How To Plant Blueberry Bushes On Youtube

Everyone I know goes gaga for blueberries (Vaccinium spp. and cvs., USDA Hardiness Zones 3–nine). Whether it'due south considering they think the plants make bonny additions to the landscape (due to their plethora of spring flowers and excellent autumn color) or because they swoon over fruit that'south delicious and nutritious, it's hard to discover a gardener who wouldn't dearest to constitute a blueberry in their beds. But, although easy to grow once established, getting blueberries off to the right start with proper planting and fertilizing is vital to ensure a plentiful harvest.

Test the soil and conform the pH to provide the proper environs

Sometimes a pretty foliage color isn't a good thing. If your soil isn't acidic enough, your plants will be iron scarce and plough a bright yellow. *Photo: Danielle Sherry*

If e'er there were a time when a soil exam was essential, this is it. If you lot don't already know the backdrop of the bed that you'll be planting into, and then you will demand to do a soil analysis before yous establish your berry bushes. Blueberries need an acidic soil with an ideal pH between four.5 and v.ii. If your soil pH is besides high, your plants will be iron deficient, causing the foliage to plough xanthous between the veins. This deficiency can eventually kill your plants. At that place are a few ways to acidify sweet soil. You can spread 2 to 3 ounces of fine ground sulfur (per bush) over the soil and scratch information technology in. This method will work, although it will typically accept at least a yr for this amendment to have any outcome on your soil's pH. To decrease the pH fast, use moist peat moss to backfill your planting hole. This quickly raises the acerbity, allowing you to have a healthy and productive first flavor.

At that place'due south a reason highbush types are the favorites. Due to their white bell-shaped flowers and vaselike structure, they are ornamental plants that produce edible fruits. *Photo: Frank Clarkson*

Planting times for blueberries vary depending on where y'all alive. If you lot alive in a milder section of the country (Zones 7–9), y'all can plant in spring or fall. Planting too tardily in the season in colder zones (Zones iii–6) isn't ideal considering the plants will struggle to go established before the ground freezes, so spring is your best pick. The type of blueberry you plant will likewise exist dictated by where y'all live. Highbush blueberries are the nigh popular kind for home gardens considering they are skillful-looking, low-care, and produce the largest amount of berries. Each highbush blueberry plant should exist spaced five to 6 anxiety apart in full dominicus to partial shade. If, however, you lot'd similar to create a hedge out of your bushes, only space them three anxiety autonomously.

Nigh blueberries are hardy to –20°F, but each variety has a winter-chilling requirement—or the amount of fourth dimension that the plant must exist dormant. This is measured in the number of days that the plants suffer temperatures under 45°F. When selecting your bushes, exist sure you investigate their chilling requirement and lucifer that with your locale. As well, call up to buy two or more plants of the same type—simply a dissimilar cultivar—because cross-pollination increases the crop size.

Highbush
Zones 3–7

The most common blueberry bush is grown by the home gardener because information technology produces the largest volume of fruit, loftier bushes mature into a manageable 5 to half dozen foot alpine and wide shrub. In that location are northern and southern highbush blueberries, each requiring a dissimilar corporeality of cold to produce berries (referred to as "depression-arctic" and "high-chill"). Highbush varieties are mostly categorized past when their fruit ripens; early, mid, or late-season.

Lowbush
Zones 2–8

Also known as "wild" blueberries, these compact plants (2 feet tall and broad) bear smaller-size fruit. You can still expect decent harvests from these plants and the tiny berries pack a more flavorful dial than other blueberries making them platonic for cooking and baking. These plants get tiny white flowers in spring and maroon foliage in autumn (pictured) in northern zones.

Pink Lemonade — Pinkish Lemonade. *Photo: courtesy of Corking Garden Plants*

Half-highs
Zones three–vii

These are hybrid bushes whose size is betwixt a high and lowbush blueberry, averaging around 3 to iv feet alpine and wide. They are hardy to all simply the northernmost and southernmost sections of the country. The plants produce medium-size berries.

Pink Lemonade
Zones 4–8

This highbush huckleberry grows approximately five feet alpine and wide. As the name suggests, the fruit is brilliant pink when ripe, but it has the aforementioned flavor as a regular blueberry. The flowers on these bushes are light pinkish, as well, as opposed to the white of traditional types. In fall, the foliage turns scarlet.

Dig, flood, mulch, and feed for the best results

First you'll need to dig a proper planting hole and then backfill only halfway. — First, dig a proper planting hole and backfill but halfway. *Photograph: Danielle Sherry*

Next, flood the hole with water to force out any air pockets. — Side by side, inundation the hole with water to strength out any air pockets. *Photo: Danielle Sherry*

A few weeks after applying mulch, sprinkle a ring of fertilizer around the plant to get it off to the best start. — A few weeks afterwards applying mulch, sprinkle a ring of fertilizer around the plant to get it off to the best get-go. *Photo: Danielle Sherry*

The planting process starts with a hole twice equally broad and just as deep as the containerized establish. I so place the plant into the hole and partially back-fill (using moistened peat moss if needed for pH). Side by side, I water in thoroughly—essentially flooding the pigsty. Permit the water to seep in completely before you end back-filling. This forces out any air pockets around the constitute, which could lead to poor root development. Cease things off past applying a 3- to 4-inch layer of organic mulch around the base of the plant and extending out at least 2 to 3 anxiety in all directions. Blueberries are shallow-rooted and despise drying out, so mulch helps continue the moisture consistent around the plants. Weeds compete for moisture, too, so mulch besides helps to keep them at bay.

I typically don't fertilize my plants until two or iii weeks afterward planting—or whenever I call up. Just like other acid-loving plants such as rhododendrons (Rhododendron spp. and cvs., Zones three–9), blueberries like to be fed with fertilizers particularly formulated for their tastes, although this isn't essential. I like to apply a ring of fertilizer a foot away from the crown of the plants. Scratch the fertilizer into the soil and so requite the plants a salubrious dose of water. In the first year of planting, I brand certain that the plants stay moist by using a soaker hose. If the rain stops for a calendar week or more, I plow the hose on and requite the plants a drink.

If all goes right, I start harvesting a small-scale number of berries within the first yr of planting. Information technology may non be enough to fill the freezer at starting time, but past the 2nd or 3rd yr, I'm practically begging my family members to take plastic bags of berries dwelling house.

Tip: Skip bareroot plants

Sometimes people will ask me about bareroot plants that yous'll occasionally see at the plant nursery or get through mail order. I have never had much success with these, and it generally takes a few years for the plants to size up and offset fruiting. As one farmer friend put information technology to me, "Life is likewise brusque to waste time on finicky blueberry bushes."

Source: https://www.finegardening.com/project-guides/fruits-and-vegetables/how-to-plant-blueberries

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