Blueberries? Anyone?

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
Brought the girls down for our annual July 4th expedition to the pines. Last year we collected over a quart of blueberries in less than an hour along the roads north of Washington and south of Hawkin Bridge, but damned if we could find any today. We managed maybe a pint of the small wild huckleberries, and saw a ton of immature berries. At first I was thinking they were picked out, but now I am thinking maybe they are a little late this year.

We started at Forked River so the kids could check out the view. From there across on Bryant and Woodmansie to Old Halfway, which they got a kick out of, as did the dog. My daughter Emily discovered that soft, gooey clay mud can lie just beneath a sandy crust, and got a nice coating to the mid-calf for her trouble.

From there south on Laurie's to Crawley and on down to Jenkin and Lake Oswego to 563, around below Harrisville and up to Martha and the pumphouse. There were people partying below Martha at the two swimming spots, tossing cans around and what not. Hope they cleaned up after themselves.

After that we took Tuckerton Rd. from... is it 689 that runs past Harrisville, anyway we took Tuckerton up to Washington and it was very passable. Explored all around north of Washington as far as Jemima looking for berries, and then did the same over off Penn Swamp and Elmwood-Batsto roads. Very good and dry driving conditions throughout as I noted in another post.

But no berries :(.

Except for the pint we got for $2 from the Honor Stand on Atsion Road :).

Edit: By the way, my kids were wondering what the site just south of 72 on Crawley is? It looks like some kind of environmental cleanup operation.
 

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
Very interesting, James. Thanks! I've never been that far north on Devious Mt. Rd (though I have been by High Crossing three or four times, so I was close). I'll have to check it out on my next trip.
 

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
That's another area I want to explore. Haven't been up in there at all. The dots are structure markings, I believe, but they tend to stay on the maps long after the structures are gone. I would guess those are gun clubs or dwellings.
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,952
3,103
Pestletown, N.J.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.743851966675734&lng=-74.64630603790283&z=15&type=topo&gpx=

Mark

I always wanted to check out what is at the dot locations on the map, if i recall in one of Guys threads he got within a 1000 feet with his car.

Jim

Here is my trip report from January.
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showthread.php?t=4916

You can drive to within 50 yds of the first one and walk to the one that you marked with the bubble.
The roads leading to the foundations are pretty well obliterated.
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,952
3,103
Pestletown, N.J.
We managed maybe a pint of the small wild huckleberries, and saw a ton of immature berries. At first I was thinking they were picked out, but now I am thinking maybe they are a little late this year.


But no berries :(.

Except for the pint we got for $2 from the Honor Stand on Atsion Road :).

.

Mark,
I have been keeping an eye on the wild berries on my nightly walks down here and tonight I can say that the lowbush or huckleberries are at their absolute peak. I added a half hour to my walk just eating the huckleberries at the west end of Wharton Ave.
I have checked a couple wet spots and the highbush is starting to peak now as well. Probably two weeks left on the highbush and a week left on the low before they start fermenting and withering.
Two more weeks and you will have the wild cherries on tap, which are my favorite.
Scott
 
Oct 25, 2006
1,757
1
73
Here is my trip report from January.
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showthread.php?t=4916

You can drive to within 50 yds of the first one and walk to the one that you marked with the bubble.
The roads leading to the foundations are pretty well obliterated.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.71065320858404&lng=-74.66267824172973&z=16&type=topo&gpx=

Scott

I will in this area in the near future, i have never been on the road before, and problems ?, big washouts, tight and narrow ?

Thanks Jim
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,952
3,103
Pestletown, N.J.
Jim
All the roads leading from Quaker bridge to the east are very passable without 4wd.
A few roads leading north toward Mannis from Pushline Road are not passable in winter due to water holes but are bone dry in the summer.
Scott
 

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
Mark,
I have been keeping an eye on the wild berries on my nightly walks down here and tonight I can say that the lowbush or huckleberries are at their absolute peak. I added a half hour to my walk just eating the huckleberries at the west end of Wharton Ave.
I have checked a couple wet spots and the highbush is starting to peak now as well. Probably two weeks left on the highbush and a week left on the low before they start fermenting and withering.
Two more weeks and you will have the wild cherries on tap, which are my favorite.
Scott

Very cool, Scott. Thanks for the tips! Sounds like we need to get back down there.
 

Buck

Scout
Jan 23, 2007
47
1
Whiting
How can you tell blueberries and huckleberries apart?

Also, I heard that wild blueberris can sometimes be infested with some type of tiny worms. Anyone know how to tell if they are, other than opening them all up and examining them? I know that is what some kosher eaters do....
 

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
Yes! All the sweetest ones are infested with tiny worms. No sense even looking for them.

Seriously, all I ever heard on the distinction between the cultivated blueberry and its wild cousin is that the huckleberry is smaller, whereas Ms. White's cultivars are big and fat.
 

Buck

Scout
Jan 23, 2007
47
1
Whiting
Some google work tells me that the worms are actually "blueberry maggots." They are apparently harmless, and people usually eat them without knowing it. They are a threat to the domesticated crops though, because one infested berry will cause an entire crop to be rejected, so growers are warned about growing near their wild cousins.
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,952
3,103
Pestletown, N.J.
How can you tell blueberries and huckleberries apart?

....

True blueberries are highbush blueberries, Vaccinium corymbosm. They are usually in fairly wet soils and grow up to 10-12' high
What most of us down here call a huckleberry are either of two species common to the pines:
Dwarf Huckleberry the most common in my woods, Gaylussacia dumosa and lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium.
Both of these are low growing 2-3' high and can tolerate fairly dry conditions.
Dwarf huckleberry has almost black berries and lowbush berries are similar in color but smaller than a regular highbush blueberry.
All of your commercial blueberries are cultivars of the highbush.
I ate about a pint of dwarf hucks tonight on my walk. Mmmm good.
 

mike242424

Explorer
Feb 17, 2007
251
0
Tabernacle
can you eat high bush blueberries? Is their a difference? ive noticed both in the woods near bogs and only have eaten the low bush ones
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,952
3,103
Pestletown, N.J.
can you eat high bush blueberries? Is their a difference? ive noticed both in the woods near bogs and only have eaten the low bush ones

Yes, the high bush is the one that is cultivated commercially. See my post above.
Be sure you know what you are eating because there are other things in the woods with blue berries that are not edible.
 
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