Retail Blueberry Plants / Wholesale Blueberry Plants

I just heard from one of my customers in Florida.  He told me that his plants were not growing even though he purchased them 3 months ago.  He called me and advised that his plants were not growing and the leaves were all turning yellow, and falling off.  After talking to him about his cultivation practices, it seemed that he was doing everything right.  He was fertilizing with miracle grow "Azalea formula" and had pine bark mulch on top of his soil to choke out the weeds. 

Despite all this, his  rabbiteye blueberry plants were turning yellow and dying. 

He bought some soil at a large box store and this is what he planted his blueberry plants into.  Unfortunately, the soil that he bought had a pH level of 6.5.

6.5 is an excellent pH for certain flowers and garden vegetables.  It is about the worst soil for rabbiteye blueberries that there can be. 

Rabbiteye blueberries require an acidic soil of 4.3 to 5.6. The rich soil he bought from the box store, which for other plants would have been ideal, was killing his blueberry garden. 

Luckily, my friend caught his error in time to possibly save many of his plants. 

Be very careful of the soil that you plant Rabbiteye Blueberry Plants into.  It can't be too alkaline, or they will fail.

     A new friend of mine and member of this site, Anthony, has been talking with me back & forth for the last couple of months about buying some of my 6" - 8" plants for a Pick Your Own / Roadside Produce stand he operates there in Louisiana.  He just made a decent investment in some of my plants and was wanting some guidance.

     He bought a large quantity of 6" - 8" plants at a premium price and plans to repot them into individual pots to allow them to grow a season before he actually puts them in the dirt.  This guy has long term stragegic goals that puts both of our national political parties to shame. 

     What he is doing is so right in so many ways.  I advised him to pot the plants into nursery gallon pots with the growing medium being pure milled pine bark.  Here in southern Georgia, we find this to be the best growing medium for blueberry plants and is very economical.  Other good choices (although less desirable in my mind) are peat moss, or peat moss/potting soil mixtures.  You have to realize, blueberries are an acid loving plant (4.3 to 5.6 pH recommended) and pine bark is perfect.  Whatever you finally decide is right for you, make sure your pH is within the range. 

     At the end of the 2009 growing season, Anthony's plants will be 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall and ready for transplanting into his fields.  While the majority of commercial growers plant the 6" - 8" plants directly into the fields, some like Anthony worry that planting them too young will make them harder to control the weeds around them. 

     An advantage to Anthony's approach is that it will allow him to purchase smaller plants at a lower price and "baby" them for a season while preparing the field where he will finally grow them to produce large quantities of sweet blueberry fruit. 

     Anthony's fields are alkaline because he has been planting tomatoes and other vegetable crops that require a higher pH.  He probably has put lime on it to increase the pH.  But blueberrys do poorly, if at all, in alkaline soil.  Because Anthony has a long range strategic plan, he can use this year to prepare his field for a blueberry plantation. 

     The first step is to take soil samples to be analyzed by your local Agriculture Extension office which will also give you recommendations regarding what you need to do to amend your soil to optimize production of blueberries.  The results will advise you of the number of pounds per acre of sulfer to add to the soil to lower the pH as well as other minerals that may need to be added like potash. 

     These agents take a while to work in the soil to reduce pH and provide the optimum conditions for blueberry plants, but because Anthony has nearly a whole year, he has the time get his dirt right. 

     Before adding chemicals to your field, however, I recommend amending your soil with organic material, preferably pine bark.  Most alkaline fields should have approximately a 10 yard semi-trailer of pine bark added to each acre.  This should be mixed into the soil.  This act, in and of itself will reduce your pH considerably.  Your soil should then be retested and sulfur and potash added only if needed.  (for "organic" growers, other options could be considered)

     9 or 10 months will go by with the pine bark and sulphur working on the soil.  By January 2010, Anthony will be ready to plant his healthy 2 year old plants into a field that is ready to accept them.  What a glorious day!!!!

Kris Finnigan Asked:
I am considering buying 9 blueberry plants as part of my backyard fruit/vegetable garden. There is lots of sun on the planting area from about 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM or so, more in the summer. The soil in our yard in Columbia, SC is basically sandy, no clay at all. I wanted to get 3x 2-year old plants, 3x 3-year old plants, and 3x 4-year old plants, to expedite fruit production. We plan to plant them in 3 parallel rows, with a bird netting screen over all. Questions: 1) Do you sell 2-yr old, 3-yr old, and 4-yr old plants? 2) How much would shipping cost? 3) How long would it take to get the plants to Columbia, SC? 4) Can they all be planted right now in January/as soon as we get them? 5) Would they produce fruit the first year? 6) Which combination of varieties would you recommend for cross-fertilization and for our area? We like bigger, sweet berries with good flavor. Thanks for your advice. Kris Finnigan

Axson Berry Farm Wrote:

Kris;

         It sounds like your planting site is ideal for rabbiteye blueberry plants. Blueberries grow in both shade and sunlight, although they do produce better in the sunshine. Your sandy soil should be great if you have good drainage. You will have to make sure that your soil pH is slightly acidic (4.3 to 5.6) which can be accomplished through amending the soil with pine bark, peat moss, or other organic materials. Supher can also be added to your site to lower the pH. You need at least two different rabbiteye varieties for cross pollination to increase your yield (although rabbiteyes are self pollinating). I would suggest Brightwell and PowderBlue. They flower at about the same time but the PowderBlue ripen slower so you will be able to have a longer period of having large, sweet berries. Premier ripen even earlier than the Brightwell, which would increase your "fresh picked" window.

         All of our older plants have either been sold or spoken for, so all we have is the 8 month old cuttings. You can plant them now and expect a small harvest in June 2010. Check out my blog on this site entitled Getting Your Yard Ready and also check out this informative site CLICK FOR UGA BLUEBERRY SITE. Look on my Links page for more informative pages on blueberry cultivation.

The needs of Blueberry Plants are close to those of their relatives, the azaleas.  Dig a hole two feet in diameter about 1 1/2 feet deep.  Mix the soil with organic material like peat moss or pine bark (although other materials would work).  Plant the bushes about 4 feet apart from each other. 

The great thing about blueberry bushes is that they can thrive in the sun or in the shade.  In the wild, blueberries grew in the shade in forests.  In the sun, they produce more fruit. 

Since blueberry plants grow in excess of 6 feet tall, they can be used as a sweet fruit producing hedge.

For the home and garden planter who has a few blueberry plants, fertilizing with Miracle Grow Azalea formula can produce quick growth combined with large berry harvests from a modest number of plants.