My blueberry plants have matured, and are full of fruit. The berries
seem to be in clusters and today one cluster will have a couple of
berries that are blue, but quite a few more that are still green. So
I'm wondering if one should pick the ripe ones, or wait for the whole
cluster to ripen (as one does for grapes). Picking is not easy, because
we built cages from seine netting since the birds prefer their berries
green, and removing the netting is quite a project.

On Wed, 02 Jul 2014 15:01:51 -0400, "Not@home" wrote:

My blueberry plants have matured, and are full of fruit. The berries
seem to be in clusters and today one cluster will have a couple of
berries that are blue, but quite a few more that are still green. So
I'm wondering if one should pick the ripe ones, or wait for the whole
cluster to ripen (as one does for grapes). Picking is not easy, because
we built cages from seine netting since the birds prefer their berries
green, and removing the netting is quite a project.


.. as my old Granny always told me :
... don't pick the red ones - they're still green .
jt

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On Wed, 02 Jul 2014 15:01:51 -0400, "Not@home" wrote:

My blueberry plants have matured, and are full of fruit. The berries
seem to be in clusters and today one cluster will have a couple of
berries that are blue, but quite a few more that are still green. So
I'm wondering if one should pick the ripe ones, or wait for the whole
cluster to ripen (as one does for grapes). Picking is not easy, because
we built cages from seine netting since the birds prefer their berries
green, and removing the netting is quite a project.


We leave one side of the netting accessible with a peel back just so
we can go in and pick as the berries ripen. Pick each one when it
appears to reach its peak (different varieties ripen with different
colors, so you may have to do a bit of tasting to get it right), and
do not wait for the whole cluster to ripen.

Boron

Not@home wrote:
My blueberry plants have matured, and are full of fruit. The berries
seem to be in clusters and today one cluster will have a couple of
berries that are blue, but quite a few more that are still green. So
I'm wondering if one should pick the ripe ones, or wait for the whole
cluster to ripen (as one does for grapes). Picking is not easy, because
we built cages from seine netting since the birds prefer their berries
green, and removing the netting is quite a project.

Thanks for the suggestions. I had a 60 inch zipper laying around, and
we installed it today and harvested a pint of berries. There will be
more tomorrow. This seine netting is white, and much easier to see and
work with than the black plastic stuff the garden centers carry.