how to GROW BERRIES in SFG??

Garden Gretchen Sat Mar 13, 2010 3:23 pm

HI! i am totally new to SFG and beginner gardener. zone 6, OHIO. wanting to grow strawberries and/or blueberries in SFG method. is it possible? any advice? THANKS!

happyfrog Sat Mar 13, 2010 4:23 pm

i haven't done either yet but i plan on doing at least one or both this year! *smiles*

strawberries are fun in pyramid shapes. if you look in the forums you will find some threads on strawberries and the containers folks are growing them in.

blueberries need to be grown in groups - diff varieties and needs soil to be a specific ph. just a little more work but doable. everything i'm reading is suggesting 2' per bush. and a little deeper than the regular boxes - my plan is to go with 8" deep boxes and use extra peat moss to bring the ph to right level.

welcome to the boards! growing stuff is such fun!

$glad you\'re here$

LupinFarm Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:46 pm

Strawberries would be easy to do, and fortunately are fairly "fool-proof" for most growers. Blueberries are a little trickier. Traditionally gardeners new to growing blueberries are suggested to start off container gardening them, thus SFG would be an excellent choice for blueberry bushes. Blueberry bushes require quite acidic soil as well as "just right" soil. Soil that keeps in just enough moisture, but is also well drained. Sounding familiar yet? Things like your Peat Moss, and compost are going to be awesome for your blueberries and the combination in Mel's Mix is going to be great for the "just right" make up that blueberries need in their soil. If you're not sure on the pH of your SFG soil, get yourself a kit, which are usually sold at Home Depot and test your pH level.

Good luck!

seaserpent Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:47 pm

Hi!
My advice would be to pick dwarf varieties of blueberries like tophat or dwarf northblue, which are better suited to containter growing and thus would be a better fit into a sfg scenario. Some blueberry bushes can get quite large, 5' x 7' tall or more. Also, in addition to liking acidic soil, my brother who is a blueberry farmer tells me that they love sandy soil.

Good luck!

**timwardell** Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:18 am

Garden Gretchen wrote:HI! i am totally new to SFG and beginner gardener. zone 6, OHIO. wanting to grow strawberries and/or blueberries in SFG method. is it possible? any advice? THANKS!

bpbdrummer posted this link in another thread:
http://justfruitsandexotics.com/downloads.htm

Click on the "blueberry" link for a 4 page information sheet that will tell you everything you need to know. The document states that, "Blueberries will not grow well in soils with a pH above 5.5. Adjust soil acidity as necessary with powdered sulfur and iron sulfate."

Some great info. Check it out.

happyfrog Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:03 am

this thread has been moved to the general forum for all future replies. Smile

Happy gardening!

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