Blueberry help required

[dwrudd]

Hello again,

I took advantage of the subscription offer to GYO and with it, along came a wonderful Herbert Blueberry bush.

Now, I have planted it in Ericacious compost in a container about 20 inches across, but the way it has developed is a spindley four branches which have leaves on their ends and are flopping over the edges. Is this normal or should I plan to prune it back, if so, when?

Any advice would be appreciated as this is my first foray into fruit bushes, I am more of an onion/spud/brassica type
Thanks

Darren

[SueA]

Hi Darren, I don't think blueberry bushes need to be pruned & the sprawling habit sounds normal to me, at least that's what mine look like a bit! I have 2 bushes which are still very small, one I got last year & one this & they don't seem to be doing much at the moment. They like a lot of water & if you live in a hard water area it's best to water them with rain water rather than tap, we're O.K. here as our water is lovely-must be all the rain in the reservoirs!

[dwrudd]

Thanks Sue,

Do you plan to stake your bushes or let them sprawl?

As far as water goes, I live in Wigan and so water is quite hard but I do use rain water and feed every so often with Ericacious soluble food.

The leaves look quite healthy and I have mulched the surface with grit to keep in the moisture.

I just cannot wait for next spring, I think that it is a great treat of nature to put something soooo good for you like a blueberry, and get it to taste so delicious in a muffin!

Darren

[Shortie]

Hi Dwruddm I got the same one from subscription.

My leaves and a light green and a few reddy-brown tinges.. What am I doing worng anyone?

Also, no sign of flower buds - should I have some by now? I plantd in peat soil in a container?

[pigletwillie]

I also got a free one when I subscribed and it now lives in my blueberry plantation along with 20 odd others.

If at all possible plant them into the ground with plenty of ericaceous compost around them and water once a year with sulphate of iron to help keep the soil acid. Whilst touted as great for containers they do not like to dry out and If your pot is in a sunny spot you not only get drying out of the soil but the roots also cook and believe me, blueberry roots are very tender and easily damaged. A great idea is to underplant with cranberries which like the same conditions and act as a living mulch as they spread along, a bonus being cranberries ready for Christmas.

With regard to the shape, you will eventually get some decent branches form and when they do you can cut out any whispy low down ones as they will produce nothing, until then leave it alone to establish.

As for fruit, blueberries will start to produce fruit from 3 years old and you will harvest more each year until they peak at about 6-7 years old when you can get several Kg from each bush. The freebie bushes are just possibly 2 years old so you may get a handful of fruit next year but dont expect much.

[dwrudd]

Thank you so much Piglet,

My plant also has pale green leaves with tinges of red and so I hope the future will hold yet another free treat.

Darren

[SueA]

The blueberry plant I got last year from Woolworths is 'Bluecrop' I think & the one I got free from a magazine this year is 'Herbert' like all of yours.The Herbert is still quite small &in a smallish pot & the Bluecrop is in a fairly large pot & although they are supposed to be hardy some of it seemed to die off over winter but it is sprouting some new growth at the base so maybe yours will as well Darren (see attached photos & close up). The ones in plant catalogues always look neat & tidy bushes but they also look very well established so I'm not going to tie mine up or do anything to them just yet. Neither have shown any signs of flowering but I think that's just because they are too young. If yours starts to throw shoots up from the base maybe then you could cut backthe long spindly stems to make it a neater bush.

[Jothegardener]

Hi

I received a blueberry bush "Bluecrop" when I subscribed at the end of last year, I have put it in a good sized pot with ericaceous compost and have mulched the base with pine needles from a conifer, it seems to be doing well lots of healthy shoots and leaves but no flowers yet, I assume that is because it is still young. My real question is that in this months magazine it says about propagating blueberries to make more plants, I would like to do this but is my Blueberry bush to young to have a couple of stems cut off to propagate?

[Shortie]

Cheers Piglet, and little more patience fromme is in order then

I'll plant it up next year then, as I should have an even better idea of what is staying put where...

I noticed today I have got lots of new growth at the bottom of mine too SueA

[SueA]

Jothegardener, if your plant has lots of shoots that are long enough (it says 4-6ins in the mag.) then I don't see why you couldn't take a couple off to try. Be careful how you take them off though as it says to tear/cut a little heel off the main stem where your shoot is coming off so you don't want to damage where you're taking it off if your main stems are not very thick/strong yet.

[pigletwillie]

If your bush is only a year or two old dont be tempted to take cuttings off it as the spindly branches will be unlikely to make decent new plants and the young plant that you are taking them off is just forming its shape and structure and establishing itself and will need all of its strength to do that.

Wait a year or two until you have something worthwhile to use as a cutting and the bush is growing well. Your patience will be well rewarded, impatience, probably not.

[Jothegardener]

Thanks very much for your help SueA and pigletwillie, I think I will wait until at least next year to take the cuttings.

[dwrudd]

I too have many small shoots ( 1 to 2 inches long) eminating from the centre of the plant.

Thank you all for your thoughts, it will be nice to follow up next year and see what you have all done with your plants and if anyone has a few berries yet.

Good luck everyone,

Darren

[WiZeR]

I also got a blueberry bush in about november\December from the GYO subscription. I planted it in a pot with erricacous soil and here's how it looks:



It's doing very well, even tho the foxes have had a go at it. There are even a few berries forming!

[Alice]

It looks great Wizer. You must be doing something right.