Keecrisp FL06-556

U.S. Patent PP27,771
Southern Highbush Blueberry Variety

 Keecrisp™ ‘FL06-556’ is a low chill, mid-to-late-maturing variety best adapted to production regions in north central Florida and south Georgia.  It produces berries with extremely crisp and firm texture.  It has an upright plant architecture and has shown to have high yield when receiving adequate chilling.  Fruit has a very small and dry picking scar.  The extremely crisp and firm fruit texture, upright growrth habit, and reduced fruit bruising offer the potential for fruit of Keecrisp™ ‘FL06-556’ to be mechanically harvested and marketed for fresh.

• Crisp fruit texture, similar to Sweetcrisp

• Upright architecture

• NEEDS hydrogen cyanamide for leafing

• Small and dry picking scar

• Suitable for machine harvest for fresh market

• Limit production in Central Florida

• Often delayed leafing, even with hydrogen cyanamide application

• Late maturity for FL window

Fruit quality under optimal picking conditions (average of several years):

• Larger Fruit Weight/Size (2.6 grams/19.3 mm)

• High Fruit Brix levels (11.7) similar to ‘Kestrel’

• Very high Fruit Firmness (262.0 g/mm) CRUNCHY

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Fruit Quality and Yield

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The following plots show the most important fruit quality traits and yield, across the season.

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The vertical lines in the yield plots indicate when 10%, 50% and 90% of the harvest was achieved during the season.

Dotted lines indicate the desired values for new cultivars:

• Berry weight greater than 2g

• Fruit Diameter greater than 14mm

• Firmness higher than 150g/mm

• Brix higher than 10%

• TTA less than 1%

• Brix/TTA higher than 14 units

Warning: Yield plot coming from harvesting of two bushes. Values may seem overestimated as all the fruit from the bush is harvested, and because this is harvest yield and no packed yield. Use this data to compare among cultivars and no to predict potential yield on your farm.

Measurements are in grams (g). To convert from grams to pounds (lb) use the following formula:

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lb of fruit per bush = (g of fruit) x (0.002204)

For licensing availability contact Florida Foundation Seed Producers (FFSP):

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 http://www.ffsp.net/​​