How to grow blueberries at home: where to plant and how to prepare the soil

Blueberries are a tasty and healthy crop that can be grown in your garden. Blueberries are long-lived and can bear fruit for up to 30 years under favorable conditions. It is best to plant the crop in the fall or spring.

Blueberries love sunny areas, and in the shade, the berries can turn sour. OBOZ.UA tells you how to grow blueberries at home, where to plant them, and how to prepare the soil.

Choosing seedlings

First of all, you should consider the climatic conditions. In cooler regions, it is better to grow lowbush Canadian blueberries, and in the southern warmer regions, garden blueberry varieties take root well.

It is important to choose a healthy and strong seedling with a well-developed root system. Experts have analyzed that bushes that are 2-3 years old take root best. If you are planting annual bushes, you should immediately remove weak shoots, while two-year-old plants do not need to be pruned.

Where to plant blueberries

Blueberries do not like cold winds. Sunny and wind-protected locations are best. In the shade, the berries will be sour, and the harvest will be poor.

Blueberry bushes are very demanding on the soil. First of all, it is worth mentioning the natural conditions of growth - blueberries grow under coniferous trees on light acidic soil, so ordinary soil in the garden is contraindicated.

The bushes should be planted in peaty-sandy or peaty-loamy well-drained soils with a pH of 3.5-4.5. Blueberry roots have mycorrhiza (a symbiosis of plant roots with fungi), which does not tolerate the soil on which other garden crops used to grow.

Preparing the site

When digging up the garden, peat can be added to acidify the soil, as well as sawdust, bark, fallen leaves, or pine needles. The desired acidity can be achieved with sulfur (50-100 g per square meter) or by pouring acidified water (10 liters of water per 1 square meter). Oxalic or citric acid (3 tsp per 10 liters) also contributes to acidification. A complex mineral fertilizer will also be useful.

The holes should be prepared in advance, namely 14-21 days before planting, so that the soil settles well. The size of the holes depends on the soil and the size of the blueberry bush. The average width of the pit should be 100 cm and the depth 20 cm.

It is important to maintain a distance of 0.3-0.5 m between lowbush varieties, 0.7-1 m between medium-sized bushes, and 1.2-1.5 m is a sufficient distance for tall ones.

Rules for planting blueberries

A simple transplant from a container to a hole is likely to kill the plant. First, the container with the seedling should be immersed in a bucket of water for 30 minutes and then removed. Then get rid of the soil lump.

It is recommended to put pine bark, needles, and cones at the bottom of the hole in a thick layer (10 cm) for drainage. The sides of the hole can be reinforced with slate, film or boards to prevent the roots from growing beyond the prepared acidic soil.

Carefully spread the roots, sprinkle with soil and water abundantly. Pine needles will be an ideal mulch for moisture retention and weed control.

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