How to Grow a Blueberry Bush

[vehve]

Here the blueberries have been blooming for a few weeks now, and you can already see the starts of the berries on some. The dogs and chickens keep making the areas with blueberries smaller in our yard though, as they like to scratch around in them and the blueberries really don't seem to like getting their roots exposed... They're mostly ornamental in our yard, but it would be nice to keep at least some of them safe.

It would also be interesting to see how our Finnish truly wild blueberries would do in your warmer climates. How would one go about collecting seeds from blueberries?

 

[gjensen]

Here the blueberries have been blooming for a few weeks now, and you can already see the starts of the berries on some. The dogs and chickens keep making the areas with blueberries smaller in our yard though, as they like to scratch around in them and the blueberries really don't seem to like getting their roots exposed... They're mostly ornamental in our yard, but it would be nice to keep at least some of them safe.

It would also be interesting to see how our Finnish truly wild blueberries would do in your warmer climates. How would one go about collecting seeds from blueberries?

Our blueberries have shallow fibrous roots so they are easily damaged. Most of their roots are in the top 18", and most of those are right below the surface.

Saving seeds is just picking fully (or over) ripe fruit, and removing the seeds. They are easy to plant from seed.

I imagine they may do well in northern climes, depending on how many chill hours they need to bloom. Sometimes they will still bloom with less once the warm sun warms the soil temperature.

Our chill hour requirements here vary a lot. From 300-400 for the most southern readers, and up to 2000 for the opposite extreme. I wonder how many you guys get where you are. I am in the 1000 range, but often it as low as 800. The last two years has been more. It would be interesting for me to see how they would do for someone in the Northern US.

 

[vehve]

I don't know about their requirements, as we usually find ourselves in below freezing temperatures during the winter. The fall and spring are long though, so we might rack up quite a few chill hours. This winter was pretty warm, so a couple thousand is completely possible.

 

[A-K-A]

I remember a big Blueberry farm in No. Ohio, this would have been in the 70's they ran a U-pick business from June to August. The winters there could be very severe and last into late March. Till recent years i didn't realize they grew well in the south. I'd like to establish some but i am not sure i can keep up with them. I may plant a few and see. Thank you to all for the info here.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Plenty of aged manure after 20 years of having a few horses. ANd lots of fresh too. lol

I understand your plight-- sand is tough to work with. Our foundation was back filled with sand to help with drainage. ANd it drains VERY VERY well. Added lots of material over the years. Can see the difference in color if I dig down, but it still has not been very effective. Still acts like sand!! lol Befriend a horse barn !! lol

 

[Arielle]

I remember a big Blueberry farm in No. Ohio, this would have been in the 70's they ran a U-pick business from June to August. The winters there could be very severe and last into late March. Till recent years i didn't realize they grew well in the south. I'd like to establish some but i am not sure i can keep up with them. I may plant a few and see. Thank you to all for the info here.

Blueberries require very little care, honestly. I looked at the high bushes at camp and wondered if after some 5o years they might benefit from a bit more sun and some feeding. THey have survived and produced plenty of berries on complete neglect. My kind of plant!!!

As for the question to George I"m looking to get rid of some of my manure and give it a good use, and get more food in return for the effort of moving it.

For now I will be satisfied with DH digging holes for the winter squash, and amending the raw local soil with well rotten manure. ANd we dumped a lot of manure into this garden area all fall, up until the deep snow hit in January. We figured out long ago it was easier to dump fresh manure directly into the garden area as we like to grow squash and they love even the raw stuff.

 

[A-K-A]

I think your right about squash and raw manure. I've also planted them and pumpkins in fairly fresh manure and they grew just fine.

Thanks for the Blueberry info.

 

[gjensen]

Blueberries require very little care, honestly. I looked at the high bushes at camp and wondered if after some 5o years they might benefit from a bit more sun and some feeding. THey have survived and produced plenty of berries on complete neglect. My kind of plant!!!

As for the question to George I"m looking to get rid of some of my manure and give it a good use, and get more food in return for the effort of moving it.

For now I will be satisfied with DH digging holes for the winter squash, and amending the raw local soil with well rotten manure. ANd we dumped a lot of manure into this garden area all fall, up until the deep snow hit in January. We figured out long ago it was easier to dump fresh manure directly into the garden area as we like to grow squash and they love even the raw stuff.

Heavy feeders like squash can tolerate more. Some can tolerate more fresh than others. Horse manure is less "hot" than cow, and cow less "hot" than poultry manure etc. Horse manure is on the mild side. Poultry manure is on the hot side.

Blueberries are not heavy feeders, and sensitive to nitrogen in some forms. Caution is the best approach. Their small fibrous roots may even make them more vulnerable to damage. They could certainly be fine with aged, or composted horse manure. I would play with it to decide what would be a waste, too much, not enough for a positive response, and just right. Your individual conditions will have a lot to do with that.

In the south, it is rabbit eyes or southern High Bush. The SHB is a hybrid between Northern High Bush and wild southern species with low chill requirements. There are many many species and sub species in this genus.
Rabbit eyes are more forgiving, and fruit later though they bloom early. The SHB are more specific in their care, but ripen early. SHB have excellent fruit, and the Rabbit eye tends to be much more productive and on larger plants.

 

[A-K-A]

 Heavy feeders like squash can tolerate more. Some can tolerate more fresh than others. Horse manure is less "hot" than cow, and cow less "hot" than poultry manure etc. Horse manure is on the mild side. Poultry manure is on the hot side.

 Blueberries are not heavy feeders, and sensitive to nitrogen in some forms. Caution is the best approach. Their small fibrous roots may even make them more vulnerable to damage. They could certainly be fine with aged, or composted horse manure. I would play with it to decide what would be a waste, too much, not enough for a positive response, and just right. Your individual conditions will have a lot to do with that.

 In the south, it is rabbit eyes or southern High Bush. The SHB is a hybrid between Northern High Bush and  wild southern species with low chill requirements. There are many many species and sub species in this genus.
 Rabbit eyes are more forgiving, and fruit later though they bloom early. The SHB are more specific in their care, but ripen early. SHB have excellent fruit, and the Rabbit eye tends to be much more productive and on larger plants.

Thanks for the reminder on manures. Chicken is high in nitrogen. Virginia Tech spent much of the chicken industry money looking for ways to use chicken manure safely. Feeding cows was not a good one. I am piling decomposed horse and goat manure i will use it. Leave the chicken for other uses

 

[A-K-A]

[/I]Got two planted the week before. They seem to be taking to the soil without alot of admendments. I want to plant more (100) but not sure how i want to divide up space and work ground. Spacing and rows. Might take a bit of planning.