Very useful. As a complete beginner as a berry gardener, I've thrown two dozen different berries into my garden over the last two years. I'll eventually want to cull the less flavorful or less productive plants, and appreciate the critical review of each kind provided by this video.
Your blueberries are gorgeous! Thanks for the tour. I agree with you on berry size, the bigger are what I prefer. Almost all of my 30+ blueberry bushes are either Chandler or Patriot. I also like Darrow for berry size and productivity. They are hard to grow here in hot Kansas, and the nursery stock is so expensive, so I'm trying to learn how to propagate them by cuttings. In the last 2 years, the cuttings have been a failure. Trying again this Spring. This time I'm starting early with softwood cuttings, in May.
Thank you very much for the most informative video on RU-vid on the subject! Would you be kind enough to rank them in terms of sweetness and share some thoughts on the flavors?
Blueberries need acid soil, I use Holly Tone organic fertilizer and Espoma organic soil acidifier every year. Also mulch w/ pine bark. You almost can't get too acidic for them, 4.5 to 5.5 ph is ideal. They also need full sun, well drained soil and lots of water ( 1 to 2 inches per week during growing season).
Wonderful blueberry patch you have there! One of my favorites from my own patch is called Southmoon and it produces huge berries with a delightful flavor 🌝
Great video and thanks for the info I just started a commercial blueberry farm last September 2022 on a 20,000 sq meter greenhouse and all I could get my hands on were the Goladtraube, Hot Blue Petite, and Pink Lemonade varieties. They started producing this year (not much) but at least a chance to try the taste and size. Will try to get my hands on the Chandler variety if I can. I am based in Kuwait where the temp reaches +120F in the summer and all my plants are inside shaded temp controlled greenhouses.
pink lemonade is not a very productive tree but they are unusual and unique so you might be able to charge more for them but I guess if you are doing a u-pick operation it would be difficult to separate them.
@@gapey Thanks for your reply What variety would you recommend keeping in mind that during the summer temp inside the greenhouses will be in the range of 30-35 degrees (85-95 F) Thanks
Your Mummyberry can likely be controlled with fungicides. One spray during dormant and 1-2 early in season. Not sure if you're organic or not. Ask your state extension office for best fungicide plan. Nice video! Thx
This is a great video! Thanks for sharing your garden with us! We just put in some Dukes. Then I realized for my zone I should have rabbiteye, so I got powderblue. Then I realized I needed pollinators so I got Legacy for the Duke and ordered Ochlockonee, Titan, and Brightwell. Now after seeing your video, I want Chandler! It's so easy to get carried away adding more varieties. Haha.
@@gapey Ochlockonee is a rabbiteye from Georgia that has large late season berries. I've never tried it before, so I don't know if it's really good or not? I can't find Chandler anywhere around here. But I've been told that a lot of northern highbush are not successful where I live because of the heavy clay soil and summers where temps often reach 95 degrees. That could be why? I did find a Brigitta though!! Trying it out on your recommendation!
@@elizabethkendall5125 Yeah it can be hard recommending varieties to people in other regions. Pretty much all berries grow really well in the PNW but not all of them may do as well in other regions.
I am so happy to have found your video... very informative. I just planted two blueberry bushes a few days ago as a second attempt at grow them. I failed the last time because my soil was too neutral. I found a receipe for a better soil mix that I am trying out with pine fines and peat moss to bring up the acid content of the soil. You didn't really talk about your soil but I can gather you know already. Thank you so much. I will be looking for that bird netting soon.
Try O’Neil! My favorite and a beautiful plant.. also would love to see what you think of some of the bushel and berry varieties.. misty is also good 👍🏻
Rob Schaller Have you looked into wicking containers? I’m doing figs, & other vegetables in 5 gallon buckets. Blueberries may be next. Easy to move around. Lookup Gardener named Leon he shows how to grow in wicking containers in detail. He also responds to questions even gives phone number.
I’m about to start in containers. There are tons of videos showing how blueberries roe very well in containers especially because they like acidic soil and it’s easier to control soil in a container. Many who have had bad luck growing blueberries in ground, had very good yields in containers.
Best to have at least two varieties but need to make sure they produce at the same time. Like you don't want one early and one late because they will flower at different times. The more the better though. I've got some of each.
I don't think tall ones necessarily produce more. It probably depends on the variety. some varieties are just more productive whether they are tall or not is irrelevant I think.
Yay another Brigitta fan. It's a great variety that is usually hard to find. Not sure why it's not more popular. I haven't heard of titanium. I'll keep an eye out for it.
@@gapey The titanium variety has just been introduced. However, the brigitta are very dark even if difficult to collect .... they are disheveled (I have 3000 plants)
I like that net. Not sure if I want to spend that much for one. I currently grow ; snow chaser, sweet crisp, sharp blue, sunshine blue, emerald, pink lemonade, blue tif, and climax. My sunshine is very productive and has large berries. But I'm in 9b florida. And I have them in large pots
It's really worth the price. It will last much longer than the cheap netting and so much easier to work with. Doesn't get tangled up easily and birds have never gotten caught in it. You're the second person that has mentioned emerald. You have a few I've never heard of.
If you like varieties that are not too tall and major really plump blueberries Aurora blueberries are really good. They're a late fruiter as well. I have a Patriot and an Aurora that compliment each other really well since the Patriot fruits early.
I'll keep that in mind next time I need to replace one. :) I'm considering replacing the evergreen as it sometimes won't produce any fruit if we have a really cold winter or a late freeze.
I'm planning to get a chandler bush. I live in East TN (not sure what zone) would it do well by itself? Also if its planted in a pot do I need to take steps to protect it in the winter?
most blueberries require more than one variety to be productive. You might get some blueberries but you'll get more if you get a couple different varieties. They are pretty hardy so shouldn't need protection.
Thank you for sharing this. Would you know what variety of Blueberry are found in the wild, those very low growing shrubs scattered on the ground that i see on some vloggers when they're mushroom hunting?! Thank you for any reply.
Beautiful blueberry patch, it's awesome you grow so many types, I'm starting with pink lemonade, that's what I found. I'd like to know how many years alot of these species live and last.
Pink lemonade has been in the garden since I moved in 10 years ago and it wasn't very productive for the first several years. It's gotten better over the last few years. There are a few others that have been here since then but I have replaced a couple of the older ones in the last few years.
Mine are 3 ft apart and I keep them pruned so they don't go into eachother. Mine are mostly shorter varieties. The frame around them is about 4 ft tall and I sometimes have to prune them so they don't go above that. The bed is 5ft by 14 ft.
If they get too tall will trim them back and do some pruning of old or scraggly branches. I don't keep the netting on year round so there's no problem while it's flowering. We will put the netting on when they start ripening. The bumblebees are all over them right now.
@@gapey Yes, i understand it better now. By now i read about pruning to refresh the plant and get more harvest. It seems blueberries produce fruits on the one year old branches. In the fourth year it will eventually become less productive. Thank you for your help and the clarification :)
Looks as if those bluegolds are showing mild signs of needing calcium. The leaves are wrinkling it appears. Thanks! Calcium Sulphate aka gypsum would supply the calcium with little pH altering.
Wow!!! #blueberrygoals thank you so much for sharing. I will starting this year for the 1st time, in containers. Any recommendations? Also, what zone are you in?
@@gapey ya I have tried to grow them and only had one out of four live so without another one I won't see any of those. They won't pollinate with my other bushes.
@@gapey You asked what other blueberry plants to grow, and I made some suggestions. Perpetua has two flushes once in the spring and again in the fall, and Jelly bean is compact and very sweet.
I'm wanting to put up bird netting but I am concerned I'll also keep out the pollinators. Do you find that bees and such are able to get in to do their job?
That's a good question. I'm afraid they probably can't. I plan on opening it up when they start blooming so the pollinators have easier access. The birds don't bother them until there's berries however I have the netting on them now to keep my naughty chickens from eating the leaf buds. I'll lift the net though when I see some blooms.
Pink Lemonade is a rabbiteye blueberry. These are different species than the highbush berries, so they cannot cross pollinate. I suggest getting another rabbiteye and planting it near the Pink Lemonade. Your yield should improve then.
I used to have two of the pink lemonade but got rid of the 2nd one cuz it produced even less than this one. I noticed no difference in production when I had two of them. Last season was actually the most productive it's ever been.
Hello. They seem to do ok with other varieties. It’s the only rabbiteye variety in my patch. Perhaps it would be more productive with another rabbiteye though.
@@gapey I now have 10 blueberry plants, all doing good, I ordered a lot of blueberries you had, I got Chandler, Blueray, Briggitta, Duke, 2x Pink Lemonade and I also got Bluecrop, Goldtraube, Hanover, Ozark Blue. Thanks again for the video.
@@Adrian-cw8yu That's great! I hope they do well for you. I had to search a while to find the Briggitta. I think its not as common a variety but I liked it at my old house and had to find another one to plant at my new house.
Yes that white coating is natural and safe to eat. It's called the bloom and it protects the berries from insects. I wouldn't probably eat a ton of them without washing but one here and there while you're picking berries is just fine.
I want to grow pink lemonade berries SO BAD, but I live down in zone 9 and that’s really pushing it for that variety. I might give it another try anyway. I killed two pink lem plants over the summer bc I just didn’t know what I was doing and we had record breaking drought/heat this summer down in south Louisiana. I just want to grow pink berries so bad
I have one pink lemonade. Its smaller than my other verities. Wasn’t very productive this year but the few that I got were hands down the best tasting blueberry that I’ve ever had! Tasted completely different from other blueberry varieties.
Chandler definitely. Brigitta is kind of close to some of the others. Last year was a bad blueberry year so I didn't keep track of anything. Looking good for this year though.
I got a Sharp Blue (among others) this year. It's great for zone 9A. It's supposed to be almost ever bearing. I let mine keep its two flowers and now there's two berries on it. The plant is quite small but has good growth. It doesn't need a lot of chill. I think I'll get another one. Berries almost all year round sound good to me.
I’m in zone 8b too! Just got a 1-2 year old chandler plant and was thinking of planting it in big pot for now anyway. Any recommendations for soil if I’m not yet putting it in the ground? Thanks!!
Nice! Good choice. I don't have any experience growing blueberries in a container but you definitely want some kind of potting mix, don't use soil from the ground. Also be sure to amend the soil with some acidic fertilizer as most potting mixes aren't acidic enough.
I live in zone 7a. I cannot decide if I should plant in ground or in a pot. I have four varieties. I leaning to pot this year and maybe next year planting them in ground.
Unless you have prepared the space you plan on planting them to make it more acidic then I would keep in containers until you are able to do so. They like a much more acidic soil than what normal soil usually is.
Hi, I have re-watched your video multiple times already. So informative. You have done almost exactly what I would like to do. Except that I live in Wisconsin and our soil is not blueberry friendly. So I plan to actually dig out a planting trench and back fill with a blueberry mix of peat moss, pine nuggets and perlite. My question has to do with your frame. How tall is it? Is the 14 foot wide netting you are using wide enough to go up and over and down both sides? How tall is your tallest plant? Thank you for your help.
Yes the netting fits just fine all the way around the frame. There is quite a bit of excess on the short ends and the width fits pretty well with just a little excess on each side. The height is around 5 feet which is about how tall the tallest blueberry is. I do have to trim some of them down a little if they get too tall.
Usually can tell which branches are dead as they are a browner color than the ones that are still alive. If the whole bush is dead you should be able to tell by snapping off some branches and if they break off easily it's dead. if they just bend without breaking than it's likely not dead.
Take that rhubarb out didnt know there were evergreen types ,love almost all your varieties i have most of them in my cages great video try bluecrop, darrow
Oh meant to mention the evergreen types are only good in some growing zones. I did have an issue one year where we got a late cold snap and it ended up not producing any berries that year.
not sure if I'm understanding your question. Are you asking about the weight of the berries causing the branches to fall over? If so, I sometimes will use a Y-Stake to hold the branch up so it doesn't touch the ground.
Hi I have a question for you, I have two two years old blueberries potted plants , I'm worry because two days ago mixed the blueberries soil with organic acidifier soil, one cup to each one , my question is , they could get burned due too much soil organic acidifier . please what can I do if happen.
Why do you think you added too much? Did the instructions say to add less? If it's granular you could remove the top couple inches of soil to remove any that hasn't broken down yet.
BLUE CROP IS A GOOD ONE WITH BIG YUMMY BERRIES. IT'S A HIGH BUSH LIKE THE BLUERAY. YOU DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE JAPANESE BEETLES EATING YOUR PLANTS ?
Yeah definitely. I don't really cover them until the blueberries start ripening. I'll also occasionally use it to keep the chickens out. We only let them out in the evenings and sometimes they don't bother them. The net is pretty easy to raise and lower.
I just use whatever acidic fertilizer is available. I've used a few different brands. Down to Earth is one brand I've used a few times. Espoma also has one.
Hi there I should have mentioned in the video that I put it a link to it in the description. I got it from Amazon but it's available other places too. It's called Dewitt Bird Barricade.