The remaining 70 percent of the crop is cultivated blueberries produced in Michigan, New Jersey, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Georgia, Arkansas and in other states. Wild blueberries are grown on 44, acres in Maine. These fields have been developed from native plants that occur naturally in the understory of the forest. Because of the pruning practices employed, only half of the acres are available to be harvested every year. Six companies operate processing plants that freeze and can berries, and there is one fresh pack cooperative.
Currently, 99 percent of the crop is frozen and most are used as a food ingredient, so less than one percent of the blueberry crop is sold fresh. All blueberries and cranberries are in the Ericaceae plant family or Heath family. There are several species of wild blueberries found in Maine. Blueberries and cranberries are in the genus Vaccinium. The most abundant wild blueberry in Maine is known as the low, sweet blueberry and has the species name angustifolium. It has smooth stems that vary in color from tan to red, and plants vary in height from 4 to 15 inches.
Leaves of angustifolium are dark green, smooth, and sometimes have slightly toothed edges. Blossoms are bell-shaped and usually white or pinkish-white.
The fruit is usually dark blue, but it is colored with a waxy coating or bloom that gives the fruit a light, powder blue appearance. A black-fruited variety of the low sweet blueberry, nigrum , is also commonly found in wild blueberry fields. It has the same characteristics as low sweet, except that the fruit is black without a waxy coating. Also, the berry size tends to be larger and the fruit sweeter than the low sweet blueberry. The next common variety is the sourtop blueberry, Vaccinium myrtilloides.
This species tends to be more prevalent in mountains or hilly areas. Stems and leaves are covered with tiny hairs and are more branched than are those of the low sweet.
Sourtop stems grow 6 to 24 inches tall. Leaves are light green, hairy on the underside and tend to curl down on the edges, earning its other name, velvet-leaf blueberry. Blossoms are bell-shaped and greenish-white but sometimes tinged with red. Berries are usually smaller and less sweet than the low sweet. They are bright blue and covered with a waxy coating. The highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum , which can grow to more than six feet in height are also found wild along lakes or ponds adjacent to managed wild blueberry fields and occasionally will cross with the lowbush plants to produce a hybrid that has characteristics of each plant.
These are the unimproved versions of the cultivated varieties of the highbush blueberry that are grown throughout the world and are found in home gardens or in small plantings in Maine but are not part of the commercial wild blueberry industry in Maine.
The bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus as it is known in Europe or as one of the western huckleberry plants found in the US is smaller and has a darker color than the wild blueberry.
There are also other blueberry species that are referred to as huckleberries in the Western United States that are Vaccinium species and would be considered to be blueberries. Wild blueberry plants occur naturally in the understory of the forest in Maine. Blueberry plants are initially established from seed. These plants send out underground stems called rhizomes. These rhizomes grow near the soil surface, periodically sending up new stems above the soil surface.
Roots develop on the rhizomes as they grow. The original plant, with its spreading rhizome system, is referred to as a clone. Each clone is genetically different from neighboring plants. Clones will vary in size, but the area they cover is related to their age; the younger clones cover less area. An average clone will cover from 75 to square feet.
If this is multiplied by the 44, acres we have in Maine, it would produce over 4. It is the complex mixture of clones that gives wild blueberries their rich diversity of flavors.
And the blueberries liked it. Eventually, the forests returned, but the berries remained. Barely clinging to existence, they bided their time in the shade, waiting for a fire or other cataclysmic event to open the canopy and set them free. But before you take them for granted, here are a few things that might surprise you. Two-thirds of each plant lives underground. Blueberries spread underground. The barrens may look like a vast array of multiple plants, but a single plant can be the size of a football field.
Every shoot and berry within that plant is genetically identical, a clone of its neighbors. Another plant can be growing adjacent to it, with a slightly different flavor. Look closely, and you may begin to see that one set of plants is just a little taller, or the berries are slightly bigger or a different color.
Taste the difference. This variability is one reason Maine wild blueberries are far more delicious then their cultivated competitors. Blueberries figured out how to beat the infertility of glacial soil, forming a symbiotic relationship with a particular fungus. The fungus is capable of extracting nutrients from sand, making them available to the blueberry.
In return, the blueberry produces a sugar from the nutrients that it shares with the fungus. Click here to cancel reply. Name required. Email will not be published required. Remember Me This setting should only be used on your home or work computer. Sign In Register Join Now. Wild Maine blueberries reach peak ripeness in mid-August.
Courtesy of Wyman's Blueberries. Amy Traverso.
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