Mechanical Pollination of Two Highbush Blueberry Cultivars Vaccinium corymbosum1

Abstract Mechanical pollination trials using air blasts and vibration to distribute pollen were conducted on the highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum cvs. ‘Jersey’ and ‘Rubel’. Neither treatment nor a simultaneous combination of the two gave commercial fruit set for either cultivar. Mechanical trials on the ‘Rubel’ cultivar indicated almost total failure to effect pollination. Production from ‘Jersey’ cultivar mechanical pollination trials was more promising. However, low seed numbers indicated that the increased production of this cultivar might be due to its tendency to set fruit parthenocarpically.