Ohelo Berry Successfully Cultivated

HILO, HawaiiThe berries of the small 'Ōhelo shrub (Vaccinium reticulatum Smith) are sought for use in jams, jellies and pie fillings. Unfortunately, in their zeal for the little cranberry-like fruit, pickers often unwittingly cause damage to the the shrubs natural habitat, the high elevations of Maui and Hawaii.

In an effort to reduce this environmental disruption while satisfying consumer demand, horticulturist Francis T.P. Zee, with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC) in Hilo, Hawaii, created a new cultivar for small farm production and ornamental use.

According to USDA ARS, Zee and his team selected the offspring of seed-grown plants to create the new cultivar, Kilauea, for berry production. They found that the seeds readily germinated under 20-30 percent shade in well-watered and well-drained potting mixture. Plant hardiness and vigor improved with age, and some seedlings flowered just 10 months after germination, much sooner than the 5 years reported in previous studies. The 16-month-old plants Zee successfully transplanted from the greenhouse to the field produced berries a year later."