Growing Blueberries=HELP!, Please

azadigger · Post: # 98931Post **azadigger** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:01 pm

I have an allotment in West Yorks, the soil is poor (I will dig in manure at the end of the year). I want to grow Blueberries, any info would be a great help.

ina · Post: # 98934Post **ina** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:12 pm

They like it damp and acidic - so that's the main things to look out for. Definitely no lime on the soil where you want to grow them!

Flo · Post: # 99470Post **Flo** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:06 am

We are trying to grow blueberries. Apparently they like it a bit sunny and you need two bushes at least for fertilisation.

As our soil is neutral we bought two large (56 litre) bags of ericaeous (suitable for heathers) compost from the garden centre and filled a very large hole with one bag before planting a bush. They seem to be taking but I can't report further till the end of the season.

And yes - I appreciate the soil problems as we have excellent solid clay which will take a year or two for improvement. Build a compost heap as this will help - beg offerings from anywhere you can as well as your own. The more the better. If you build on site it saves a lot of transport.

Bluemoon · Post: # 99560Post **Bluemoon** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:31 pm

Blueberries can also be grown in pots, but need an ericaceous compost, which unfortunately is peat-based. They are self-fertile, so you can get away with just one, but if you buy a second one of a different variety their yield will increase, but only by about by about 15%, so if a garden centre tries to flog you two or more because they 'need' a pollination partner, don't listen. Blueberries are my favourite fruit to grow; in autumn the foliage is a vivid fiery red, in winter the stems are a decorative russet or sometimes apple-green and the scent of the flowers is spring is gorgeous. The berries are very good for you and I have a method of preserving them which requires copious amounts of alcohol. Bliss!

azadigger · Post: # 99569Post **azadigger** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:32 pm

Cheers!!! Thanks for the great advice and I look forward to more of the same.

ina · Post: # 99573Post **ina** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:47 pm

If you have a chance to get some shredded conifers, use them for mulching; that'll make it acidic without the use of peat.

Cassiepod · Post: # 99692Post **Cassiepod** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:38 am

bracken is also good for acidity I have a garden and a field of the stuff!

Millymollymandy · Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:50 am

Leaf mould too.

Cheezy · Post: # 99765Post **Cheezy** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:01 pm

Also one very important thing about blueberries I heard the other day they need 1" (2.5cm) of rain per week! to be productive.
So if your not in their native area that produces this much rain your going to have to water , BUT do bare in mind they HATE tap water.

THis is why the blueberry crop was so good in te UK last year...one advantage of a wet summer!.

Jules · Post: # 100159Post **Jules** » Fri May 02, 2008 1:00 pm

I started mine off in pots (in a greenhouse if you have if not a windowledge will do) and transplant to ericaceous (acidic) soil. You can buy bags of this in garden centres.

p999j · Post: # 101796Post **p999j** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:25 pm

I have 5 really great blueberry bushes in tubs. I top them up every year with pine needles to keep weeds down and keep the acidity (becuase I do the mortal sin of using tap water in extremely dry times) I also use sequestrated iron every 2 years, to keep acidity levels up. I put a top dressing of a general organic fertiliser on every spring, as well as a spring dressing of superphosphate and potash.

I have no idea if this is the way it should be done- I reckon gardening is a 'suck it and see' type of activity. Mine produce enough to keep me happy and they look really healthy. No long leggy bits like others I have seen.

Good luck.

Brenda · Post: # 106091Post **Brenda** » Wed May 28, 2008 9:07 pm

I read somewhere recently that they don't need feeding at all, but the addition of iron allows them to take up nutrients. I've found leaf mould v. good for mulching and to keep the conditions acidic. I have mine in big vegetable oil drums scavenged from the curry mile in Manchester.

Post: # 106143Post **Odsox** » Thu May 29, 2008 9:24 am

I'm growing 2 varieties of blueberry in my garden under near ideal conditions here in south west Ireland ... acidic soil and copious rain !
One thing they didn't like though is cold wind in early spring. They had just come into flower in February when we had a nasty cold east wind which burnt the new growth and flowers right off.
They are now thankfully recovering, but I think they will be surrounded with windbreak next winter and would maybe be a good idea in west Yorkshire as well, unless you're very sheltered.
Tony.

Cheezy · Post: # 106182Post **Cheezy** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:36 am

Odsox wrote:I'm growing 2 varieties of blueberry in my garden under near ideal conditions here in south west Ireland ... acidic soil and copious rain !
One thing they didn't like though is cold wind in early spring. They had just come into flower in February when we had a nasty cold east wind which burnt the new growth and flowers right off.
They are now thankfully recovering, but I think they will be surrounded with windbreak next winter and would maybe be a good idea in west Yorkshire as well, unless you're very sheltered.
Tony.

You can get later flowering varieties to avoid this, and prolong your cropping season. Protection is still a good idea though

See here:

http://www.blackmoor.co.uk/index.php?cP ... 17996ae74f

VM · Post: # 106783Post VM » Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:07 pm

We have ours in the ground in Manchester where the soil is fairly acidic, but we put them in ericaceous compost and have put confier clippings on as a mulch, as others have suggested. Must be enough rain here as they have lots of berries on, even the bushes which were new in last year.

But definitely no manure!!!