Blueberry Production in Coastal and Southern California

By Mark Gaskell

Cover: Blueberry Guide

The Blueberry Production Guide is a work in progress. The guide compiles the expertise of Mark Gaskell, Small Farm Program advisor with UC Cooperative Extension Santa Barbara County. Information in the guide is especially pertinent to growers along the Central and Southern Coast of California, where southern highbush blueberry varieties can be grown for early and off-season harvest.

Because this is a work in progress, there are no hard copies currently available. Please check back for further developments.

By chapter

Individual chapters can be printed or read online.

  1. Cover & Table of Contents (194 KB)
  2. Overview of Blueberry Marketing and the US Blueberry Industry (540 KB)
  3. The Southern Highbush Blueberry Plant (279 KB)
  4. Blueberry Variety Selection (199 KB)
  5. Site Selection (83 KB)
  6. Soil Preparation (155 KB)
  7. Acidifying the Soil (74 KB)
  8. Field Planting (53 KB)
  9. Fertilization of Blueberries (96 KB)
  10. Pruning (218 KB)

Chapters under construction:

  1. Weed Control in Blueberries
  2. Blueberry Diseases
  3. Blueberry Insect Pests
  4. Other Cultural Practices
  5. Frost Protection
  6. Bird Control
  7. Pollination and Bees
  8. Organic Blueberry Production
  9. Blueberry Harvest Management
  10. Harvesting
  11. Packing Operations
  12. Quality Control
  13. Post Harvest Management of Blueberries

Entire book

Download current version of Blueberry Guide (1.6 MB)

Blueberry Guide in translation

The text of the Blueberry Production Guide has also been written in French and Berber Arabic. A Spanish translation is in progress. For information about accessing translations of this draft publication, please contact Mark Gaskell, (805) 934-6240 or mlgaskell@ucdavis.edu.

Some of the publications listed on this page are available in PDF format, which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free program.