Saturday 16 July 2011

Grow blueberries

Varieties to try:
'Patriot' - a high-yielding, vigorous, hardy variety with medium to large blue berries and excellent flavour.
'Herbert' - arguably the tastiest variety of blueberry. It produces large berries and has moderate vigour.
'Ivanhoe' - mid-season, erect variety with large, delicious, dark blue berries. A vigorous plant with good autumn colour.
Where-to-buy:
Trehane Nursery.
Blueberries need the same soil as Rhododendrons and azaleas and are slightly more fussy on soil than camellias. If you're on chalk or clay then we advise against growing blueberries in the ground.
Growers have always recommended more than one variety to assist with cross pollination.
Pruning blueberries: "If in doubt, cut it out" as hard pruning only improves fruit size of whats left.

Any good ericaceous compost will be fine, but you need to feed with a similarly ericaceous product. You can always acidify your water with vinegar if you have a supply that is slightly alkaline. Rain water is best. Mulching with bracken or pine needles also helps if you are pushed.

I always plant my bushes into planting holes filled with a mix of pine chippings and ericaceous compost.
To keep the soil on the acid side I water on sulphate of iron as per the makers instructions in early spring and in late autumn.
As they need acid soil to prosper and my soil isn't quite acid enough, I've dug out each planting hole and filled with a mixture of ericaceous compost mixed with about a quarter bark chippings.

I'll be mulching them too with coffee grounds and composted pine needles and watering them only with collected rain water if need be, to keep them happy.


Espoma's "Soil Acidifier."
It contains sulfur, derived from elemental sulfur and gypsum.
You can find this organic goodness at any respectable garden center. Application is a breeze: First, grab a measuring cup...
And fill it with the acidifying granules.
Then pour the granules in a circle around the drip line of each shrub.
The drip line is the outermost edge from which water would naturally drip from the plant.
Feeder roots are concentrated there.
Rates. For young shrubs, use about 1 1/4 cups acidifier. For larger shrubs, use 2 1/2 cups.
Repeat the procedure every 60 days or so, or until you achieve the correct pH for your blueberries -- 4.6 to 5.5. Watering-in.

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