Blueberry bushes in Mel's Mix

I know that blueberry bushes like acidic soil and peat moss and Mel's mix is supposed to be fairly neutral so I am looking for any suggestions on adjustments I should make before I plant them.

I am fairly new, but I put out blueberry bushes also and did some reading regarding this. I put coffee grounds in the Mel's Mix and will probably dump some more on here and there. Also, pine mulch was recommended. I'll be anxious, also, to see more replies.

This seems to be a nice organic site for blueberries:

http://www.onthegreenfarms.com/fruit-vegetable/how-to-grow-organic-blueberries/

Got 3 varieties of bushes a couple weeks ago and every source I go to for planting instructions gives me a different answer. Some sites say prepare the soil 1 year before planting. Have 3% organic matter, add granular sulfer. Don't plant with hi calcium in the soil, blah, blah, blah. Must have good drainage. Other sites say blueberries are soo easy to grow, just purchase and do A and B and wallah, blueberries...it's nuts. So surprised at the differences of planting methods. Mine have broken dormancy and have shoots and flowers, so I think I'm suppose to wait on planting till the frost free date, according to Ohio state university... Argh! I think I'm going to combine the organic info and primarily use 50/50 peat and pine mulch and amend it with a combination of coffee grounds, my own yard compost, and 3-5 year old llama manure. Exactly how much of each ammendment? I don't know...And cross my fingers. I've been getting antsy from information overload! Got a pH meter to play around with, and (wishful thinking) went ahead and got bird netting. Following the directions for Mel's Mix and learning to make compost is a simple walk in the park compared to this!

Haha llamamama, I got 3 different types too dwarf northblue, dwarf tophat, and pink lemonade. What did you get?

That's the same problem I am having with planting them, all the instructions vary sooo much, so I thought I would ask people with experience here! Have you prepped your soil for a year because I most certainly have not... Well at least we have a little time before our frost date to hopefully clear things up! Thanks for all the info!

I have one each of jersey, duke, and bluejay. Was told they were grown locally. So cheyannarach we're having the same experience. Confusion! CCgirl75 was brave, went ahead and planted. I thought of planting this week till I came across that blasted on line info from Ohio State that convinced me to wait since they are flowering and have new shoots. I think some of the flowers were pollinated cause there is swelling where the petals fell off and to me it looks like some little berries are developing. Flowers with their petals don't have the swelling. I guess I could call the extension service tomorrow and let them confuse me some more on whether to plant or not to plant.... And no, I did not do the one year prep thing...

I have 6 blueberries, too dark to go see which varities, Top hat is not one, I remember that.

I really did not know a lot about planting them, but knew they needed acidic soil. We dug 6 holes, mixed compost and peat moss(very acidic), no vermiculite for the ground doesn't need to be friable. Planted, and mulched thickly with pine straw, which is acidic also. May have to add more pine straw as this breaks down. These bushes were planted early this spring. They bloomed and are now full of fruit. I may add a tomato fertilizer (acidic also) after the fruit comes off. If the soil where you are is very alkaline, you might have to add a soil acidifier to your planting hole. I watered them for about 2 weeks, until it rained good.

Jo Ann

Littlejo - loaded with berries, that sounds great-Congrats!

Thanks little jo that sounds like a good idea. I choose my bushes based on cold tolerance because we have long winters here, my hubby thinks I am doomed to fail them . I'm determined to prove him wrong. One of my bushes is flowering!

cheyannarach wrote:Thanks little jo that sounds like a good idea. I choose my bushes based on cold tolerance because we have long winters here, my hubby thinks I am doomed to fail them . I'm determined to prove him wrong. One of my bushes is flowering!

If you are going to have a frost while it is flowering, cover with an old sheet. The flowers don't like frost.

There are late blooming varieties that would prob. be better suited to colder areas.

You are going to have berries!

Jo

YAY, Blueberries! I think I might wait a few weeks to plant them like llamamama said. I have been setting them out all day and bringing them in before bed and they are looking good so far. The one with the flowers on it is the dwarf northblue and it supposed to be the most cold tolerant of them all, weird huh?

Just came across this info......

Almanac Blueberry Info

Lee

SwampCatNana wrote:Just came across this info......

Almanac Blueberry Info

Lee

Lee, that was a grrrreat link! I snooped around some more about other things as well and learned a lot!

Nice! Thanks for sharing

I have the tophat blueberries in a SFG, I think this is the third year for them. I put the pine needles in my mels mix, they have done good each year.

So perhaps there are many ways to be successful with blueberries and getting hung up on The One Right Way, is plain wrong. I love the sites that say you should prepare the soil a year ahead of time before planting, (but the stores selling blueberries sure don't..) first test, prepare soil, test, plant and test, fertilize later, test again, etc. When I contacted the extension service today they sent back an email saying they were concerned over my compost and aged llama manure. As for a solution they offered, get this, nothing. I recall that blueberries are light feeders but they didn't say really what I should do. Maybe the final answer to planting blueberries is to plant the dang things already.

All this tlak of blueberries! Maybe you'd like to know what to make with them?

BLUEBERRY SHERBERT
Sherbets make a refreshing finish to many meals when a heavier dessert might seem too filling. Lemon, orange, and raspberry are fairly usual but there are other more surprising flavors that are easy to concoct from the frozen and bottled fruits and juices that are now available.

Yield: 1 quart

1/2 cup sugar
2-1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup pureed fresh or frozen blueberries
juice of 1 lemon
2 egg whites beaten stiff

Boil together the sugar and water.
Add the lemon juice and the pureed berries.
Freeze until nearly solid; beat the egg whites until stiff; beat together with the frozen sherbet and return to the freezer.

Source URL: http://www.almanac.com/recipe/blueberry-sherbet

How wonderful! It is saved to my favorites! Until I get my own stash of berries I keep buying frozen berries at the store so this recipe will be used asap! Thnaks!

Thanks Josh, good to know I have lots of pine needles!

Llamamama I just dove in to getting them planted. I have one in mm, and the other two I planted in peat/compost with just a little vermiculite. I have azalea fertilizer to ue with them so we will see... I had to do them in raised boxes too because we live on a giant rock, lol. This will worry me in the winter when the beds freeze.

I have four blueberry bushes that my late boyfriend put in on the sides of my shed. I don't know what species because he propagated them from some of his own, and they date back to the 50's. In 2009 he picked over 50 quarts from just 2 bushes in his yard. He always put a lot of pine mulch around both his and mine, and they flourished. Last year I didn't get much, but we had a lot of rain in the spring, but 2010 was a great year for my blueberries. This year is looking pretty good so far, and they should be ready to pick by the end of June. Llama Mama -I will put a recipe for a strawberry dessert in with that SASE. I am going to try it with blueberries as soon as I get enough ripe ones.

I planted three bushes in mm last year. I thought I might have some this year. BUT we had a bad hail storm mid-April. demolished the poor little things that were up. I thought they were done for. But tonight hubby and I were out looking and weeding and found all have little green leaves right at the bottom! So maybe just a bad setback.

I mulched with pine needles and did that again last fall. I am going to do it tomorrow again. Some year I may have blueberries.

Thanks Memart1 I am looking forward to it! Strawberries and blueberries are both heavenly to me. I can't believe this is the year to have both. I hope with three blueberry bushes that one day there will be too many berries and be able to laugh at myself for being so worried over planting them incorrectly. Finally today got the first b. bush in the ground. The second hole is finished and husband promises to dig the third hole next weekend.
I thought the shredded pine mulch would go farther, it didn't, have to get more tomorrow.

I have a lot of pines on my 4 acre lot. It was about 90% pines when I bought it in 1996, but I clearcut one half in order to build my ranch style home and put in a large sand mound style septic system. A neighbor who has a Bobcat loader pushed up a big pile of pine needles and topsoil from the area where my house was going to be built, and it sat over in the woods for about 10 - 12 years. Now it has composted up fairly well and that is what I have in my garden. It is also part of what Stan planted my blueberry bushes in. They have done very well, and I hope they continue to do so. However, I have been known to kill silk plants (LOL), but I promise to try to do better. Stan lived 29 miles away, but came to see me every week at least once and he had a really green thumb! He took care of those bushes for me. I know he put a commercial azalea food on them, too, but I don't know if it was chemical or organic. He is no longer here, so now it is up to me and I will have to look at Lowe's or HD and see what I can find, but I will put some of that pine mulch around them.

I just planted a Dwarf Blueberry in a pot of MM. There is some Hydrangea and Blueberry soil additive that I found at a large home store. It's seemed super easy to use, it had instructions on how much to add per plant to the top of the soil. It looks like it just dissolves into soil. Hopefully it works well, I've always thought simple is the way to go, but we'll see.

Blueberries love acid soil so I use azalea fertilizer and soil sulfur in mine
I got my first crop today and it is great
can't wait till next year when my bushes are in their second year and really producing.