This year's spring frost caused almost no damage to the blueberry plants in Germany, so much so that the Vereinigung der Spargel- und Beerenanbauer e.V. (Association of Asparagus and Berry Growers) expects good fruit quality and a growing harvest after a strong fruit set and good flowering and pollination conditions.
Following the start of the blueberries harvest in Southern and Central Germany, the blueberries season is also beginning in Germany's largest growing region: the North German Plain. Lower Saxony is the centre of blueberry cultivation in Germany, with about 2,200 hectares of cultivated area and about 70 per cent of the production area.
The main harvest in the open field will take place this year from the beginning of July to the beginning of August . Currently, the blueberries are already being harvested in weather-protected tunnels.
"We are more optimistic than last year about a total nationwide harvest of between 16,000 and 18,000 tonnes," said the head of the LWK berry experiment station. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the cultivated area of blueberry in Germany last year covered 3,360 hectares (2 per cent more than in 2020) with a harvest of just over 15,600 tonnes. This means that blueberries, the most important shrub berry crop in Germany, accounts for 36% of the German shrub berry area and 34% of the total shrub berry harvest.
The regional production of blueberries has great advantages for the climatic balance: domestic blueberries grow in areas with sufficient water, have relatively short transport distances and are available from mid-June to mid-September thanks to the combination of varieties with different ripening dates.
Source: Fruitnet
Fruitnet is part of the NCX Media network.
