Blueberry is a shrub common in Central Europe, rapidly gaining popularity in Our Country, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries of the near abroad. Since its berries have exceptional beneficial properties – a high content of vitamin C and other minerals and vitamins, it is necessary in the diet of every healthy person. However, many summer residents refuse to grow it just because they do not know how to grow blueberries correctly. Although this shrub is not at all whimsical to care for and does not require much effort, only a few nuances must be observed when growing blueberries.
Growing conditions
Industrial cultivation of blueberries is carried out only on acidic soils. The plant develops well on sandy and sandy substrates, peat bogs. To significantly improve the water regime and soil fertility, rotted leaf litter is used. In a garden plot, you can create such soil using acidic high-moor peat, sawdust, bark, foliage or other materials, increasing the acidity of the soil to 3,7-4,8 units (pH) with sulfur, citric, acetic or malic acid.
One of the main conditions for the successful cultivation of blueberries is moderate soil moisture. Therefore, it should not be planted in areas lying in the lowlands, since in such cases there is a risk of waterlogging.
In a plant that has been growing for a long time in places with an excess of moisture, the roots begin to quickly rot and die off, and the bush itself stops its development and ceases to bear fruit. In the country, you should choose the most illuminated place for planting blueberries, protected at the same time from strong winds. In partial shade, the yield will be significantly lower, and the quality of the berries will deteriorate. In addition, with a lack of light, the growth of shoots lengthens in time, and they do not always have time to become woody before the first frost, as a result of which they can freeze in winter.
It is cost-effective to plant several varieties of blueberries in the garden. Such a mixed planting of different varieties not only ensures good pollination and high yields, but also significantly improves the taste of berries and reduces their ripening time. If the plot is quite large, you can organize a home business, growing blueberries from seeds for sale.
Blueberry planting scheme
Landing
Low-growing varieties of blueberries are planted at a distance of 70-80 cm from each other, strong and medium-sized varieties – at a distance of 90-120 cm. Planting pits are prepared earlier, 40-50 cm deep and 60-70 cm in diameter. On loamy heavy soils, the pit is made less than 20-30 cm deep, but wider and equipped with an additional drainage layer of 10-15 cm or blueberries are planted on the ridge.
For planting, I use two- and three-year-old seedlings with a closed, developed root system. A pot with a plant immediately before planting is immersed for 20-25 minutes in a container of water to saturate the roots and earthen coma with moisture. After that, the seedlings are carefully removed from the pot, kneading the lump with their hands. A young bush is turned upside down, the root ball is cut to a depth of 5-7 cm crosswise or torn with hands, starting from the middle.
A small amount of high-moor peat is poured at the bottom of the pit, fertilizers are not applied, a seedling is placed there, spreading the roots in different directions, and also covered with prepared acidic soil. The plant is buried 6-7 cm above the level of the coma in the pot. After that, the earth is slightly compacted, a shallow hole is made around the bush and watered abundantly. Then the near-trunk zone is mulched with sawdust with a layer of 7-9 cm.
The scheme of planting blueberries on various soils
Care
Constant moderate watering, without swamping the soil and preventing it from drying out, is an important condition for good survival and development of bushes. Watering is carried out by finely drip irrigation or drip irrigation of the soil around the bush directly.
In the summer period in mid-July and August, the plant should be watered twice a day – in the morning and in the evening, 2-3 times a week, at the rate of 1,5-2 buckets for each bush. During this period, abundant watering is very important, because simultaneously with fruiting, flower buds of the next year’s crop are laid on the bushes. The lack of moisture will be reflected in its significant decrease, both in the current year and next.
In especially hot, stuffy times, the bushes should be cooled by spraying them with cool water during the daytime at 12-13 o’clock. With such a simple manipulation of agricultural technology, the rate of photosynthesis increases and stress from overheating of the plant is minimized. Mulching plantings with needles, rotted leaves, straw or sawdust not only slows down the germination of weed seed, but also allows you to retain moisture in the soil and even out its temperature. The mulching layer is maintained at a height of 7-12 cm. When mulching with fresh bark or sawdust, additional nitrogen fertilizers should be added so as not to slow down the growth and development of bushes.
Blueberries react to lack of fertilizer, especially taller varieties like Canadian. The first feeding with complex mineral fertilizers, such as Azofoska or Fertik, is carried out in early spring, when the buds swell, the second – during flowering, the third – when small berries appear, but no later than July 1. Depending on the age of the bush, a different dose of fertilizer is applied per season: for a two- and three-year-old bush – 10-20 g, for a four-year-old – 40 g, for a five-year-old dose 70-80 g, for an older plant – 150-160 g.
Growing mistakes
One of the most common mistakes is the application of organic fertilizers. Blueberry variety Canadian and others not only do not tolerate compost, manure and chicken manure, but can also die after using them. Also, many gardeners ignore such an important event as maintaining optimal soil acidity. Why twice a month from April to September, each bush is watered with a weak solution of citric acid – 5-12 g per 3 liters of water, or vinegar. 180-200 ml per 8-10 liters of water.
High fruiting is ensured only with regular spring pruning of bushes. At the same time, diseased branches lying on the ground and a small bushy growth at the base are removed. If the bushes are older than 5-6 years, part of the branches with flower buds should be cut, leaving only a few shoots up to 6-8 years old, and 4-6 of the most developed ones are left from annuals. In bushes of a spreading type, the lower drooping branches are removed, in bushes of an upright type, the middle is thinned out.
When removing weeds around the planting, it should be borne in mind that the roots of blueberries are located very close to the soil surface. Therefore, inter-row processing is carried out with the help of herbicides or shallow weeding. More often they are sown with low-growing grasses, which are mowed several times during the season and left to rot.
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This video tells how to grow blueberries, what are the nuances in caring for bushes, which is the key to high yields.
