All About Blueberries

         

Blueberries are native to many parts of the United States and are very hardy and easily grown.  Six blueberry bushes can provide a family of four with all the blueberries they can eat.  When freezing your excess crop spread the blueberries out flat on a baking tray and freeze.  All blueberries need cross pollination; planting several varieties will ensure that you have a plentiful crop.  When choosing the varieties to grow, check with your local agricultural experiment station for recommended varieties.  Planting several varieties of blueberries can ensure a long crop because blooming and fruiting happens at different times of the growing season.  Varieties to investigate for our area are:

‘Weymouth’ –Bloom and fruit mid to late summer

‘Bluecrop’- Bloom and fruit lat summer

‘Jersey’- Bloom and fruit late summer into fall

            Blueberries require soil that has good moisture retention but are also well drained.  It is pointless to try and grow the bushes in alkaline (basic) soil; they require a pH range of five to six.  Choose a location that gets full sun but most blueberry bushes will tolerate some shade.  It is a good idea to choose an area protected from cold winds in Pennsylvania.  You can plant blueberry bushes in fall or the spring, just be sure to space the bushes three to four feet apart.  Planting several different varieties will ensure that you have an abundant crop of the blue berry.  The berries are generally ripe for picking in the middle of summer, though some varieties produce well into the fall in warmer regions.  When digging the hole for your blueberry bushes insure that the hole allows for the plant to be about one inch deeper than it was in the nursery pot.  Spring time is the best time to mulch your bushes and mulch them once again in the late fall.  One or two months before growth starts in the spring apply three to four ounces of 10-10-10 fertilizer.  Apply the fertilizer in a twelve inch radius at the base of each plant.  Be sure to water thoroughly during any dry spell in the summer.  Do not prune for the first three years after planting a new shrub.  Prune during the winter months but not too severely because fruit is borne on previous year’s wood.