Planting bare root blueberry bushes

[Cosmo spring garden]

Zone 7B. You are just a tad warmer than I was in northwest Arkansas. My blueberries did great every year, I could count on them but they took care.

I got my pH down to about 5.0 to 5.2. I put some sulfur in the mix when I prepared the soil for them, got it tested after it set up, then had to add more. It took a while to get it right. I sprinkled more sulfur on top of the soil after they were planted to get it down.

That shallow root system has two curses. If the area doesn't drain they can drown. If they are in a low spot or heavy clay they could have issues. But they don't have a tap root to go down and find moisture. If it gets dry they can die that way. Like trees they need a lot of watering the first year they are set out, but that watering needs to continues forever.

Mulching helps a lot with that. I used sawdust from untreated wood or wood chips. Once they get going they grow thick enough to keep most weeds down but I was constantly pulling Bermuda grass out of them. Lots of mulch made that easier.

I only had three. When I planted mine I amended the soil with a lot of compost and peat moss. A circle high in organics about 3' to 3-1/2' diameter.

You really don't want bare root plants to dry out. They will probably come wrapped in wet newspaper or something like that. If you can't plant them immediately you can bed them in. Dig a trench and layer them in sort of laying down and cover the roots until you plant them.

Something has come up, it's something good not bad, but I have to stop. Good luck.

I will add sulfur soon. The plants came covered with gel material. I also soaked the roots in water for couple of hours before planting. I won't know how they do till spring. This waiting is going to bug me lol.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

i hope you have the soil prepped already? they will do best in a well drained acidic location with plenty of organic material worked in the soil and mulched on top. otherwise good to go. just make sure they don't dry out (freeze dry) if it doesn't get enough rain/snow cover.

I added peat moss before planting. And mulched with leaves. The area is well drained but we have clay soil here.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

They are the same variety. Next year I'll add another variety. I'm excited! I love blueberries too. The ground freezes if it's not mulched. Found that out today.

Do you know how many chill hours your particular plants require?

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Do you know how many chill hours your particular plants require?

I'm not sure but I have one Bush of the same variety (rabbiteye) and it does really well.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I'm not sure but I have one Bush of the same variety (rabbiteye) and it does really well.

Its the simple observations. I would actually urge you to grab some more plants at this time. We usually get 10 gallons of blueberries which is enough for us and some to give away.

 

[ninnymary]

I have 6 blueberries in large pots and love them. Try to get a variety of them to help with pollination. My weather is cool pretty much year round so I'm lucky in that I just have to mulch them and water them once a week.

Mary