Blueberry bush: location and care from A to Z | Blueberry bush

Not every variety is suitable for growing in Central European gardens. This is due to the fact that the many varieties are originally used to different climatic conditions. In Europe, only the native wild forest blueberry and cultivated blueberry varieties can be grown. These are different crosses of the blueberry “Vaccinium corybosum” from America. The cultivated blueberries are among the most popular shrubs because they are characterized by a particularly delicious taste and a high degree of juiciness and fruitiness. The blueberries are larger than the forest berries, but less rich in vitamins and sweet.

Various suitable varieties at a glance

• Ama – culture breeding from Germany
• Berkeley – American variety
• Bluecrop – American variety
• Elisabeth – spätreife Sorte
• Heerma – German breeding
• Hot blue poppins – with crisp pulp
• Liberty – long harvest time
• Northsky – shrub that stays small
• Spartan – Rugged Kind
• Sunshine Blue – evergreen and small

location

The basic requirement for healthy growth and abundant harvests is a suitable location where the blueberry bush receives everything it needs. If you are planning to plant a blueberry bush in your home country, you should orient yourself towards the following points when looking for the optimal location:

• Light conditions: wild varieties in partial shade – cultivated blueberries in full sun
• Sheltered from the wind
• Avoid cold drafts
• Ideal location in the bog or raised bed (wild varieties)
• Planting in normal garden beds or tubs (cultivated blueberries)

Soil condition
The soil condition is a detail on which the heather plant is primarily dependent for supply purposes. For this reason, the soil should meet certain conditions that optimally meet the needs of blueberry bushes.

• Loose and permeable to water
• Rich in humus
• i get up
• Sandy and / or boggy
• Well and evenly moist
• No waterlogging
• PH value: between 4.0 and 4.5
• Vaccinium myrtillus tolerates soils with a pH up to 7.5

Substrate
If cultivation in a tub is planned, conventional garden or potting soil should not be used. Numerous experiences from hobby gardeners show that a rhododendron substrate without peat is best suited for planting blueberry bushes. This is available in every well-stocked gardening specialist.

Best planting
time Spring has proven to be the best time to plant a blueberry bush. It is important that no more frost is imminent. The perfect planting date is therefore right after the ice saints in mid-May. You shouldn’t wait much longer before planting, as the growing season is imminent.

In autumn, planting can be conditional, because the plants are just about to enter the winter dormancy phase at this time of the year. Therefore, in autumn only blueberry bushes should be planted if the following criteria are met:

• Only older, healthy plants with strong roots
• At least three weeks pass before the first frost
• The plant can grow before the onset of frost
• It is about container goods
• Plant them on a dry, overcast day

Plants in the garden bed

Problems can arise when planting beds if neighboring soil areas are calcareous and / or neighboring plants cannot tolerate continuous soil moisture. Various measures are available to prevent “spreading”:

• Plant the heather in a mortar barrel and place it in the hole in the ground (barrel must have drainage holes)
• Plant in a hill or raised bed
• Line the planting hole with a film

Planting instructions

• Plant hole depth: approx. 50 centimeters (shallow roots)
• Plant hole diameter: around one meter
• When using a mortar barrel, adjust the size of the planting hole
• Plant spacing: between 1.50 meters and 2.50 meters
• If the soil conditions are not ideal, use a suitable substrate with an acidic pH value (special blueberry or rhododendron soil is ideal)
• Mix pine needles, leaves and bark mulch with the soil / substrate and cover the ground
• Place the blueberry bush in the center of the planting hole
• Close the planting hole with soil / substrate
• Firmly press the top layer of soil
• Pour generously

Plants in the tub

Optimal conditions are usually easier to create when cultivating in a tub, because only this blueberry bush needs to be specifically addressed. A blueberry bush is planted in the tub in the same way as in the garden. Some details must also be observed:

• Bucket capacity: at least 50 liters
• The surface of the earth ends two to three centimeters below the edge of the bucket to avoid flooding when watering
• The bucket must have a water drainage hole in the floor (to prevent waterlogging)

Transplanting / repotting

Whether or not a blueberry bush should be replanted depends on various factors, which mainly relate to the soil / substrate properties. While the soil in the garden bed regenerates itself through countless microorganisms and a blueberry bush can feel comfortable in it for many years, the substrate in pots ages over time. As a result, sub-optimal properties increase, which are at the expense of plant growth and health.

Bucket repotting
The time intervals between repotting depends on the quality of the substrate. If it condenses, the perfect moment has come. With a high quality substrate, this can take many years. Another reason for repotting can be that the pail has become too small. If the substrate is rooted and / or roots protrude from the substrate, repotting should be done in a larger planter.

Older blueberry bushes
If transplanting is necessary in the bed, for whatever reason, it is important to know that the older a blueberry bush is, the more difficult it is. This also applies to container transplantations. They should be cut back before transplanting so that they have more energy to fix the roots.

Best time

You can repot and replant in spring and autumn, after the last or before the first frost. Older plants do better in spring, when the growth phase is imminent. However, transplanting in spring means that fruit will not form that year and harvesting will only take place the following year, because after repotting in spring all flowers have to be removed.

pour

A blueberry bush has a relatively high water requirement. He loves a consistently high moisture content in the soil. This is usually difficult to achieve because as an outdoor plant, wind, sun and heat ensure rapid evaporation. It is therefore important that the soil is checked and, if necessary, watered, especially in summer. The most important points on how to proceed and what to watch out for are summarized below:

• It is essential to prevent the soil from drying out
• Water daily on warm, rain-free summer days
• Water abundantly, especially during flowering, fruiting and harvesting
• Use only lime-free irrigation water (rainwater is optimal)
• Bark mulch on the surface of the earth stores irrigation water longer
• Gravel on the surface keeps the earth moist longer (less evaporation)
• Use lukewarm or lukewarm water – never cold one
• Note: Bucket soil dries much faster than soil in the garden bed and must be watered more often
• Avoid waterlogging

Fertilize

A blueberry bush is very frugal in terms of fertilization because it receives vital substances from the earth for a long time, provided that a soil / substrate was used that meets the requirements as described under “Soil quality”.

Nutrient fertilizer Nutrient-
rich fertilizers should be handled with care. They usually contain salt, which a blueberry bush is sensitive to if given too high a dose. For this reason, nutrient fertilizers should be used a maximum of twice a year – once in spring and once in autumn. In addition, it is essential to pay attention to the manufacturer’s recommended dose. Over-fertilization can change the pH value in the soil, which in the worst case can have fatal consequences for a blueberry bush.

Calcareous fertilizers Calcareous
fertilizers are alkaline products. Aside from the fact that the blueberry bush is lime-intolerant, alkaline fertilizers also increase the soil pH.

Organic fertilizer Organic fertilizer
is ideal. With this, a blueberry bush can be given to support growth and fruit formation throughout the season. There is nothing wrong with using organic fertilizers several times a season. The following organic fertilizers are suitable, for example:

• Composted pine needles
• Rotten Baumrinden
• Chopped material from softwood and cedar wood
• Chopped cypress clippings

Chloride-containing fertilizers
Certain special fertilizers are available with a proportion of chloride and are well suited for fertilizing a blueberry bush . Chloride has a beneficial effect on plant growth. When buying, make sure that the product is free of lime. It should be administered early in spring so that the blueberry bush enters the growing season stronger.

To cut

A blueberry bush does not need to be pruned for the first four to five years of its life. Subsequently, pruning can stimulate the growth of new shoots and thus increase the harvest yield, because new shoots usually bear more fruit than old ones. Hobby gardeners should know the following about proper pruning:

• It is cut after the harvest in autumn
• Exception: if old specimens are repotted or transplanted in spring
• Only cut on frost-free and rain-free days
• Rejuvenation pruning: completely remove old, dried up and overgrown shoots
• Cut off shoots close to the ground (reduces the risk of fungal infections)
• If necessary, correct the height and width if the shrub grows too high or too wide (shorten by a maximum of a third)

wintering

The Vaccinium tolerates the local winters quite well, but should still be protected from the cold, especially when it comes to potted plants. The following is useful as protection against the cold:

• Straw, pine needles, sticks or leaves on the surface of the earth
• Fleece that covers the blueberry bush
• Brushwood that is tucked around the bush so that cold winds do not hit it with full force

Potted plants
When cultivating in pots , it must be taken into account that the roots are much more exposed to the winter cold here than in a hole in the ground. The thin walls of the bucket allow the cold to enter the inside of the bucket unfiltered. In addition, the cold ground affects the roots from below. In addition to the cold protection variants already mentioned, additional measures should therefore be taken for the wintering of potted plants:

• Place a cold-insulating pad made of styrofoam, thick cardboard or wood under the pot
• Wrap the bucket thickly with plastic film or jute
• It is essential to place the bucket in a sheltered location
• Alternatively, move the tubs to warmer, light winter quarters

Diseases

A blueberry bush, and in particular cultivated blueberries, show themselves to be insensitive to diseases. In most cases, illness can be traced back to incorrect or “too well” meant care and an unfavorable location.

Stunted stature The
causes of stunted stature are usually a lack of nutrients or an excess of nutrients. The latter is usually based on over-administration of fertilizers. A nutrient deficiency in a blueberry bush is often the result of an unsuitable pH value. If the values ​​are not optimal, the nutrient uptake by the roots no longer works correctly. This leads to stunted growth and can even lead to the death of the plants. Replacing the soil with fresh rhododendron soil solves the problem, provided that the stunted growth is not very advanced.

Putrefaction
The water-hungry heather plant can easily be poured over. Heavy rains add to this and waterlogging is inevitable if the water cannot drain well through the ground. The leaves turn yellow, shoots lose their elasticity, the tissue softens and mold can form on the surface of the earth. If the following countermeasures are taken quickly, the chances are good that the blueberry bush will recover:

• Loosen the soil over a large area and as deeply as possible
• Replace old, compacted and / or moldy soil with fresh one
• Do not water until the surface of the earth can be indented less than five centimeters
• If necessary, ensure more sunlight and wind by pruning neighboring parts of the plant that provide shade
• Under no circumstances cut the blueberry, as each leaf ensures faster evaporation

Pests

Only the caterpillars of the butterflies “Frostspanner” (Operophtera brumata) can be dangerous for a blueberry bush. They eat the bushes bare if they are not stopped.

Recognize

• Color of the moths: gray-brown with dark markings in wavy lines
• Wings: light gray – females only have remnants of wings – males: wingspan of around 25 millimeters
• Females have strong legs and climb
• Lay their eggs in the crowns / upper areas
• Oblong oval eggs, which are initially green in color, have a size of 0.5 millimeters
• The surface of the eggshell resembles that of an orange
• Light green larvae around 25 millimeters long
• Head capsule in green
• Dark green longitudinal lines on the back
• Move with a “cat hump”

Fight

• Attach glue rings to which the butterflies will stick at the end of September
• Yellow glue rings attract these butterflies
• Shorten the plant in the upper area and dispose of plant parts in the household waste (serves to remove eggs)
• Use organic pesticides against caterpillars
• Regular controls, clearing cuts and sufficient distance from neighbors prevent infestation

Conclusion
The blueberry bush is available in a wide variety of varieties, with the cultivated blueberry being best suited for growing in the garden or in pots. The heather plant is relatively undemanding in terms of care, but the care instructions mentioned here ensure that hobby gardeners can enjoy the plant and abundant harvests for a long time.