Suziblue: A New Blueberry

UGA horticulturists have developed a new southern highbush blueberry variety named 'Suziblue' for the commercial blueberry industry. This new variety has high quality fruit and ripens early season. Several propagators obtained licenses to propagate Suziblue upon its release, and these nurseries are trying to rapidly build the supply of plants for commercial blueberry growers. The new variety should offer improvement over existing varieties for Georgia's blueberry growers. Georgia's blueberry growers are expanding production of southern highbush blueberries to achieve early market windows and higher prices. The University of Georgia Blueberry Breeding Program has accelerated development of blueberry varieties in the past 10 years to facilitate industry demands for new varieties. To achieve this, more than 2000 new blueberry selections are produced and screened annually, and elite selections are then planted at multiple locations in Georgia including on-farm grower sites. The interaction with growers allows their input during the variety development process.