Blueberry bushes - I have questions.

[BroccoliSpears]

Is it true that I need two or they won't fruit?

Is it true that they won't fruit until the third year?

I have a lovely big pot on my patio that is crying out for a pretty blueberry bush. Dd loves blueberries.

Tell me about your heavy fruiting, blueberry bush success!

[captainmummy]

I have a blueberry bush (just the one) and it is fine, not a huge crop - i thinkthe birds get to it in the night- but enough. I'd like more plants but they need to be grown in ericaceous soil, which we don't have so i neeed to put them in pots - large ones.

[sphil]

I bought two - one from a garden centre which cost me £15 and the second from Woolworths reject pile. The first fruited in the first year - about a punnet's worth. The second sulked in a corner but may have been doing its fertilisation duties behind my back because the following year they both produced piles of fruit - we were picking and eating every day for weeks. In pots in ericaceous soil and sunny position.

[ELR]

what is ericaceous soil and where do you get it?

[TooTicky]

[SoupDragon]

I had one last year (it's first year here) and it fruited nicely. 2 are, apparently, better though. It's in a pot as it needs acid soil and we're on chalk.

[SoupDragon]

It's an acid potting compost and you get it in bags form agarden centre/nursery.

[captainmummy]

We have chalky/clay soil here (south east) so we need ericaceous soil, it's what you need for plants like azaleas and rhodes and heathers. If you are in scotland you could grow them in the garden.Otherwise yuo neeed a big pot.

[BroccoliSpears]

Didn't know about the erithingyus soil.

Good to know so many people have reasonable success with them in pots.

Now for a possibly very silly question: If I get two, do I have to make sure one's male and one's female? Or are they both male and female?

[JillJ72]

Make sure you net them or do something to stop the birds getting at them, because bird do so love blueberries (as I have found, much to my dismay).

[thegrowlygus]

Oh - i bought 2 just because I felt like it. Clearly they were just crying out to stay together! But now need to make my soil more acidic (can I do that or should I put them in a big tub?)

[BroccoliSpears]

Isn't it teabags to make the soil more acidic?

[captainmummy]

Teabags??? Not heard that one!
You don't need 2 blueberries, although I think there might be an old variety that did once need male and female, or is that holly? Anyway, I've only got one and it does just fine.

[PrimulaVeris]

I dont know if teabags provide acidity, but if you haven't got acid soil you just can't really change it - best to work with what you've got, or do pots.

I'm on chalk here and if I put my teabags in they'd have a ton of chalk scale from the kettle with them!

[flamingtoaster]

Great timing asking this question BroccoliSpears - I only said to DH last night I wanted to get a blueberry bush and I didn't know about the soil either.

[sphil]

I heard it was better to have two but have no idea about their sex lives so don't know how it works - something about pollination ?

[BigBadMouse]

One is fine - but you will get better results with two as you get cross-pollination between the two plants and thus more berries. You don't need to find one male and one female bush as one bush has both male and female bits.

They like their soil damp but not waterlogged with lots of organic matter and a sunny site. They like a mulch of bark chippings or pine needles which (will increase the organic matter). You need to protect them from late frosts with a horticultural fleece to get a good crop.

They are best watered with rainwater and not tap water (due to needing acid conditions) but if you have no rainwater to hand best give them tap water than nothing. If you put a mulch over the top of the pot (gravel for eg) you will not loose too much water from the surface in the summer. If the pot is terracotta it might be best to put a plastic pot inside it (soil water evaporates from the sides of terrracotta pots).

They will fruit before the third year. The fruiting will increase over time - try to get a bush which is 2 -3 years old and check it isn't pot bound (roots all squashed up in pot and coming out if the bottom).

Follow all that advice and you'll get bumper crops!!

[thegrowlygus]

Thank you! Best get a big pot and some acid soil and some mulch.

[flamingtoaster]

Thank you BigBadMouse - I'll print your instructions and stick them up in the kitchen for reference!

[BroccoliSpears]

Great tips BigBadMouse - thank you

I bought two nice 2 / 3 year old Grover Blueberry bushes this morning.

Looking forward to putting them in their pretty pots, but waiting for this wind to drop first!

The chap at the garden centre emphasised that they really do like a lot of water. He used the word "boggy" more than once.

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

I have had 2 for about 4 years now - got them from some sort of specialist blueberry mailorder company who said I should have 2 and they should be different varieties as well.

They've fruited well until last year when they were useless. Could of been the weatehr I guess but I have never pruned them and not sure if I should be doing. Anyone know?

[BigBadMouse]

Stripeykncikers - do you think they could have been caught by a late frost? - that would seriously affect the cropping.

They fruit on 2 - 3 year old wood so you just need to prune to keep a decent supply of newer branches.

To prune, just remove anything that is 4 years old or more. In the first 2-3 years you can prune out any weak growth or any branches growing low to soil and parallel to it. After that just remove the weak branches, any older branches that have stopped fruiting and anything growing close to the soil or pointing towards it.

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

I don't rememebr any late frosts, just the lack of sunshine!

How do I know which bits are more than 4yo?

[QuintessentialShadow]

Can I just say that I have wild blueberries growing all over the plot of land I am about to build a house on?????
I love blueberries too.

The custom around those parts is to run into the mountains every weekend in the automn and fill your freezer.

[BigBadMouse]

Stripey knickers - the older wood will be thicker and tougher and won't produce fruit. You just want to maintain a nice open bush with youngish stems - anything that starts to look a bit old is probably non-productive. If in doubt just leave it there, by the next year it'll probably be more obvious what needs to come out and what can stay.

[BigBadMouse]

just found this link which covers pruning - seems that the time to prune blueberries is NOW!

pics of pruning blueberries