Blueberries

[Bowcephalus]

Well I bought a few blueberry bushes yesterday. No experience with them at all. Now I guess I need to do a bit of manure mixing next week and pick out the ideal spot. Maybe south side of some pine trees.

[Deer Pig]

Do you know what veriety they are?

[Deer Pig]

Blueberries like high acid, they usually grow good where pines grow. I would mix pine bark in the siol instead of manure. You can use fertilizer for azelias but dont mix it in the hole when you plant them. They like full sun if possible. Put them in a area that drains good because they dont handle standing water very well. You also need to keep them watered because they dont handle drought very well either.

I am a blueberry farmer and grow mine in straight pine bark fines and they do great.

If you have any more questions I will be glad to try and help. :)
Good luck!!

[TradArcher]

Bow.. You can believe this or not but when I was a kid growing up in Northern NJ (in a fairly rural area, wherever the low and medium bush blueberries were you could almost count on there being bear scat there as well. Every now n then we'd run into one of them on our way to pick a bucket and have Grandma make us a pie.....damn black bears would scare the bajezus out of us and worst of all.... no pie! :)

Tom

[Bowcephalus]

Thanks for the replies. The ones I have are "Bluecrop". Any better ideas variety wise for good fruit D.P. ? I'm guessing bird netting will be required when they start to produce in a few years. Thanks for the tip on the feeding. And I'm sure the bears learn real quickly when the "food" is ready. None around here to worry about though...;)

[groundhawg]

watch for rabbit damage too. a planted some last year and tey were about 2ft high going into winter. we had some pretty good snow and the rabbits chewed them down to about 6". im gonna shoot those "wascally wabbits"

[groundhawg]

DP, what if any varieties do well in a more shaded area?

[Bowcephalus]

I'm curious DP, is it worth the extra cost initially to start with larger stock such as the 2 yr., 3 yr. or such as far as getting a crop sooner? I mean do they really start producing any noticable quantity any earlier than a 1 yr. plant as the graduations seem to indicate? I've always made a habit of cutting at least a third of the plant back when I plant it, fruit trees and such.

[Deer Pig]

I dont know about varieties that do better in shade, I grow southern highbush varieties rabbit eyes may do better in shade but I dont know.

As far as growing older plants, it would be benificial. There are times when you dont want to let first year plants produce because it can kill the plant from stress.

It is a good idea to cut them back when you plant then all of the energy is spent growing a good root system and you will have a better crop the following year!

[Bowcephalus]

Thanks for the reply. I'll follow your advice.

[DanaC]

Just make sure to call us when the first barch of blueberry pancakes is on the griddle. Dang, now I got a craving...

[SandSquid]

all our blueberry bushes come from http://www.watersblueberryfarm.com/ and are of amazing quality and vigor.

The owners tip to me was to dig a 2'x2'x2' hole and completely remove the native soil and back fill with Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (the ground-up kind is better) plant bushes cover with weed block and water well. This advice has served us in good stead, especially here in this heavy clay "soil" we have.


We do Blue Crop, Duke and Elliot.

[Bowcephalus]

How many seasons to, and what kind of crop are you getting?

[groundhawg]

It is a good idea to cut them back when you plant then all of the energy is spent growing a good root system and you will have a better crop the following year![/QUOTE]

maybe the rabbits did me a favor

[Larry Hatfield]

had a bowl of blueberries and cream for breakfast this a.m.! i eat about a quart a week. kind of spendy habit when you have to buy them!!!
good luck with your growing, bow.

[Bowcephalus]

Thanks Mr. Larry. There is a nice blueberry farm close to the place up in MO and I might not be around here long enough to see them reach maturity, but we'll see. I may plant some up there this year before I move but it's hard to get things through a dry spell startin' out when you're not there to keep 'em watered.

[Willie]

Usually takes a couple of years to start getting a good crop- first year I harvested four berries three years later and 30 bushes and I just leave em I have so many. Freezer is full

[Steve]

Wilie - did you get your plants locally around Syr?
Thanks

[Marty]

We are lucky enough to have lots of wild blueberries, rasberries, and strawberries in our neck of the woods. Funny thing though, my wife tried introducing some greenhouse blueberries and strawberries in the hopes of improving the strain. The snowshoe hares eat the store bought ones as fast as they are planted while leaving the wild ones almost untouched. Whats with that? LOL

[DHSD]

all our blueberry bushes come from http://www.watersblueberryfarm.com/ and are of amazing quality and vigor.

The owners tip to me was to dig a 2'x2'x2' hole and completely remove the native soil and back fill with Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (the ground-up kind is better) plant bushes cover with weed block and water well. This advice has served us in good stead, especially here in this heavy clay "soil" we have.


We do Blue Crop, Duke and Elliot.

I have heavy clay soil where I live as well (and it is heavily compacted, almost like concrete when it hasn't recieved water in a while). What do you annually supplement the Peat Moss with?