Blueberries
 

Picked all of the flowers off of these plants before I left 1st. wk. of January. Came back last week and they were covered in blueberries. Now if the rest of the yard would catch up!

Re: Blueberries
 

nice!

Re: Blueberries
 

WOW, Looks very good!
Makes my 3 plants look pretty sorry, I guess I'll have to up the antie on them.

Re: Blueberries
 

Why did you pick the flowers off??????

Re: Blueberries
 

To control fruit set on young plants. Too much fruit on young plants can cause stunted growth of plant, reduced future fruit set due to a weakened plant, or even death of the plant.

Re: Blueberries
 

So now will you de-fruit the plants to send energy to the growth of the plant?

Re: Blueberries
 

At this point there's nothing to do but enjoy the fruit!

Re: Blueberries
 

Nanaman, I wished I had your variety. You have some huge blueberries, but of course I still don't know how big mine are going to get yet. I'm just starting to see fruit on mine.

Re: Blueberries
 

I'm not sure which ones are the large ones. I would have to look at my plant map/legend to figure it out, but I'm out of town now. They are all southern highbush varieties.

Good luck with yours, hope they taste Great!

Re: Blueberries
 

Blueberry cuttings

Re: Blueberries
 

I usually stick many cuttings into the same pot because I know that some of them will fail, and I use juicy roots cloning gel which seems to get the job done pretty well however I already have a good # of plants so there's no need to keep producing them now. Blueberries are pretty easy to multiply as long as you have a nice stock of them which I do. I also don't really buy into the need for acidity thing because I have mine planted with some peat moss & pine bark in the bed and that seems to be enough to amend the nuetral soil.

Sunfish, do all of them succeed for you?

What kind of a mix or cloning gel do you use ?

Re: Blueberries
 

This is my first time trying to root blueberries. I was pruning some of my plants so I figured what the heck.I am using Clonex.I don't need anymore plants either but I have a hard time throwing stuff out, J don't do anything special to my soil and they seem to grow fine:08:

Peat or coir and perlite for rooting medium.

Re: Blueberries
 

You use peat moss and pine bark both of which is an acidifier for the soil so what exactly is it that you are not buying? Are you questioning the numerous prominent university studies or ?????????

Re: Blueberries
 

Maybe that stuff alone is enough, but I've heard of people using pelleted acidifiers several times a year. I just happened to use it to mix into my beds which I doubt will drop the PH by as much as 2-3 units, but I never tested it afterwards so I have no idea. I've never had PH related issues or changes in the color of the leaves so maybe the PH of my beds have been dropped with these natural materials.

Re: Blueberries
 

My ground is naturally acidic so it is not an issue here however I think I will get a soil sample tested just so I'll know. I have heavily mulched with oak tree leaves for at least 10 years. I'm curious to know where mine is at.

Re: Blueberries
 

I should probably get a soil test on the blueberry beds as well. It could be sitting around a 7.0PH, and the blueberries are still growing and fruiting regularly however not at their best. Maybe adding a soil acidifier can make them grow faster, but my whole blueberry bed looks pretty healthy regardless.

Re: Blueberries
 

Has anyone ever taken blueberry cuttings and rooted them over the winter successfully before? I know they are pretty easy to root over the spring with a peat filled pot and plastic bag for humidity, but I'm not sure if it will work over the winter.

Has anyone tried it yet?

Re: Blueberries
 

Temperature is key. I have done it in the early spring in a mist bed with bottom heat. For southern blueberries, I use 70F bottom heat. For northern blueberries, 60F should work.

Soil pH controls how plants receive nutrients in the roots. At an given pH, certain minerals will be chemically less bound and others will be more bound (limited or no availability to plant). If you are feeding your plants in the proportion of nutrients they prefer, then a pH that is off but not extreme can be ok. Southern blueberries prefer a mildly acidic soil near 6.0 like their relatives azaleas. Northern blueberries function much better near 5.0.

Here is a chart showing the effect of pH on nutrient availability. Note the decimal points are missing on the bottom left axis. For example, the first number should read 4.0, not 40.

Re: Blueberries
 

Thanks for the info Richard. I'm lucky thay my native soil runs around 6.0.

I have some root sprouts that were acidentally dislodged a month ago that I potted up and left in the blueberry area. It will be interesting to see if they put on new growth this spring.

I am looking forward to bloom time this spring. I have about 40 plants inground now and the whole ground should be humming with all the bees. Pretty awesome to stand near a bush "BEE"ing worked by the SE Blueberry Bees

Re: Blueberries
 

If your water is also around pH of 6, then I'm really envious. USGS reports show that our native soil here was once 5.8 to 6.2, but decades of applying municipal water with a pH of 7 has changed all that.

If you have a "bloom" formula that also contains a percent or two of iron, then I would apply 1/4 dose of it now.

One sign of an edible gardening nut is someone who walks towards the sound of bees.