Fall Creek Farm and Nursery [3] has officially launched the Apex FCM14-057 blueberry variety as a new addition to its Fall Creek Collection. The variety joins the company’s product offering after an extended period of commercial-scale trials and grower adoption across multiple growing regions.

According to Fall Creek, Apex fills a gap in its portfolio: it is an early-to-mid-season variety that combines quality, shelf performance and size consistency, meeting the demands of today’s blueberry export and retail channels.

Fall Creek Collection varieties are built on regionally adapted genetic traits with field-verified performance. Apex has been available under an open licensing model for three years, catering to blueberry growers in zero- and low-chill-hour regions.

Apex has firm flesh, with hardness exceeding that of Ventura and comparable to Sekoya Pop. Even after up to 45 days in cold storage, the variety maintains its flavor and firmness. The fruit is large, with an average diameter of 20.8 millimeters and more than half of the fruit exceeding 18 millimeters, meeting export- and retail-grade standards. Apex has an upright and open plant shape with large, accessible fruit that makes harvesting straightforward, with the potential yield exceeding 20 metric tons per hectare. The flavor profile is distinctive, with a sweet-to-acid ratio between those of Ventura and Sekoya Pop — a balance expected to support repeat consumer purchases.

Paul Sandefur, Fall Creek’s vice president of research and development, highlighted that Apex is the result of continuous trait improvement, noting that combining shelf life, fruit size and yield potential in an early-to-mid-season variety is no small achievement. He added that what sets Apex apart from a breeding standpoint is that these traits hold up consistently across different growing environments.

Fall Creek is a world-leading blueberry genetics and breeding company. Founded in Oregon in 1978, this family-owned business operates 10 facilities across North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Each year, the company supplies more than 40 million blueberry plants across 100-plus varieties to growers in 59 countries and regions worldwide.

The Fall Creek Collection and Sekoya [4] are Fall Creek’s two programs for bringing advanced blueberry genetics to growers worldwide. Together they reflect the company’s commitment to expanding what is possible across a wide range of growing climates, delivering field-verified varieties with proven performance.

Image: Fall Creek

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article [5].