Good morning everybody! My family loves blueberries. The problem is I am in Ohio
and I have alkaline clay soil which blueberries hate. I have tried doing
in-ground plantings, I've built up raised beds,
I've amended the soil, but our native soil leeches out the acidity so quickly
that my blueberries have always just struggled the entire time they've been
in the ground. So the compromise that I found is growing them in containers
because I can control that growing media and make it the perfect environment for
blueberries. Now I'll never be able to open up a blueberry farm but we can have
a few blueberries sitting on the patio and actually pick fruit off of them
which is really nice. So if you're in a similar predicament where you'd like to
grow blueberries but your soil is not optimal for blueberry production take
heart. You can grow them in pots- they do really well. The key is getting your soil
right. So blueberries have a low pH requirement typically between 4.5 and
5.0. This is much lower than most garden vegetables and some fruits. They also
prefer over 3% organic matter and good drainage- they do not like to have wet
feet. So we're just wanting to provide them a mix which is going to give them
all of those things. Now you can take the easy route which I have done before with
great success. You can buy pre-mixed bags of potting media for acid-loving plants.
So I have used, it was called the Blueberry Success Mix from Gardens Alive
for my own blueberries and that's worked really well. You can pick up
acid-loving potting mix for, usually it'll say for rhododendrons, azaleas and
camellias, from your local big-box store or garden center, and those mixes will
work really well. Often those have fertilizer for acid plants built right
in so you just basically fill up your container, plop in your blueberry plant
and you're done. It's really quick and simple. Today though I was out of my mix
so I wanted to blend up something with what I had on
hand. So in doing a little research on the best do-it-yourself blueberry potting
mixes what I came across repeatedly from places like University Extension
agencies, The American Highbush Blueberry Council and several other sources, was
they were all recommending a 1:1 mix of soil and peat moss. And that will
achieve the purpose- it does provide good drainage and blueberries will be very
happy. The only problem with that is- that if you can avoid using peat in your
mixes you probably should. The continual harvest of peat is really
starting to lead to the destruction of vulnerable wildlife habitats and there
are other options. So you could go with something like a coconut coir and just
do a 1:1 mix of potting soil and coconut coir, and then throw in an acid
loving fertilizer and you would be good to go. What I am using today is this Pro
Mix premium organic garden mix. I like this because it has mycorrhizae in it
and it does really well for containers. I've got some coconut coir that I'm gonna mix
in. I actually already have some mushroom compost in this planter here. And
mushroom compost is just the leftover growing media after the mushroom crop is
harvested and typically it will contain things like composted animal manure,
sometimes leaf compost, it does sometimes contain peat moss, but it's whatever that
particular grower happens to be using to grow their mushrooms on. And this is a
local source I've been really happy with this. I use it in my containers and in my
gardens and it seems to make my plants really happy, so I'm throwing some of
that in and then the last thing will be a fertilizer for acid loving plants. And
same thing when you're looking for a fertilizer you can typically find- this
is a slow-release it's a 14-7-7 and it is for acid loving plants so it says
azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons
any type of formulation like that your blueberries are gonna be happy with as
well. I've also used this in the past-- it's Gardens Alive's blueberry fertilizer
again formulated for acid loving plants. And typically when you're getting an
organic slow-release acid fertilizer they're gonna contain things like
cottonseed meal because cottonseed meal is low pH but a good source of nitrogen
for plants. It may include things like feather meal, sometimes it will include
elemental sulfur. Elemental sulfur is commonly used to lower pH in the soil.
The thing to keep in mind with elemental sulfur-- it actually has to be converted
by the soil bacteria into sulfuric acid to be effective and that can only happen
in warm moist conditions during your typical growing season and it can take
at the minimum three months to a year. So what I saw was that recommendations for
lowering your soil's pH with elemental sulfur said to apply it to the soil
three months - up to a year ahead of planting time. Now that's in a scenario
where you're actually wanting to lower your native soil's pH. Since we're
planting in a pot and we've already got all of the elements in there that are
going to make our blueberries happy that's not so much of a concern but it is
something to keep in mind anytime that you might be using elemental sulfur. Holly
Tone is another commonly recommended amendment for acid loving plants and
that's pretty commonly available. But anything formulated for acid loving,
preferably a slow-release all-natural fertilizer, is gonna work really well. Do
follow the manufacturer's instructions for application though. Blueberries are
very sensitive to over fertilization and in this case more is not better. You want
to follow those instructions and you do not want to over fertilize! So with that
being said I'm gonna mix up my potting media and get this blueberry planted. So
as I mentioned I already have some mushroom compost in here I, actually
already have a little bit of the garden mix. I'm gonna add some of this coconut coir.
You can see very similar texture to peat moss. I'm gonna add some of my garden mix
here-- it is a compressed bale so this will kind of need broken up. And then I
am just gonna get in here, I probably should have done this in a bigger bucket
but that's okay, and I am just going to mix all of this. You can also do this in
layers which is really effective. So basically think of making a giant
parfait you would do a little coconut coir, a little potting mix, a little
fertilizer in one layer and just continue to layer that up the pot, which
makes it really nice and easy to mix this. And then I'm gonna use this stuff
today because, like I said I've used this before. This calls for one cup per
planting hole for newly planted blueberry shrubs. So I am just going to
add a cup of this fertilizer now and mix that in. And then you'll also want to
make sure to reapply fertilizer each spring, ideally before the new growth
starts leafing out to keep your blueberries happy. So we're gonna get
this all mixed in. Next I like to thoroughly saturate the potting media
before planting. This just seems easier to me because I can make sure that the
media is soaked all the way through to the bottom before planting. Now it's
important that you keep your blueberries regularly watered as they grow.
Blueberries have shallow root systems and are very sensitive to drying out so
1 to 2 inches per week consistently is a good amount to aim for. Adding a mulch on
the top of your planting media can also aid in keeping the roots cool and damp.
Ok now we can go ahead and get this blueberry planted. This is pretty fibrous, has a fair amount
of root growth in there, so I'm going to break it up pretty roughly here, rough up
those roots, it'll make that plant reach out into the soil. And then you just want
to plant these at the same level they were growing in the nursery which means
you want this to be level with the soil surface. I'm just gonna dig in there
plop this puppy right in here. Now pot size I'm sure is a question that
you probably have. I've not grown a blueberry in a pot smaller than 20
gallons and I actually prefer a 50 gallon pot for most blueberries. The smallest
you can probably go is about 24 inches wide by 24 to 30 inches tall I would not
try going any smaller than that. Now if your plants are really small when you
get them you can pot them up in a small pot and then transplant them into larger
pots as they grow, but you just want to make sure that whatever your plant ends
up in it has plenty of room for its root mass. And then my final step here is
going to be to add a pine bark mulch. So these are pine fines, it's just a finely
shredded pine bark, but this works really well because as I mentioned before it
helps to hold moisture in the soil as well as being a little bit acidic so you
could even actually mix pine fines into your potting soil, that works really well,
but they make a great mulch. Now a few other bits of advice for blueberries in
containers. There are different types of blueberries-- so there are things like
Northern highbush, Southern highbush, dwarf, wild blueberries or rabbit-eyes. So true
to their name Northern and Southern highbush are going to be larger plants, rabbit-
eyes are as well, but they can get up to six feet tall. Now growing them in a
container is going to restrict their growth so they won't get that big, but
you're definitely going to want to opt for a bigger pot if you're growing one
of those. You can get a dwarf or half high or a
wild-type blueberry, Tophat is a variety that jumps to mind, they're only gonna
get about this tall and they're really ideal for smaller containers on patios
because they're really suited to that smaller size pot. The other thing is that
while most types of blueberries are technically self pollinating, except for
rabbit-eyes they do need a pollinator, and those are typically grown in the
South, other blueberries are going to set a higher yield of fruit with another
cultivar with a similar bloom time nearby. So if you can do two pots with
two different cultivars in them on your patio that's a great way to do it. One
plant you will get some fruit you'll just get more with another one close by.
Now the cultivar I have planted up today is called Ka-Bluey
blueberry and I've actually already got some of my patio that are the Ree-ka, Ray-ka,
it's R-E-K-A, I'm not sure how to pronounce it variety, and so all of these
blueberries will be sitting there together. You also want to be considerate
of where you place your containers. so blueberries do prefer full sun, that's six
to eight hours a day of sunlight. If you live in a warm climate you may want to
provide some protection from that strong late afternoon sun because sometimes
that will tend to burn up in the berry plants. Full sun is going to give you
best flavor and best fruit production. Conversely in cold climates you're going
to want to think about winter protection. Most blueberries are going to be hardy
to about negative 20 Fahrenheit, being above ground in a container is
going to make them more susceptible to freeze damage in the
winter, so it's a good idea to either move them to a protected spot in the
winter-- so like an unheated greenhouse and unheated garage with some windows
something like that. You can also put straw bales around the base of your
planter or wrap everything really thickly in burlap-- basically anything
that's going to insulate that pot. I've even heard of people digging big holes,
dropping that whole pot in the ground for the winter because that's gonna give
it similar to protection to being in ground. I typically do the greenhouse or
the straw bale method and that has worked well for me.
And again I'm in Ohio 6a-- so if you're in like zone 5, 4, 3 you're gonna want to
give even more consideration to how you're protecting these plants through
the winters. And then the very last thing-- next year when you've got fruit on your
plants, be aware that the birds also love blueberries and they will try to steal
all the fruit. So you'll be admiring your wonderful crop set, you'll be waiting for
them to turn the perfect shade of blue, you'll think "oh tomorrow's the day" and
that morning all the birds will strip your plant!
It happens inevitably, it's happened to me a million times. So if you notice that
birds are eyeballing your plants you may want to invest in some bird netting.
Again it's easy with containers because you can just drape that netting over the
whole plant and pot and that's gonna keep birds from most of the fruit so
that you're getting some to actually enjoy after all your hard work. But
that's it-- go get yourself some blueberries and big 'ol pots and
plant up some blueberries today. And if you find content like this helpful,
please consider subscribing to my channel Growfully with Jenna. Thanks for
watching and I'll see you next time!