MNPink1

Blueberry

Variety Description

Variety used for comparison: 'Pink Lemonade'

Summary: The plants of 'MNPink1' have a broad upright to spreading growth habit whereas the plants of 'Pink Lemonade' have a broad upright growth habit. The leaf blade of 'MNPink1' is wider than the leaf blade of 'Pink Lemonade'. The shape of the leaf of 'MNPink1' is elliptical whereas the shape of the leaf of 'Pink Lemonade' is lanceolate. In autumn, the upper side of the leaf of 'MNPink1' is dark purple red to brown purple and covers the whole of most of the leaves whereas the upper side of the leaf of 'Pink Lemonade' is yellow orange with orange, orange brown and orange red tones. The skin of the unripened fruit of 'MNPink1' is light green and changes to brown purple to blue pink at maturity with light yellow brown towards the calyx basin whereas the skin of the mature fruit of 'Pink Lemonade' is brown purple.

Description:

PLANT: medium vigour, broad upright to spreading growth habit, flowers and fruit produced on one-year-old shoots only
SHOOT / STEM: new growth is green
VEGETATIVE BUD: begins bursting early to mid-season

LEAF: elliptic shape, entire margin
LEAF (UPPER SIDE): dark green (RHS 144A) with weak intensity of anthocyanin colouration in spring, dark purple red (RHS 46A) to purple brown to darker purple red (as dark as RHS 187A-B) and covering whole of most leaves in autumn

FLOWERING: begins early to mid-season on one-year-old shoots
COROLLA: urceolate shape, absent or weak intensity of anthocyanin colouration, ridges on corolla tube present

FRUIT : begins ripening early to mid-season on one-year-old shoots, sparse fruit cluster, medium size, round to oblate shape in longitudinal cross-section, erect attitude of sepals, shallow calyx basin, medium to firm, medium sweetness, medium acidity
FRUIT SKIN: medium intensity of bloom, light green (RHS 144C-D) after removal of bloom when unripe, brown purple to blue pink (RHS 186A-D) with light yellow brown (RHS 157C-D) towards calyx basin at maturity

Origin & Breeding History: 'MNPink1' was discovered and developed by the breeder, James Luby, in Becker, Minnesota, USA. It originated from a breeding program established in 1983 using a group of unnamed proprietary seedlings derived from a whole plant mutation. A series of crosses were conducted between unnamed proprietary plants and the resultant seed was bulked and sown. From these resulting seedlings, 'MNPink1' was selected in 1987 for its plant size, plant growth habit, foliage colour in autumn, fruit colour, and fruit flavour.

Tests & Trials: The comparative trial for 'MNPink1' was conducted in an outdoor container trial during the summer of 2016 at BioFlora Inc., in St. Thomas, Ontario. It included a total of 8 shrubs each of the candidate and reference variety. All shrubs were grown in 13.2 litre containers from May 2015 to August 2016. The plants were overwintered in an unheated polyhouse, moved outdoors in the spring of 2016 to a drip irrigated field and arranged in rows with 1 metre spacing between plants. The observations and measurements on the shoot, flower and bud characteristics were taken from 10 plants, or 10 parts of plants, throughout the growing season. All colour determinations were made using the 2007 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Colour Chart.

Comparison tables for 'MNPink1' with reference variety 'Pink Lemonade'

Leaf width (cm)

Colour of leaf in autumn (RHS)

Colour of fruit skin (RHS)

Click on image for larger view

Blueberry: 'MNPink1' (left) with reference variety 'Pink Lemonade' (right)

Click on image for larger view

Blueberry: 'MNPink1' (left) with reference variety 'Pink Lemonade' (right)

Click on image for larger view

Blueberry: 'MNPink1' (left) with reference variety 'Pink Lemonade' (right)