Jewel

Jewel came out of Paul Lyrene's University of Florida program from a cross made at Gainesville in 1988 and was assigned to Florida Foundation Seed Producers in October 1998, with UF publications dating the release to 1998-99. Like 'Emerald' it is a low-chill tetraploid of complex ancestry, based largely on V. corymbosum with some V. darrowii genes, and the two cultivars are routinely planted together in central Florida. Its commercial appeal is a very early, high-yielding crop of round berries with good packing and shipping qualities - it flowers about a week before 'Star' and reaches harvest five to seven days ahead of 'Sharpblue'. Its liability is disease: UF rates it highly susceptible to blueberry rust leaf spot, which obliges Florida growers to run a summer spray program. Fruit is somewhat smaller and softer than 'Emerald' picked in the same window, but UF rates its internal quality very good.