2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Vaccinium arboreum is a native plant species grown in the southeastern United States. Some of them have tree-like traits and can be used as rootstock for grafting. Advanced selections of clonal V. arboreum plants from several seed sources were evaluated for soil pH adaptability and the requirements of sawdust for optimum growth. The two-year study was conducted in 7-gallon pots with 4 8-plant replications. The treatments included two pH levels (>6 vs. <5.5), two soil levels (amended with sawdust vs. soil only), and 4 V. arboreum selections (one Florida, three Texas selections). The plants were arranged in completely randomized blocks in a hoop house and irrigated with overhead micro-sprinklers. Among 4 selections, plants from Florida source had the largest canopy, height, and caliper size, while these growth parameters were similar among three Texas selections. Soil pH did not affect plant growth of all four selections, indicating the ability of V. arboreum to adapt to high soil pH conditions. Sawdust amendment did not affect plant growth among all 4 selections. Leaf color of the Florida selection was better than three selections from Texas. These results demonstrated the potential of using V. arboreum as blueberry rootstocks to expand blueberry production to high pH soils without using sawdust as a soil amendment.