How to Raise Blueberry Plants

Grow blueberries at home to enjoy the freshest flavor and nutrients. The blueberry plant is a pretty bush with shiny dark green leaves that will add beauty and dimension to your garden. Within one year of planting, you can pick blueberries for your cereal and blueberry pie. Choose healthy plants, set them in good soil and water well. With proper care, your blueberry plants will yield lovely fruit for years to come.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Compost
• Manure
• Peat moss
• Fertilizer
• Measuring cup
• Garden pruners
• Bird netting

Instructions

1. Select blueberry plants that are optimal for your USDA Hardiness Zone. Purchase two different varieties to ensure good pollination and fruit production.

2. Choose a sunny site to plant your blueberries, then test the soil pH with a test kit purchased from a garden center. Blueberry plants prefer acidic soil with a pH of 4.0 to 5.0. Mix in manure, shredded leaf compost and grass clippings to adjust the soil. Let the garden bed sit for two weeks, test again, and if necessary, mix in more organic material.

3. Dig a hole 18 inches deep and 18 inches wide for each blueberry plant. Space the holes at least one foot apart but not more than three feet from each other. Fill 12 inches of each hole back up with 2-inch layers of peat moss and dirt.

4. Soak the blueberry pots with water to loosen the soil. Tug each plant gently out of its pot and separate the roots with your fingers. Set the plant into the hole and spread the roots out. Fill the hole with soil, tamp it down with your foot and top off with additional soil.

5. Water blueberry plants immediately after they are set in the ground. Continue to water the plants two times a week for the next month. Then water weekly, or more frequently in hot weather, until winter. Run an open hose at each plant's base for two to three minutes each time you water.

6. Fertilize blueberry plants once a month from spring to fall with azalea and rhododendron fertilizer. Sprinkle a one-quarter cup of the fertilizer in a circle six inches from the base of each plant just before watering.

7. Apply a two to three inch layer of compost around the blueberry plants in early spring. Add a second layer of compost when the plants begin to bloom.

8. Prune the blueberry plants in the fall after all the berries have been harvested. Cut away any dead wood, branches that do not have shiny bark and small twigs with garden pruners.

Tips & Warnings

• Remove all flowers the first year to reduce stress as the blueberry plant becomes established.

• Pick blueberries when they are completely blue with no unripe green or pink tones showing through the skin.

• Birds flock to where you grow blueberries, so place bird netting over each plant as soon as small green berries emerge in the summer.

References

• The Blueberry Council
• OH State Univ. Extension: Growing Blueberries in the Home Garden
• MI State Univ. Extension: Hints on Growing Blueberries

Resources

• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map