Talisman Blueberry

NEW! Talisman’ is a new northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) cultivar developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). The new cultivar has several advantageous attributes for blueberry growers in the north-temperate United States: reliable productivity, excellent yields, late-midseason ripening, medium-large fruit, uniform size, light-blue fruit color, and easy fruit removal force making it suitable for mechanical harvest.‘Talisman’ originated from a cross of ‘Magnolia’ × ‘Elizabeth’ , and it was tested as ARS 05-171. ‘Magnolia’ is a southern highbush cultivar (USDA, 1994) and derives from the cross Fla 78-15 × Fla 72-5. ‘Elizabeth’ is a northern highbush cultivar released from New Jersey (New Jersey Blueberry Council, 1966) and derives from the cross (‘Katherine’ × ‘Jersey’) × ‘Scammell’. Based upon this parentage, ‘Talisman’ is calculated to be ≈87% V. corymbosum L. and ≈13% other species, primarily V. darrowii Camp. (5%) and V. virgatum Ait. (syn. V. ashei Reade) (≈4%), with small amounts of other species (Brevis et al., 2008; Ehlenfeldt, personal communication). The cross for ‘Talisman’ was made in 2000 by M.K. Ehlenfeldt at the Philip E. Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research and Extension (Rutgers University), Chatsworth, NJ. ‘Talisman’ was selected in 2005 at the same location, and was subsequently evaluated in commercial-farm test plots in Hammonton, NJ by M.K. Ehlenfeldt and R.B. Martin Jr. from 2013 to 2019.‘Talisman’ exhibited a larger berry size (2.0 g ± 0.5), higher firmness (194 g/mm dfl ± 22), higher soluble solids (10.7 °Brix ± 1.4), and higher titratable acidity (0.94% citric acid eq. ± 0.43) than ‘Duke’,

Zone: 4-8

Size: 1.5 year old tissue cultured plant in 10 cm pot