Blueberry Growth Stages

Blueberries Bluecrop	click on the picture for a larger version	Description of Growth Stages
Dormant		No swelling of the fruit buds
Bud Swell		Fruit Buds become swollen. This bud stage can tolerate 15 - 20 F temperatures.
Leaf Bud Break		Leaf buds begin to swell and leaves emerge from the tip.
Early Green Tip		Green leaf tissue is visible as leaves begin to emerge from the leaf buds.
Bud Burst		The fruit buds pop open and the individual flowers can be seen between the bud scales.
0.25" Green		A 1/4 inch of leave tissue is visible, this often is at about the time of bud burst. The flower bud stage shown is often called tight cluster. This bud stage can tolerate 18 to 25 F.
Early Pink Bud		The partly formed flowers are readily visible and the flowers have seperated. This bud stage can tolerate 25 to 28 F.
Late Pink Bud		Most of the flowers on the bush are nearly fully developed. This will overlap into first bloom.
25% Bloom		25 % of the flowers on the bush or in the field are open.
Full Bloom		Most of the flowers on the bush have opened. The bloom stages can tolerate 28 to 31 F.
Petal Fall		The Corolla tubes or petals are falling off the flowers, revealing small green fruit. This is the most vulnerable stage to frost damage. It can be damaged at 31 F.
Early Green Fruit		Early in fruit growth when the fruit are growing by cell division.
Late Green Fruit		Late in fruit growth when the fruit are growing by cell expansion.
Fruit Coloring		The fruit are changing color from green to blue.
First Harvest		The first fruit are ripe and ready to be harvested from the cluster.
Harvest		Blueberries are picked several times as the fruit ripens. There may be 2 to 5 pickings. Often the first harvest is by hand picking and then later harvests are by machines that shake the berries off the bush.
Post Harvest		The blueberry stores reserves for next years growth.

Fruit Growth Stage Reference -- Blueberries