{"id":1819,"date":"2019-09-19T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/?p=1819"},"modified":"2019-09-19T00:01:44","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T00:01:44","slug":"highbush-blueberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/19\/highbush-blueberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Highbush Blueberry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vaccinium corymbosum<\/em> (mostly) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction;\nThis species can be amazingly productive\nat times, which is good because you can never have too many Blueberries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutrients: The familiar Blueberries are not only delicious, but\nalso rich in antioxidants, anthocyanins and other special nutrients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About\nBlueberry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hours of winter chill:\n700-1200<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Size: 6 -10ft <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zone: Zones 3 – 7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blooming period: April<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fruiting period: July <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life expectancy: 80 years<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bearing age: 2-3 years<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yield: 3-15 lb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Days to harvest: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spacing: 3-10ft apart\n(depending on height).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ease of growing: This species can be pretty\nlow maintenance in the right climate, but it is a plant where a small amount of\nwork can reward you very well. Their main need is for an acid soil and\nmaintaining the necessary acidity can be an ongoing thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate:\nBlueberries are fruits of cool northern\nclimates and are very hardy (some varieties can tolerate -45\u00b0F without\nharm). However they tend to do better in milder climates, with warm summers and\nregular rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Site: Blueberries won\u2019t grow very well in the rich, moist\nneutral soil that most other fruits prefer, because they are members of the\nacid soil loving Ericaceae family (they like the same conditions as\nRhododendrons). They are most productive when growing in full sun, but tolerate\nsome shade (in hotter areas they may even prefer a little shade). The flowers\nopen over a long period, so they aren’t very vulnerable to late frosts. They\nprefer to be sheltered from cold winds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

pH 4.0 \u2013 5.5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important thing to remember about growing Blueberries is\nthat they need an acid soil. If the pH isn\u2019t low enough they may suffer from various\nnutrient deficiencies and won\u2019t really thrive (they may even die). They also\nlike lots of organic matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blueberries\ncan do well on poor sandy soil where few other fruits would. They need moisture\nat all times, but also good drainage (though can tolerate wet soil in winter).\nIf your soil is clay then grow on raised beds and add lots of organic matter.\nIf your soil isn\u2019t very well drained you might consider planting on a hillside,\nor on a mound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soil preparation: If the soil isn\u2019t very acidic you should incorporate\nlots of compost and other acidic organic matter (peat moss or pine leaf mold).\nAdd at least one wheelbarrow every 2 square yards. You might also use sulphur\nor add vinegar to the irrigation water (2 tbsp\/gallon).\nA mulch of peat moss, sawdust or pine needles is also good. Never. use\nlime which would raise the pH (if you need to supply calcium use gypsum).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blueberries are mycorrhizal and depend upon their symbiotic fungi\nfor good health. You can encourage the fungus by providing plenty of acidic\norganic matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plant\n2-3 year old plants (they recover from transplanting more quickly than older\nplants). These are sometimes bare root, but more often they are grown in\ncontainers. Plant in late winter or early spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dig a\nhole large enough to accommodate the spread roots, position the plant, then\nre-fill with the soil. If the plants are bare root then mix 1\/2 acidic organic\nmatter into the soil you took out of the hole (not if\nsoil is clay).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spacing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4-5 ft\napart is typical, but it depends upon the ultimate height of the plant. If you\nare growing in rows you will want 6-10 feet between rows, depending on size of\nplants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Care<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watering: Blueberries are fairly shallow rooted, so it\nis important to keep the soil moist at all times\nfor maximum productivity. The exact amount required will depend upon climate of\ncourse, but will be at least 1\u201d a week. Use drip or trickle irrigation\nin dry climates. The plants are quite drought tolerant, though in dry\nsituations they will produce less and grow more slowly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mulch:\nApply a 4″ thick mulch of an acidic material such as pine needles, leaf\nmold or sawdust around the plants to conserve moisture, acidify the soil, keep\ndown weeds, feed the plants and keep the soil cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeding<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\nmulch thickly weeds shouldn’t be much of a problem, though sometimes you get\nbird sown Blackberry seedlings appearing. The roots are shallow so don\u2019t hoe\naround them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeding<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\namount of growth and fruit they produce will tell you whether they need\nfertilizing. They will often benefit from a top dressing of a standard\nfertilizer mix, especially on poor soils. Their main\nrequirement is for nitrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pollination<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally Highbush\nBlueberries are partly self-fertile, but produce more fruit with\ncross-pollination. Rabbiteye varieties need a\npollinator?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pruning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blueberries\naren’t very vigorous plants, and don’t need a lot of pruning. Fruits are borne\non the previous years growth, so you mostly prune to ensure a healthy amount of\nnew growth every year. This mostly means cutting out the oldest branches down\nat ground level, or down to a vigorous branch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\nmay also prune if growth gets too dense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nrecommended that you don’t let them produce fruit for the first year or two\n(remove the flowers to prevent this).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Propagation:\nBlueberries are most easily propagated by layering or division (usually of\nsuckers), but softwood cuttings can be used if you want a lot of plants (I\nhaven\u2019t had a lot of success with them though).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seed\ncan also be used for propagation and though it fruit won\u2019t be identical to its\nparent, it will usually be good. It is best sown in fall in a flat filled with\na potting mix (2 parts peat to 1 part sand) and left in a cold place. The seed\nwill germinate in spring and when big enough the seedlings can be pricked out\nto give them more space. When they fill their second flat they should be\npricked out into individual pots.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pests:\nBlueberries are relatively pest free, with the notable exception of birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Birds: Blueberries are one of the all-time most favorite\nfoods of birds. If you want to get a reasonable harvest they should be located\nfairly close to the house and netted when the berries are ripening.\nAlternatively they could be grown in a fruit cage (this isn\u2019t very ornamental\nthough). You can also try hanging bright flashing objects like shiny aluminum pie tins, mylar tape, old cd\u2019s from\nthe branches. You might also use inflatable predator balloons. These scare\ntactics don\u2019t usually work for long though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvest<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When: You can start harvesting fruit in the plants third\nyear, but it will take 5 years for them to really get going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way to tell when a\nblueberry is ripe is to eat one, if it is sweet and delicious it is ripe. Ripe\nfruit is soft, blue black and has a whitish bloom. For best flavor they should\nbe left on the plant for a week after coming ripe, for their sugars (and\nflavor) to develop fully. Unfortunately if you have birds around they won\u2019t\nwait this long, which is why netting is often needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How: Pick the individual\nberries form the plant, being careful not to damage the fruit or the plants. A\nberry comb can greatly speed up harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storage: The fruits can be\nkept for a few days in the fridge. They are very easy to freeze for use in\ncooking and also dry well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Containers: The smaller\nvarieties can do well in containers, so long as they have a suitably acidic\nsoil mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landscape uses: Blueberries\nare attractive shrubs up to 8ft tall, with a spread of up to 8ft. The glossy\nleaves, white flowers, clusters of blue berries and the bright red fall foliage\nall are attractive. They make good fruiting hedges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varieties<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blueberries are self-fertile\nto some extent, but it is best to grow more than one variety to ensure good\npollination (and hence abundant fruit set). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also a good idea to\nplant a range of early, mid- and late season\nvarieties to extend your harvest season to several months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varieties\ninclude:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early: ‘Earliblue’, ‘Collins’; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid: ‘Blueray’, ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Berkeley’; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late: ‘Jersery’, ‘Patriot’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other useful Blueberry\nspecies include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbiteye Blueberries (V.\nAshei<\/em>) – These are more heat tolerant than the above and can be grown in warmer and drier climates. They also tolerate less acid soil. Some Rabbiteye varieties can get\nquite tall (to 12 feet or more). Winter chill 200-400 hrs Zones 7 \u2013 9.\nThey tend not be be self-fertile, so you should plant\nat least two varieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Tifblue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early: ‘Climax’, ‘Woodard’; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid: ‘Briteblue’, ‘Southland’; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late: ‘Delite’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southern Highbush Blueberry \u2013 This is a\nhybrid between the Highbush blueberry (V. corymbosum) with various southern species (V.\nashei <\/em>, V. darrowi)<\/em>. They grow from 3-6 ft tall. They\nare more tolerant of heat and require much less chill hours (so do better in\nmild winter areas), as well as being less fussy about soil conditions. They\nhaven\u2019t been around very long, but have had a big impact on commercial growers\nbecause they have greatly increased the area where blueberries can be\nsuccessfully grown. Zones 7\n\u2013 10. They are self-fertile, but more productive if you plant at least two\nvarieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The availability of varieties changes\nover time, but these are the most common at present:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early: ‘Oneal’, ‘Southblue’; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid: ‘Jubliee’, ‘Sunshine Blue’ Misty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium<\/em> angustfolium<\/em>) These are smaller, sweeter and\nless productive than the above. See Groundcover for more on this. 3 – 7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dwarf Varieties\nfor Containers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid: ‘Dwarf Northblue’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late: ‘Dwarf Tophat’ (<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vaccinium corymbosum (mostly) Introduction; This species can be amazingly productive at times, which is good because you can never have too many Blueberries Nutrients: The familiar Blueberries are not only … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fruit-bushes","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Blueberry.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1821,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions\/1821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}