could show different results. Please use this information as a guide only.
