How to prepare your NC backyard to grow your very own blueberry bushes
.jpeg "When planting blueberry bushes, you want to get at least two cultivars. You want insects to cross-pollinate, which will help produce more berries.")
June is blueberry month, so it’s the best time to visit U-Pick farms near the Triangle and then spend some time in the kitchen cooking and baking your berries. (And, let’s face it, eating them by the handful.)
While June isn’t the best month to get a blueberry bush in the ground (January and February are ideal!), we chatted with blueberry experts in our region to learn more about growing our own blueberries, preparing our yards for bushes and mentally preparing ourselves for all the fruit the birds, squirrels and bunnies will enjoy when our backs are turned.
The News & Observer spoke with Rich Bennek (an owner of Creekside Farm Berries in Johnston County) and Bill Cline (blueberry extension horticulturist for North Carolina through NC State Extension) for beginner, intermediate and advanced blueberry-growing tricks.
What to know about planting a blueberry bush
Here are the need-to-knows:
▪ Plant in the winter: These crops have a much higher rate of success if you plant in winter when plants are dormant, Cline said.
“Just plant in January or February,” Bennek said. “Of course you can plant your bush in June, but guess what? You’ll be planting it again in February.”
▪ Get (at least) two cultivars (or varieties): You want pollinating insects to cross-pollinate, which will help produce more berries, Cline said.
Best blueberry cultivars for beginners in NC
Here’s what the experts say:
▪ Rabbiteye blueberries: “There’s a species of blueberry called rabbiteye, which is the easiest one to grow,” Cline said. “They’re vigorous, hearty and do well in the Piedmont.”
▪ Premier and Climax: Bennek recommends these two mid-season varieties for beginners. They’re both a part of the Rabbiteye family.
“They’re not varieties you’d find at Home Depot or Lowe’s, but you can buy these varieties through NC State or at blueberry farms in the southeast like ours,” Bennek said.
▪ Powderblue: Also a rabbiteye, Cline recommends the Powderblue cultivar for beginners.
For more on rabbiteye blueberries, visit plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/vaccinium-virgatum.
How much water do blueberry bushes need?
This is the most common question Bennek gets.
“Blueberry roots are very shallow, and they don’t have a deep root. Aim for them to get one inch of rain a week. If you don’t get that much rain, supplement it with your hose,” he said.
“My suggestion is that every blueberry grower should have a rain gauge to be able to measure the rain they get.”
A well-aerated soil is critical — if you put a blueberry bush in a shallow space that puddles, your blueberry bush will die from lack of oxygen in the root zone, Cline said.
Where to plant a blueberry bush
Make sure your location isn’t flat and has some slope to help water drain, Cline said. A raised bed can work well too. You don’t want your blueberry bush sitting in water, as you need aeration in the bush’s shallow root zone.
And remember to choose a location with full sun — six hours or more.
Your county’s Extension office can help you choose your location, Cline said. To find your county center and get connected to the right expert, visit ces.ncsu.edu/local-county-center.
How to prepare a site for planting blueberries
Blueberries need acidic soil, and the Piedmont’s abundant red clay can be turned into a great environment for blueberries by using soil amendments and pH adjustments, Cline said.
“In your home garden, tomatoes and cucumbers thrive in soil with a pH of 6 or 7. With blueberries, you’re going in the opposite direction. They like 4.5, while other plants don’t like that at all,” Cline said.
Soil can be acidified by adding sulfur or through the use of acid amendments like pine bark.
“Now, pine bark has a pH around 4.5, so the more of that you use, the better. If you get a big bag of pine bark mulch at the garden center and pick your site — not in a low area, not concave so the water has a chance to drain away. You can get rid of the grass, dump the pine bark on the ground, mix well with the existing soil and plant the blueberry bush in the raised mound. Apply a surface mulch to conserve water. The bush will need fertilizer, but you don’t need to mix it into the soil.”
Bennek recommends using azalea fertilizer for blueberry bushes, but not much. Their shallow, sensitive roots can easily get burned.
Apply this in a circle around the bush, about a foot away from the base of the plant, Cline said. Use a small amount of granular fertilizer, about a quarter of a cup, every six to eight weeks during spring and summer months.
How to properly prune your blueberry bush
Here’s the advice first-year blueberry growers never want to hear: Don’t allow the bush to produce any fruit in the first year. Remove all flowers and fruit to encourage vegetative growth. Healthy, well-kept blueberry bushes will produce a full crop in their third year.
▪ During the first year, prune or rub off all flower buds, and cut back a third to two-thirds of the height at the time of planting.
▪ In the second year, remove weak shoots, and keep three or four large, upright canes. (You can think about shoots and canes on a blueberry bush like branches and the trunk of a tree — canes are solid structures at the base of the blueberry bush, while shoots are twiggy growths from the canes.)
▪ In the third year and beyond, remove weak, low-angled shoots, and remove old, weak canes. Make large cuts to open the center of the bush for growth.
How to keep birds from eating your blueberries
Short answer: You can’t get the birds to totally leave your crop alone. Embrace sharing, and plan ahead so you get a good harvest, too.
“I just plant more than the birds can eat. Definitely more than one bush,” Cline said. “But bird netting is the only sure way to keep the birds out.”
Scare tactics — noise, movement and other scare devices — can discourage birds, but netting is the only sure way to keep them away.
And even these methods have their own sets of aggravations, Cline said.
“So if you have the room to plant more bushes in your backyard, the more berries you grow, the more you’ll get to eat. Plant more than you need with the idea that you’ll share with the wildlife.”
More information about blueberry growing
Visit blueberries.ces.ncsu.edu for blog posts, tip sheets, information about common diseases and much more.
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 9:05 AM with the headline "How to prepare your NC backyard to grow your very own blueberry bushes."
