Blueberries
Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus (ERICACEAE)
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Blueberries
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow blueberry in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- How many blueberries to plant
- Growing conditions for blueberries
- When to plant blueberries
- How to plant blueberries
- Watering, fertilizing, and pruning blueberries
- Companion plantings for blueberry
- How to harvest, store, and use blueberries
Growing Blueberries
Blueberries are cool-season perennials. Highbush, rabbit-eye, and lowbush cultivars, 3–6 ft. (90–180 cm) tall, bear round, smooth-skinned, blue berries on new branches in early summer. In autumn, their foliage turns colorful copper, orange, and red. Highbush cultivars are best for cool, cold-winter climates, while rabbit-eye blueberries grow best in warm and arid or humid climates with mild winters, and lowbush types perform best in cool, coastal and cold-winter areas.
Blueberry Plant and Care Guide
How Much to Plant
Allow 3–5 plants per household member. For jams or jellies, allow 10–12 plants, yielding 4 qts. (4.4 l)
How to Plant
Seed germinates in 12–14 days. Set out highbush cultivars in partial shade in early spring when soil warms to 35–55°F (2–13°C); rabbit-eye and lowbush cultivars, in late autumn or winter. Set out seedlings 12–18 in. (30–45 cm) deep, 5 ft. (1.5 m) apart, in rows 5 ft. (1.5 m) apart.
Best Conditions for Growth
Growing temperature: Highbush: 55–80°F (13–27°C). Zones 4–8. Rabbit-eye: 60–90° (16–32°C). Zones 8–11. Lowbush: 45–80°F (7–27°C). Zones 2–8.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich–average. 4.0–5.5 pH. Prepare soil at least 2 ft. (60 cm) deep.
Proper Care
Moderate. Keep evenly moist. Fertilize annually in spring with acidic 5–10–10 formula supplemented with garden sulfur or evergreen-needle compost. Mulch. Avoid cultivating; blueberries have shallow surface roots. Protect ripening berries from birds with netting. In spring, trim tops lightly to limit spreading; in autumn, prune fruiting branches; in winter, prune lowest, overlapping, or weak branches.
Pairing Recommendations
Acidic soil–tolerant ornamental and vegetable species.
Maturity, Picking and Gathering
60–80 days after first bloom, annually thereafter. Pick berries when full colored, sweet, plump, and easily pulled from the cluster; avoid washing. Yields abundant fruit for several weeks.
How to Store and Preserve
Fresh in vegetable keeper of refrigerator for 2–3 weeks; frozen whole or as pie fillings, 6 months; preserved in jams or jellies, 3 years. Bush blueberries make excellent garden borders.