Planting Blueberries

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Planting Blueberries

This popular insect-resistant shrub, grow-ing six to ten feet high, bears plenty of fine-tasting fruit and adds beauty to the home whenused as an informal hedge.

Soil: The cultivated blueberry is still close enough to its wild ancestors to be ap-preciative only of natural, organic fertilizers.They like humus and soft, woodsy soil so muchthat it is almost a question of growing themorganically or not growing them at all.

In nature the blueberry plant displays itsblossoms and tasty fruit in the seldom-fre-quented spots of forest and wilderness whosesoil is covered with a rich blanket of decayingvegetation. It grows wild among the redwoodsof California, on forest hillsides in New En-gland and on the broad crests of the Appala-chian ridges.

Soil should be of a pH from 5 to 5.6,which is quite acid. A liberal amount of peatymaterial is needed; a mulch of peat is fine. Ifadditional acid is needed, use peat or compostmade without lime to give the right acidity. Thepeat should be dug into the earth, and wellintermixed with it. See also ACIDITY—ALKA-LINITY.

Despite the need for moisture, blueberriesrequire good drainage. Water should not standon the surface. If needed to keep the watercondition right, dig an open ditch or installtile drains. Cool, moist, acid conditions areneeded in the soil for the best growth of rootsto support the plants.

Planting: Upon arrival of plants (rootedshrubs) for setting out, it is urgent that theroots be protected from drying. Cover them atonce with soil or burlap—if unpacked. Donot expose the roots to the drying effects of sunor wind. Put the plants in a cool moist cellaror in the shade till set. Dig the hole largeenough to receive roots without bending orcramping them. When the subsoil is very hard,break it up at the bottom of the hole, using apick or crowbar if necessary. Set the plantsslightly deeper than they stood in the nursery and spread all roots out naturally. Place goodsurface soil next to the roots and work it inwith the hands. When the hole is half-filled,tamp the soil firmly. Fill the hole and tampthe soil harder. Leave loose soil on top orcover with mulch. Leave a saucerlike depres-sion at the top to catch water. If manure isused, it should be well rotted and worked intoand mixed with the soil. Manure can be usedon top for a mulch. Never put fresh or un-rotted manure next to the roots. It may heator dry out and hurt the roots.

Careful planting is important and shouldnever be hastily done. In all cases, pack thesoil firmly about the roots and use moist soilfor the purpose. Young plants, usually eight to15 inches high, should be planted in earlyspring or late fall. Space them about five feetapart, with the rows about seven feet apart.Ten- to 15-year-old bushes usually yield about14 quarts of berries.

Blueberries are not self-pollinating, somore than one variety should be planted. Sinceeach of the common varieties has slightlydifferent characteristics, it is good home-gardenpractice to plant a selection of different types.They ripen at different times and vary slightlyin flavor.

For good pollination, encourage and pro-tect bees wherever possible.

Preferred varieties in the two chief areasof highbush blueberry production are as fol-lows:

Michigan-Early: Earliblue; Midseason:Blue Ray, Bluecrop; Late: Jersey, Coville.

New Jersey-Early: Earliblue, Blue Ray,Ivanhoe; Midseason: Bluecrop, Berkeley; Late:Herbert, Darrow.

Some of the older varieties like Concord,Rancocas, Weymouth, and Stanley do well in the northern and middle Atlantic states, thousthey usually produce smaller berries than thevarieties listed above.

Pruning: In the wild, blueberry plansare pruned by the "burning over" process onthe managed areas; the old stems are burn,:out. But in the garden the pruning shears needto be used after four or five years from set_Varieties vary greatly in growing habits. Someof the more open and flat-topped ones likeCabot, Herbert and Pioneer need very littlepruning. The upright and close-growing varie-ties (Weymouth, Rubel and Rancocas), on theother hand, need considerable opening to pre-vent them from becoming too thick and bushyA little attention to the natural degree of open-ness will suggest what thinning-out to do—ifany is needed. It is well to compare and con-trast different modes of growth before startingthe pruning.

There are two types of growth to cut outin pruning—the very slender stems which maynot bear much, and the oldest and largest thathave borne several years and may not bearmuch more, except at the tips. It is well tokeep the clumps fairly open to avoid crowdingand shading. More than one foot asunder forall stems is too open; less than four inches istoo close.

Problems: It is important to suppressall weeds. This is best done by the liberalapplication of acid mulches each year—peatand oak leaves are better than sawdust or pineneedles. Compost is helpful. Woodland soilis often suitable for the plants.

Insect damage to blueberries is confinedprimarily to the blueberry fruit fly, whose eggshatch into maggots inside the ripening berry,and the cherry fruitworm, a small red wormwhose damage is usually confined to large mmercial plantings. Best control of the fruit is rotenone dust, 25 pounds to the acre. It is applied five times between June and the end of harvest. Shallow cultivation also helps bynposing larvae to predator ants and birds.

The most troublesome blueberry disease is mummy berry, which causes berries to rot and fall off. Control by collecting old mummiesthe ground or turning them under whenltivating.

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