Retail Blueberry Plants / Wholesale Blueberry Plants

     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!!!!