Viewing post #689736 by twitcher

You are viewing a single post made by twitcher in the thread called Considering Blueberrys.
Avatar for twitcher
Aug 29, 2014 11:19 AM CST

Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
I've been trialing various blueberry varieties for about 15 years now, so let me offer a few tips.

1) Acid soil appears to be necessary. I get my best results from mixing peat and pine bark mulch (peat preferred) in the soil with the plants for the initial planting. In fact, I've grown blueberries in a pure peat/sand mix. For all of my plants, I add an inch of peat to the top of the ground each spring to help keep the soil acid.

2) To limit disease, be sure to pick up and remove all fruits that may drop to the ground. Do this at least once a week. This also limits ants colonizing under your plants. If that happens, they can damage the fruit.

3) Watch the watering. Blueberries will tolerate some drying, but can rapidly die if they get too dry. They don't need to stay wet, but weekly watering them here really helps keep them healthy. My plants are in full sun.

4) Duke is may favorite variety.

5) Pick several varieties that span the summer fruiting season. You can get early, mid and late fruiting varieties and pick berries all summer.

6) Plan for a fight against the birds. If you are only going to have a few plants scattered in your garden, then you will likely not get much fruit from them unless you net them. Especially if you want to be able to harvest fruits at full ripeness. Robins are horrible pests of blueberry growers.

« Return to the thread "Considering Blueberrys"
« Return to Vegetables and Fruit forum
« Return to the Garden.org homepage

Member Login:

( No account? Join now! )

Today's site banner is by RootedInDirt and is called "Botanical Gardens"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.