History of highbush blueberry (V-corymbosum L.) growing in Poland

Polish interest in highbush blueberry started when Prof, S.A. Pieniazek returned to Poland in 1946 with plants of a few cultivars and tried to introduce this plant for cultivation in our country. Initially, the plants grew very weakly. To improve the growth, the plants were planted in special containers, filled with the soil brought from forest. While this helped to improve growth, it was not possible to recommend such a method of cultivation for large scale production. In 1976, 1 started the first experiment concerning the fertilization of blueberry. This experiment was set in Skierniewice on special experimental field with podzolic soil Haplic Luvisols with 17% clay and silt (< 0.02 mm) on Ap horizon and that had plots that had received different levels of fertilization every year since 1923. On this field were plots with different concentrations of mineral elements and soil pH. This research helped us solve two basic problems connected with blueberry cultivation. The first one was concerning the soil acidity and different methods of pH determination. In Poland, the pH of soil is determined in mol KCl and therefore, according to our method of measurement, the most suitable pH for blueberry is 3.5 4.0. The other problem that was solved was connected with soil classification. In Poland, soil considered as sandy has < 20 % clay and silt (< 0.02 mm), but in USA sand is < 15 % clay (0.002 mm). Beginning in 1978, blueberry cultivar trials were conducted in Poland. According to results of those trials the following cultivars are recommended for cultivation: Bluccrop, Coville, Darrow, Earliblue, Herbert, Jersey, Patriot, Spartan, Weymouth, and recently Brigitta Blue, Duke, Nelson and Toro have been added to this list.