How I grow blueberries

Blueberries and blueberries are native sisters.

But blueberries are the favorite berry of all, and blueberries heard only insults in their address: gonobel, drunkard, and dope. Why are we so?

Only for the fact that it grows in the neighborhood of the Ledum, which in the heat emits such intoxicating essential oils, that they become dizzy. But more recently the situation has radically changed. Summer residents literally chase a tall garden bilberry. And she will make you wave a shovel

I saw new varieties of garden blueberries and was surprised: why not blueberries, because it is sweeter and juicier? I was not too lazy, I found the information: it was her habit to grow bilberry, but she does not form dense bushes, which gardeners appreciate so much. Blueberry has no such drawbacks. That's why the breeders made their choice in her favor.

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Reference by topic: Growing blueberries in the garden

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Growing blueberries - the first pancake is lumpy

My first attempt to make friends with the garden blueberry was unsuccessful. I bought five bushes at once, planted a hedge in a trench like a hedge, the distance between bushes is 1 m, the depth of the trench is also 1 m.

As a newcomer, he planted the best in planting pits: manure, compost and, pleased with himself, for the next year (and not without reason) began to wait for the harvest. And he was! Many, many fat leaves and no berries! I admit, the desire to rip and throw blueberries was, but I restrained myself, I had the intelligence to look for information about this plant.

Blueberry is a lover of sour

All the blueberries want is sour earth!

Well, I had to wave a shovel in the fall, I did a titanic work: I dug up the entire 5-meter trench, carefully dug up the plants, put it aside, pulled out all the fertile soil from the trench and filled it with new soil - acid peat (acidity 3,5-4,5) , put bark, rotten, branches, needles, sawdust (preferably conifers) at the bottom, in general, everything that I found in the forest.

Only after that, I re-planted blueberries in peat. And never again any manure, superphosphate and potassium! The root system of blueberry is at a depth of 30 cm, there must be sour, a lot of air and moisture.

But that's not all! To ensure that this acidic soil is not washed out and the roots of the plant do not touch the soil of another acidity, neutral or, God forbid, alkaline, I laid the whole trench from the inside and the bottom with a film.

He made several drainage holes in the film laid on the bottom. In general, planting currants and blueberries are two big differences. Both physical and material labor costs were large.

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See also: How to determine the acidity of the soil

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Harvest of blueberries without interruption

But there is one plus - blueberries are a very long-lasting culture, one might say, once tormented and forgot. I had to see blueberry bushes that grew in one place until thirty years old.

It is enough to occasionally add coniferous sawdust under the bushes - this will be long-lasting fertilizer.

Another plus: long fruiting, I have several different varieties of blueberry growing, which in turn bear fruit from the beginning of June to the end of October, usually I do 5-6 fees.

I have tall blueberries growing in the open, here is an analogue that once the berry has come from the forest, even if it grows in the shade, it will not pass. In the shade instead of berries, again, get fat leaves - this is verified.

There is another interesting feature - blueberries can be planted where water stands in spring, this does not mean that it needs to be identified in a swamp, it agrees to endure if flood water costs about a week. If there is an excess of moisture, then the roots will not have enough oxygen and the plant will die.

A question that interests everyone: but how can you reproduce blueberry? I, as an amateur, multiply by layers. In autumn I bend the lower branch, fix it and sprinkle it with earth. At the end of summer, the plant is already rooted. Well, in mass quantities can be propagated by green cuttings.

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Reference by topic: Planting blueberries - how to?

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American plant, pests - domestic

I have the main pests - birds, if I did not manage to cover it with a net, then absolutely everything will be eaten. As for serious diseases, first of all it is chlorosis. This disease, again, is related to the soil.

If it becomes neutral acidity, then the plant immediately reacts. The first sign - the leaves become pale green, lose color saturation.

This is due to the fact that the plant does not absorb nitrogen. Further the disease progresses: the leaves turn brown at the edges, as if charred. What to do? Again, take up the shovel! Dig up the blueberry, remove the soil and fill the peat. Then the bush will immediately come to life.

Blueberries are a self-pollinating plant.

But if there are several shrubs, the yield increases almost twofold. Fruits already on 3-4-th year. Spring planting is preferable, the risk of freezing is less.

Another caveat - you can not leave the black soil under blueberries, it heats up, and the plant does not like overheating. Therefore, I fill up the soil around the bushes with sawdust so that the bare earth does not stick out, but there is an option and more interesting: plant cranberries along the entire trench with a small border.

They have absolutely the same requirements for soil, and both are long-lived.

Those who want to make this wonderful shrub, I want to give advice: do not be careless about the acidity of the soil. I have friends who decided: yes, we have trees and horse sorrel on the plot, which means that the land is acidic!

Planted blueberry, four years, she suffered, and then turned yellow and died. Very to her those gardeners took offense.

But acidic soil is not enough to say, blueberry will have gray peat just right (it’s mossy overgrown for years), and I would advise you to even check the acidity with a special device before planting so that you don’t feel sorry for your labors!

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Growing blueberries - frequently asked questions

Competent planting of blueberries

- Saplings with a closed root system can be planted throughout the growing season - from early spring, when the ground only thawed and its temperature became higher than +6 degrees., And until late autumn until frosts. The plant begins to bear fruit in a year or two.

We take out the rooted seedlings from the greenhouses to the field in the so-called “incubator” for the second year. They are suitable for planting in open ground, more adult bushes can be planted.

With open root system blueberry planted in early spring and autumn (in October). What is important to consider when planting?

- The roots of blueberries are superficial, so you do not need to dig a hole too deep, but you can’t get by with a shallow hole. The pit should be approximately 60-80 cm deep. On heavy soil it can be made smaller, but wider. In the lowlands, blueberries cannot be planted.

Dug land must be mixed with horse peat (1: 1). It is poor in nutrients, but holds water well, unlike the lowland, and creates the necessary conditions for the blueberry roots in chemical composition. 1) Some gardeners advise putting into the planting pit the remains of beautiful, whitish-looking stumps, the so-called “cubic rot”. Is it correct?

- Good advice if the stumps are pine. They retain moisture in the soil, and by increasing acidity in the root zone, they help the plant roots absorb nutrients. '

Is it worth it to cover the bottom of the landing hole with a film in the sandy area?

- Everyone decides for himself, but the film must be perforated (have holes), otherwise when watering or rain it will turn into a "trough" filled with water. If there is sand on the top and clay on the bottom, you can not cover the bottom with a film.

On clay soil, blueberries need to be planted on raised ridges - ridges. On a flat site in heavy rains, clay is saturated with water, and the roots rot due to lack of air.

For the winter

If the seedling was purchased at the end of autumn, for example, November, when it's too late to plant, where and how can it be over-grown before planting?

- It’s hard to adhere to calendar dates, you need to watch how frozen the ground is. It is undesirable to store the seedling in the basement, and even more so in the house. It can be dipped obliquely in the greenhouse along with the container and covered

burlap or even an old coat. Or put in a sheltered from the north wind of the garden, fall asleep with sawdust and also cover. So sapling safely overwinter. Do you need the first year in shelter?

- Our first-year-olds grow in a greenhouse, and they winter there.

In the garden, a rooted shank will well overwinter in a small blackberry, which must be insulated with sawdust, dry leaves.

Subtlety of care for blueberries

When cuttings of blueberries?

- Winter lignified cuttings are cut in late April - early May. Green cuttings are carried out in early July and almost until the end of the month.

Do I need to feed the bushes in the first year after planting?

- No, the plant must develop the root system. In subsequent years, in the spring they produce nitrogen or complex fertilizers with a predominance of nitrogen. Organic chemistry should not be used on blueberries. In addition, annually in the spring you need to add mulch from sawdust with a layer of about 10 cm.

How much is the bush of blueberry durable? Can it be rejuvenated or replaced with a new one?

- In Poland, I saw bushes planted at the beginning of the last century! And they live happily and bear fruit. Only by the huge shaft of mulch (1 m or more in size) can we understand that these are long-livers. Cut blueberries in early spring. In young plants, only small growth and diseased shoots are removed. And starting from 6-7 years of age, old shoots are gradually cut out.

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© I. Krotov. Orsha

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