I need some advice about what to do with my blueberry patch. We recently purchased this Maine home late last fall, and having established blueberries was one of the selling points for me. During closing I was told these plants are several years old. Perhaps upwards of 5 years if memory serves. I am new to gardening and have been doing my research and I don’t believe these blueberries have been given/placed/cared for correctly. However I am not sure how to correct or what specifically should be corrected for them. ( I wouldn’t want to cause more harm than good) Currently there are 2 rows of plants spaced approx. 2 feet between plants and 3 feet between the rows. For a total of 10. I have included a photo for reference. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Use a acid loving plant fertilizer, preferrably with the highest calcium level you can find. Get a pH meter or test the soil. 5.5 is good. Lower and phosphorous begins to become unavailable
About all I know is that they are acid lovers ! Try looking at a major university in your area ! They should have growing/pruning instructions for blueberries !
They look pretty young to me. The blueberry growers around our town have bushes that are 5-6 feet in height. I am guessing yours still have a lot of life in them. You will probably need to get some netting on them once the berries are almost ripe. The birds have a sharp eye & make short work of a blueberry crop. I agree with dirtmechanic: do a soil test to check the acidity. I mulch ours at home with composted leaves. Blueberry plants are shallow rooted & they appreciate the mulch keeping the roots damp. Water during dry periods. Good luck! I bet you will relish your blueberry crop come July!
GoosePlumBucket, it just occurred to me that your blueberries might be low bush Blueberries, rather than high bush. I've only ever grown the high bush kind. I bet yours are low bush. That would explain their height. The other thought I had is that while Blueberries like to be mulched, they prefer a leaner mulch....ie not too fertile. Like, not manure. Like leaf mold instead.
http://www.gardenstew.com/threads/blueberry-bush-suggestions.18538/ There are several postings on how to deal with blueberry bushes. The link above is just one, use the internal search engine on this website for more help. If after reading the threads you still have questions, I would be very happy to discuss this subject with you. Blueberries are something that I do not want to do without. p.s. There are some good comments on this thread already.
I have blueberry bushes that I planted 35 years ago, 20 years ago, 5 years ago and some I planted this year. Year before last I got ten gallons of berries off of two bushes. Last year with another household member eating berries not so much made it to the freezer. I have a total of 12 blueberry bushes and two red huckleberries (Blueberries are in my opinion the easiest of all fruits to grow. Know that they hate being moved or having their roots cut/disturbed (very deep tree like roots-putting in a run of French tile taught me about their root system, that poor blueberry is still recovering several years later-as well as surface roots). Mine produce better some years than others depending on weather. I water, keep the buttercups weeded out and nothing else. Well, I do lay natural bark in the pathways so I can harvest easily. This makes their growing conditions more like the woodsy marsh areas they are found in. Probably makes the ground naturally more acid too. I’d say watch, water and enjoy. Sometimes it is better to let plants do their thing and only send them love. Blueberry bushes, for me, fall into that category. I have found some bushes will be slow maturing (variety doesn’t appear to matter), but if I wait long enough they eventually come into their own and produce lots.
