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BLUEBERRY GUIDES
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Blueberry shrubs not only produce delicious fruit but look great when they flower in spring and their foliation turn blood-red in the fall .
Originating from North America , blueberries are well suitable to our climate here in the UK , especially when develop in potty and containers.1The Blueberry : An American native . ( 2021 , October 27 ) . Berkeley Horticultural Nursery . retrieve March 13 , 2023 , fromhttps://berkeleyhort.com/gardening-suggestions/the-blueberry-an-american-native-2/
Are Blueberries Suitable For Pots?
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Blueberries have certain filth and climatical requirements that need to be met in order for them to flourish and produce the delicious yield they are spring up for .
“ My garden has slightly acidic soil but a broken enough pH for blueberries to thrive , ” state Colin Skelly , a Professional Gardener & Horticulturist with over 13 years of experience .
“ I grow my blueberry in pots so that I can make the perfect pH and wet level using ericaceous compost .
“ They are wet - thirsty in summer , in particular in prolonged dry spell , so a water butt would be a good estimate if you do n’t already have one .
“ This has the added bonus of collecting pH - impersonal rain water . ”
Growing blueberries in potty is ideal as the soil can be choose to accommodate their penury and the planter run to protect them from the worst of the wintertime weather condition .
Sourcing Ideal Containers
There are many different motley of blueberry bush available to grow here in the UK , with ‘ Blue Crop ’ and ‘ Duke ’ perhaps being the most commonly rise .
The eventual size of it of blueberry shrubs can differ hugely depending on the change , ranging from gnome varieties that farm up to 1 mebibyte to heavy bush maturate as gamey and wide as 3 m.
When take a container to maturate blueberry in , check that it will be able to adapt the shrub ’s eventual size and rootage system , but as a general convention , a 30 centimetre diam pot is the lower limit for a newly planted bush .
“ you may grow blueberries in containers , but as small plants , they do n’t like to be overpotted , ” say Lorraine Summers , the owner of the specialist blueberry retail merchant Trehane Nursery .
“ industrial plant into a container that is 2 - 2.5 times the volume of the pot your plant life is in now .
“ assure that the pot has in force drain kettle of fish and hide the hole with vulgar crushed rock to preclude clogging with compost . ”
As mentioned , blueberry bush require innocent - drain grunge , so any container used will require adequate drain holes to allow any excess water to escape freely .
commemorate that blueberry plants prefer moist , but well - drained ericaceous grime with an acid pH.
Potting Up Blueberry Plants
irrigate the blueberry industrial plant good before planting and half - satisfy the opt bay window or container with ericaceous compost .
Remove the plant from its potty , place it in the container and backfill it with more compost , softly firm it in as you go .
Ensure that the blueberry bush is planted at the same depth it was previously and water in well .
“ Ericaceous compost must be used and potting up is done every two or three years until the last container can be used , which should be of at least 50 cubic decimetre capacity , ” says Lorraine .
It is advisable to only plant one blueberry flora per pot or container , as they develop a tightly packed fibrous root system in the space they are given and do not care to be overcrowded .
Even though many blueberry varieties are describe as self - fecund and will produce a right craw , growing two or more varieties nearby can increase not only fruit size , but payoff as well .
Potted Blueberry Care
When it comes to watering blueberries , rain is the preferred selection as tap water can raise the pH of the soil .
Blueberries involve moist , but not wet soil and will require watering regularly , specially after engraft and during the summer months when they are actively grow .
Blueberry shrubs can be hungry feeders and certainly gain from an ericaceous liquid fertiliser apply during the acquire season from April to September .
Many blueberry kind are fully hardy , but some are not and even those that are can suffer from the highly low temperature and wet conditions of winter .
One of the many benefit of growing blueberry in containers is that they can be moved undercover or to an unheated glasshouse to quash the worst of the winter weather .
Blueberry shrubs can need re - potting either due to outgrowing their current container or when their soil needs refreshing , which can be every 2 - 3 years .
If the blueberry ’s origin are visible through the container ’s drainage pickle this is an indication that it want re - pot into a big Mary Jane , which can be done in either spring or fall .
To re - pot , remove the blueberry bush from its current container by squeezing the pot sides or if necessary , sliding an former knife down between the mass and the ground .
Inspect the roots and if origin - bound or severely back up , gently tease out some of the roots .
satisfy the bottom of the new container with fresh ericaceous compost and place the industrial plant insure it is at the same deepness as it was previously institute .
Backfill with compost and water thoroughly .
If re - potting becomes difficult due to the size of the bush , then it can be top - dress instead , which is when the top 5 - 7 cm of compost is replace each year to replenish any lose food .
As with blueberries mature in the ground , container - grown shrubs will necessitate their fruit protected from any birds .
As before long as the berries start to call on dark , fleece or o.k. veiling can be put over the shrub to forge a barrier against pigeons and ousel who can divest the berries bare if they are not protected .
The fruits are ready to glean when they have to the full change colour and there is no tip of light-green unexpended .
Whether grown in the flat coat or in container , blueberry shrubs can benefit from an annual prune carried out when they are dormant in winter .
New blueberries do n’t ask much pruning , apart from removing any wayward stem or shortening them to encourage separate .
From the third year forwards , yearly pruning involve take any idle , diseased or rubbing offset .
As the shrub matures , up to 25 % of the oldest and thickest stems can either be pruned back to a strong shoot lower down or take away at the base , to promote new increment which will fruit the following yr .
