Vaccinium corymbosum 
Brigitta
 
Fruit ripening time: January – February
 
The Brigitta berry has a great reputation and is the common berry on supermarket shelves due to its late season crop, high yield, good keeping qualities and bruising resistant nature. 
 
Brigitta produces lovely firm, crisp berries with a deliciously sweet flavour and a perfectly balanced slight tartness. Fruit are large and uniformly blue when ripe. 
Berries are covered in a protective coating of wax, colloquially known as bloom.
 
A beautiful medium sized, deciduous shrub with a dense round shape. These plants are primarily grown for their fruit, but also make wonderful garden or hedging plants. This fast-growing shrub has bronze tinted new growth and orange-burgundy autumn colour. In spring they have delicate white or pinkish bell-shaped flowers that form into the delicious fruit. 

They grow well in pots or garden beds and are decorative shrubs with spring flowers, summer berries and autumn foliage.
 
Once established, in their second or third year, they will begin producing fruit, with peak production after 5 years.
 
Uses: Excellent fresh eating, freezing, baking, and preserves.
 
Tree Size: 2 m tall x 2 m wide
 
Tree Care: Blueberries are medium shrubs, that are hardy once established. They prefer full sun and well-draining acidic soil and are best planted approximately 1.2 m apart.
 
Blueberries dislike ‘wet feet’ but also flourish with moist soil, so frequent low-level watering is great. 
 
The plants benefit from annual pruning in late winter, to maximise fruit production.
 
Blueberries benefit from slow-release fertilization in early spring and again before fruit bud. Their lateral shallow root system can uptake surface applied nutrient well.  
 
Pollination: Brigitta is partially self-fertile and pollination is greatly improved with a pollination partner such as Blue Crop or Blue Rose.
 
 
Plant Size Guide:
1-year-old (tubestock) blueberry - approximately 10 cm of plant growth. Grown and supplied in a 25 mm Ellepot 
 
2-year-old blueberry - approximately 20 cm of plant growth. Grown and supplied in a 120 mm Ellepot.
 
Ellepots are a unique and sustainable plant production system. 
These specialised propagation tubes have revolutionised plant production and allow for optimal plant growth. Roots are air pruned, allowing plants to develop a healthy root system with no root circling and a dense, highly branched root network. 
 
The ellepot plug can be planted directly in the ground, and allows the plant to take-off and grow rapidly as soon as it is planted. Ellepots are the ideal growing medium for bluberries, which have a fine root structure that are easily damaged when bare rooted.