questions about planting blueberry bushes

[Ebowhunter]

Hi, all! I would like to plant some blueberry bushes but the lady who had them for sale told me they have to be in sandy soil.

Are there any other things I may need to figure out for them?

Do I need two different varieties in order for them to produce well? (she said no but I kind of got the impression that she didn't really know what she was talking about)

How far down do I have to mix sand and soil together for them?

How many should I expect to yield the first couple of seasons from them?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[tinknal]

They don't need sand, but they do need acidic soil. I'm thinking 4.5 to 5 ph. Get your soil tested. I'm trying them this year. I'm using pine needles to increase soil acidity.

[suitcase_sally]

Pine needles as mulch in increase the acidity of the soil. When planting, dig your hole a little deeper than you would think it needs and dump in a good shovel full of peat moss and work it in (this is for a small "nursery-sized" plant).

My understanding is you need two different cultivars for successful pollination.

Hereis some good info on growing blueberries:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1422.html

[Wolf mom]

I planted 3 this year. Early, medium & late producing. The soil here is clay. I was advised to use peat moss & a little soil as blueberries need it very acidic to do well. One huge bag to one plant. I was going to use a lot of pine needles, but was told they are not acidic enough with my clay soil.

I bought Sul-Po-Mag by Growmore Farms. It's a natural product. I'm suppose to ring 1/4 cup around the root tips in MAy, Aug & in Nov a 1/2 cup. This is from an organic grower here.

This may be a challenge, but I sure love blueberries.

You can check with the gardening forum....They may have some hints specific to your area.

[jross]

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

I planted 3 this year. Early, medium & late producing. The soil here is clay. I was advised to use peat moss & a little soil as blueberries need it very acidic to do well. One huge bag to one plant. I was going to use a lot of pine needles, but was told they are not acidic enough with my clay soil.

I bought Sul-Po-Mag by Growmore Farms. It's a natural product. I'm suppose to ring 1/4 cup around the root tips in MAy, Aug & in Nov a 1/2 cup. This is from an organic grower here.

This may be a challenge, but I sure love blueberries.

You can check with the gardening forum....They may have some hints specific to your area.

Don't forget to prune them to increase yield, aerate the plant, control size by removing the previous years wood, after they are bearing fruit. Red twigs are the one's that produce crop except for the long suckers that grow from the crown.

[Muskrat]

First thing first. Check the pH of your soil. If it's 7.0 or above, it will be a struggle to maintain the plants.

Blueberries need good drainage and loose soil. Their roots simply don't penetrate compacted soil. These give some people the idea that 'sandy' soil is best. Actually, they need organic matter, so 'sandy' is not what they need. It may be, however, that the lady simply meant sandy as opposed to clay.

Here, in the red clay of Tennessee, we dig individual holes 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet. When we're planting patches, we simply do it with mechanized equipment and dig trenches the length of the patch. We mix spaghnum peat moss with compost and the original soil in a ratio of roughly 2:1:1 to refill. We have found that pine needles don't do what we need as soil amendments, but we do use them as mulch. We plant them just a bit deeper than they were before transplant.

You may or may not need two different cultivars, depending upon your selection. Some are self-fertile, some are not. READ THE LABEL. I recommend planting more than one kind; you'll want to extend the season once you go to the trouble of getting these guys going.

You may get a handful or two from most two-year-old plants. A three-year- old may give you a quart to a half-gallon of berries. A five-year-old will produce about a gallon. Those are way generalizations, but just in my experience.

Do not forget that they need water. Because they have to have well-drained soil, they will need more frequent watering than you might think.

[Muskrat]

I forgot to add:

Don't undo your work by using water with a higher pH. The water that is good for Jack Daniels, for instance, is not good for blueberries. It might be that rainwater would be a better source than your well or municipal systems.