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Post by raphanus on Apr 18, 2023 15:41:09 GMT -5
Blueberries are perhaps the only crop I don’t have dialed in. If I drive 5 hours northwest into the foothills in July, I can forage buckets and buckets of tiny wild blueberries, the pine forests up there are littered with them. But every time I’ve tried cultivated varieties down here on the coast, they get destroyed by the summer heat and humidity and generally just fail to thrive. I’ve tried using organic fertilizers specifically designed to lower soil pH, I’ve mulched them with pine needles, given them plenty of blood meal and even some sulfur, made sure to plant different varieties next to each other, they just seem to grow really slow and never yield well. Citrus trees right next to them grow like weeds but the blueberries just sit there , they don’t die, but they don’t produce much and the small amount of fruit they do produce usually gets eaten by birds. I’ve largely given up. I haven’t ripped the plants out of the ground simply because I love blueberry bees (we have a native blueberry bee that is tiny and adorable), but I’ll be shocked if I ever get a decent harvest.
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Post by breezygardener on Apr 18, 2023 16:18:14 GMT -5
I have a cute little "Pink Lemonade" blueberry bush that I bought in 2018 & plunked into a frost-proof glazed ceramic pot on the deck where it's semi-happily survived nicely since. In fact, it's in full bloom at the moment & attracting a lot of pollinators.
Depending on how our Spring weather goes, I usually get a small crop, but apart from picking a few for myself while I'm working out there, I leave the fruit to the birds, who really do enjoy them. I particular enjoyed once watching a Catbird land next to the pot, look up for a bit, then fly up, pick a berry in-flight, & fly off to where I knew there was a nest. He/she did this several times, & then picked a few more to eat themselves on the spot.
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Post by Wheelgarden on Apr 18, 2023 17:14:50 GMT -5
I can forage buckets and buckets of tiny wild blueberries, the pine forests up there are littered with them. I spent a weekend at a friend's place in Helena, GA. He and his daughter went out and picked buckets of those intensely-flavored lowbush blueberries in the pine groves, and I came back home with a couple of gallons for pies, pancakes, and muffins. Mmm, mmm!
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Post by martywny on Apr 18, 2023 17:48:42 GMT -5
Right now I have 24 blueberry bushes, 10 of those are new ones I planted last fall. I fertilized with Hollytone early in the spring, hoping for good results, especially since they will all be inside a cage. Blueberries do very well in my area and are something I eat daily, so I try to make sure the freezer is full. This year I am going to try making blueberry power in the freeze-dryer so I can easily add it to my overnight oats.
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Post by gianna on Apr 18, 2023 17:51:49 GMT -5
But every time I’ve tried cultivated varieties down here on the coast, they get destroyed by the summer heat and humidity and generally just fail to thrive. I’ve tried using organic fertilizers specifically designed to lower soil pH, I’ve mulched them with pine needles, given them plenty of blood meal and even some sulfur, made sure to plant different varieties next to each other, they just seem to grow really slow and never yield well. That's too bad. Most, if not all, of my varieties (very low chill southern highbush) were developed by the University of Florida. For various reasons, I grow mine in pots. And..gasp..I do not grow them organically. No sprays or poisons, but the fert I regularly use is not organic, nor is how I acidify them. They do well here, which is not a surprise, because there are also commercial blueberry farms in my general area. We do not have high humidity, and rarely get too hot.
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Post by gardendmpls on Apr 18, 2023 17:51:56 GMT -5
Blueberries are perhaps the only crop I don’t have dialed in. From what I understand there are some varieties better adapted to the South. One is type is the Rabbiteye group and the other and the other is the Southern highbush group. I found the following article from Clemson University helpful in general, although reference is to South Carolina. It does mention that many of the varieties are good in Georgia. hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/blueberry/#:~:text=Recommended%20Varieties,South%20Carolina%20climate%20and%20soils. This next article from UGA is specific to Georgia and has more details (including maps) of what grows best where based on location and soil type. Rabbiteyes are the ones most recommended, although you need to plant more than one variety for pollination to work. Some of them bloom too early and may be hit by frost when flowering (they have frost maps, too). They go through the varieties that do well there so should be useful info for you. smallfruits.org/files/2019/06/06bbcvproc_Nov0206.pdf
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Post by gianna on May 2, 2023 21:15:54 GMT -5
The blueberry fruits are coming in nicely. They are very large and tasty this year, even on plants that have lots of unripe berries still on them. I pick some every day or two, and what isn't eaten or given away goes into the freezer until there is enough to make canning worthwhile.
Surprisingly there aren't many birds getting to the berries. Yet. There is some evidence of beak marks on some fruits, but not bad at all. And when I go outside, there are no birds waiting in the berry patch then flying away. There was one bold scrub jay that did not appreciate me being in 'his' patch, but only once. I don't mind sharing some, just not all of them.
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Post by Wheelgarden on May 4, 2023 20:10:03 GMT -5
Shades of blue in the bushes. The berries are plentiful, in spite of the freeze that nipped the early blooms. I don't mind sharing some, just not all of them. That's the terms of agreement between me and my avian friends. Seems to be agreeable enough. What we don't gobble up immediately gets dusted with stevia or powdered sugar, then frozen for cool blue pops during summer.
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Post by gianna on May 11, 2023 12:45:46 GMT -5
I know bird populations sadly have been declining in general, and I'm wondering if that, coupled with HiPath H5N1 bird flu (which is in our county), explains why I'm seeing only 'a few' birds in the blueberries this year. Normally there are many active ones that insist on sharing. I've been working in that area a lot the past couple days, and seeing so few birds in the blues is worrying. The bushes are really putting out this year. I haven't picked for a few days so there are lots of ripe ones right now. Going to be a big pick today, probably more than one session. edit: Just spent about an hour or two picking. Got about 2/3 finished. I went out about lunchtime without having had breakfast with the full intent of eating lots of berries. Mission Accomplished. In addition to what I ate, I came in with about a half dishpan of berries. They always taste better the next day, so I'll process them tomorrow.
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Post by gardendmpls on May 11, 2023 17:49:20 GMT -5
Wondering if that, coupled with HiPath H5N1 bird flu (which is in our county), explains why Avian flu in wild birds is found mostly in waterfowl. Unless you usually have geese and ducks eating your blueberries, this would not be a cause of the number of backyard birds declining.
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