I love Blueberries!  Fresh, frozen, dried, smoothie, jam, pie, muffin, pancake, or scone, it really doesn’t matter to me as long as it’s Blueberry.  Historically, this has been a treat from the North and East; but recently a large number of varieties have been developed to adapt to most any climate. Backyard Blueberries throughout the land have become a reality.

If we look at Blueberries through our horticultural glass it will shed light on how to grow them with success:
Blueberries belong to the genus Vaccinium. The majority of the commercially produced blueberries is of two species: Vaccinium corymbosum – Northern Highbush and Vaccinium darrowii – Southern Highbush. These attractive shrubs belong to the Ericaceae family and are closely related to Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Pieris, Leucothoe, Kalmia and Erica (Heather). The family resemblance is most obvious with the bloom and foliage of Leucothoe. As with its cousins, Blueberries are by nature acid- loving bog plants with shallow roots requiring constant and consistent moisture but never water logged. This condition makes growing in heavy alkali soils of the Southwest and other parts of the country a challenge to say the least. Acid loving is probably not strong enough of a description of how acidic the conditions should be. Blueberries do best in a pH range of 4.0-5.5; how about extremely acidic! It takes a tremendous amount of amending to bring neutral 7.0 soils down to that level and keep it there; even more for alkaline soils that frequently are above 8.0. Commercial growers resort to growing them in a mounded rows of mulch and drip irrigate with water injected with sulfuric acid; it’s a constant battle.

But don’t despair, the answer for the retail nursery and homeowner is very simple; grow Blueberries in containers. Within the container environment, it is much easier to regulate growing media and moisture, and the Blueberries will thrive.  A mature Blueberry bush can be up to 6 feet tall and wide so select a suitable size container. Fill it with a high organic potting mix. Make your own using peat moss, composted bark, and forest humus; equal parts would be fine and add some soil sulfur (2 tbs.) for good measure. An easy alternative would be to buy premixed Azalea potting mix. Be sure to read the label on premixed potting soil, quite often the low pH of peat and humus based mixes are neutralized with lime to a pH of 6.5. Blueberries hate lime and we already know that pH 6.5 is too high for what we want; so avoid those mixes. Sometimes companies will include Blueberries in the suitable (targeted) plants list on the label of their Azalea/acid-loving potting mix and you will know that it is good choice. After potting and watering, set in a sunny spot and pay close attention to the moisture content: never dry, never soggy is the rule. Fertilize monthly during growing season, again with Azalea or acid based fertilizer. Once again, read the label, do not use any fertilizer that gets its nitrogen from a nitrate source (i.e. ammonium nitrate). Only use a fertilizer that gets its nitrogen from a sulfate (i.e. ammonium sulfate) or urea. Organic growers can use cottonseed, blood, fish meal; stay away from potash. Stop feeding in August, we want the plant to slow vegetative growth and set flower/fruit buds.

Selecting Blueberry varieties is generally focused on two criteria: chill hours and ripening dates.
Flavor is another, but is too subjective. Besides, I haven’t met a Blueberry I didn’t like. Temperate climates generally use the Northern Highbush and the warm winter areas use the Southern Highbush. Northerns require around 800 chill hours and are most popular in those cooler zones. Southerns are more wide spread; they will perform in higher chill areas and go as low as 150 chill hrs and make it is possible to grow Blueberries in coastal So. Cal, Texas gulf, and Florida. As far as ripening dates; Blueberries are classified as early, mid, and late and with proper selecting you can expand your season by weeks. Blueberries are self-fertile but produce much more fruit (the point of this exercise) with a pollination companion of a different variety. Keep this in mind when making selections; to make sure pollen is available during bloom; you want to pair up two early or an early with an early/mid…you get the idea. A Blueberry aficionado may want to plant two early, two mid and two late to make sure fresh blueberries available over a two to three month period. A mature, well-pollinated bush will yield as much as 5 to10 lbs of fruit; the branches will bow under the weight. Great rewards for the great job you have done growing your blueberries.

As a container plant, Blueberries are attractive enough to earn a spot on your back patio. A mounded shrub with glossy green leaves and covered with small white, bell-shaped flowers that turn into clusters of delicious berries of blue. After the season is over you have the added perk of fall colors in red and orange.

L.E. Cooke Company has 13 Blueberry varieties available for January 2010:

Northern Highbush Blueberry

Earliblue  -4-6’ high,  Early Season

Blueray  -4-6’ high,  Early/Mid Season

Chandler  -4-6’ high,  Early/Mid Season

Bluecrop  -4-6’ high,  Mid Season

Berkeley  -5-6’ high,  Mid/Late Season

Darrow  -5-6’ high,   Mid/Late Season

Southern Highbush Blueberry

Star pp#110675 -5-6’ high,  Early Season,  400 chill hrs.

Jewel pp#11807 -5-6’ high, Early/Mid, 200 chill hrs.

Misty -5-6’ high,  Mid Season, 250 chill hrs.

Sharpblue -4-6’ high, Mid/Late Season, 150 chill hrs.

Jubilee -5-6’ high, Mid Season, 400 chill hrs.

Sunshine Blue -2-3’ high, Mid Season, 150 chill hrs. semi-dwarf evergreen

Southmoon -5-6’ high, Mid/Late Season, 400-500 chill hrs.

 

 

Tom Fetch   5-27-2009