Blueberry Flower-bud Hardiness Is Not Estimated by Differential Thermal Analysis

Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was used to study the freezing behavior of `Berkeley' blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum L.) flower buds at cooling rates of 10, 5, and 2C/hour. Experiments were conducted at various stages of hardiness on excised and attached (5 cm of stem) buds. The presence and number of low-temperature exotherms (LTEs) in hardy buds generally increased when analyses were conducted using faster cooling rates with excised buds. The number of LTEs detected in individual buds did not correlate ( r 2 = 0.27) with the number of injured florets. The inability to detect LTEs in buds attached to stem segments and cooled at 2C/hour indicates that DTA cannot reliably estimate blueberry flower-bud hardiness in field plantings.