Blueberries??

[Big Mike]

Anyone have any tips on growing blueberries? I put in 15 bushes at the farm in Northeast Texas. I plowed up a huge, tall row, mixed chicken manure into each hole and planted the bushes.......now, if I can just keep the deer out of them....

[Joe Malinowski]

I did the same thing up here in New England 3 years ago. I did get info from other members here and am still learning. I know the bushes are pretty sensitive to the soil ph. The nursary I got mine from recommend amonium sulfate here is there link it has a planting guide. If you search the web there is a ton of extension service info out there. I did something wrong this year and caused 6 of my bushes to drop there leaves thought they were dead but by early fall they had come back.
http://www.noursefarms.com/

[Big Mike]

Thanks Joe,

I've been online searching for information and was overwhelmed, had no idea there were so many varieties. I planted three different variations (all rabbiteye) and am anxious to see how they do. I built some cages out of concrete reinforcing wire and placed around each bush to HOPEFULLY protect them from the deer.....they manage to eat absolutely everything that I stick in the ground. Thanks for your help....

[beaconlight]

Blueberries like acid soil. That is why the amonium sulphate. What ever you do don't lime near them.

[greg49]

Hi Joe,
I grow blueberries,strawberries, red raspberries and gooseberries.I have about a dozen blueberry bushes.One of them is a big producer and the others are young and coming along.Let me know if you want to check out my garden at some point. I also grow apples,peaches and pears.Keeps me real busy in the warm weather.

Greg Gardner (no pun intended)
"Greg 49"

[SONNY]

Acid loving and also high organic matter content in your soil really helps!! thanks; sonny

[grumpy]

I'm suprised Rudi didn't chime in on this one. Then again theres enough east of Moncton maybe he don't have to raise his own. Grump

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

A neighbor (now deceased) used ot dump his coffee grounds on his blueberry bush roots. They did pretty good till we had a 3 year drought and there was no one to carry water to them.

[Dan England]

Big Mike: I am located fifty miles southeast of Texarkana so we share similar climate and soil conditions. I have raised blueberries for about ten years. Like you, we have three varieties for better pollination. As others have mentioned, blueberry bushes prefer acid soil. They seem sensitive to excessive amounts of water and I prepared a raised bed for them. They do need additional water during dry summer months. We have about a dozen plants. Their production supplies berries for three families with enough excess to share with neighbors. If you haven't done so, I recommend that a soil test be done to determine what needs to be added to provide for the needs of the bushes. Dan

[Rudi]

The Wild Blueberry capital area is right around here, essentially the Fundy Basin area encompassing much of Northeastern Maine, North Western and Central Nova Scotia and most of New Brunswick. Oxford Nova Scotia is said to be the Blueberry Capital of Canada and the centre of the wild blueberry world. (I just read the signs and the aritcles.. I do not own stock in any blueberry producers ). There are some interesting articles on the History Of Blueberries.... The History of the Lowbush Blueberry Industry in Nova Scotia, 1880 - 1950 Here in New Brunswick, blueberries - the wild kind are a big big deal.. almost as big as Potatoes.. Bleuets NB Blueberries. My son-in-law to be's family harvest blueberries every year both here in NB and in Maine. Their Mi'Maq families have for probably thousands of years.

Rule of thumb here is to burn the fields every so often to 3ensure that the blueberries get the right soil conditions. If you notice in the boreal forest areas.. at least in the Canadian Shield (geologically speaking), wild blueberries are common, and will be the first berry that will grow after a major forest fire of which we have many. So it makes sense that the wild blueberry farmers here burn their fields periodically. I am not sure what the rotation would be. Ever since I was a kid in Northern Ontario, blueberries were an integral part of summer, strawberries in June, Raspberries in July/August and blueberries late August through to the end of September.

When starting blueberries, the old folks back home in Northern Ontario used to burn the fields, and it is no different here in the Maritimes. After the initial burn to prepare for blueberries, the old folks over the next few seasons would treat the fields with wood ash from the furnace/wood stove. Em and I have done that as well, and in one area we have two types of blueberries growing now.. highbush wild and much shorter lowbush variety. Both yield nice plump juice berries, with good body and firm flesh. Makes a great BlueBerry Pate.. mmmmm good We don't get enough, so Em and I usually buy about 50lbs to 100lbs per year. About $9.00 Cdn/5lb box. Freeze em just like that and one box makes one pate... perfect

I have never gotten a liking for cultivated varieties of blueberries, always found them to be too large and too soft for my liking. Guess it is all a function of where you is from. Much like Saskatoon's... they are a relative of the blueberry as well and are highly favoured out west in the praries but I don't much like them either.

[Bill Hudson]

Big Mike,

Here are several Extension publications that address blueberry culture.
http://easttexasgardening.tamu.edu/tips/fruitsnuts/blueberries07.html
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1422.html
http://www.canr.msu.edu/vanburen/e-2066.htm
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8207.html
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1996/3-22-1996/blue.html

Good luck.

Bill

[Big Mike]

Thanks for the information guys....I'm hoping the bushes take to this East Texas soil. I was told that they like alot of water, is that not the case? In any rate, I plan to heavily mulch them next week to hopefully keep grass and weeds to a minimum and protect the root system. Keep the ideas and information coming, blueberries are new to me but thought they might do well in the acid soil here. Thanks again

[TexCub]

A man who owned a blueberry farm a little south of you (little south of Lufkin area) told us his wouldn't stand city water. Could have been the chlorine??? Not sure...

[JIM H]

I heard that folks in Ga. use human hair from the local barber shop to keep deer away from gardens. I'm sure size of garden is relevent. Never tried it but was told it worked. good luck

[Kodiak]

Jim, sometimes it works and sometimes it dosen't, I guess it depends on how "tame" the deer are.

I have a neighbor that has about 25 to 30 bushes that he planted several years ago. All of them produce very well. His thoughts on the deer were to plant plenty for them as well as his self.....and it seems to have worked. We all get all the blueberries we want ( and we do have a resident heard of some 8 to 10 deer year round)

Ron