Blueberries naturally grow in the northern and temperate latitudes, from the highlands of the Caucasus to the taiga and forest-tundra. The optimal conditions for it are raw pine trees and spruce forests. Recently, however, garden plots are increasingly seen in home gardens. Delicious berries are enjoyed freshly, boiled jam, dried and frozen. Use blueberries to decorate the garden. Equipping an alpine hill, it is often planted along with other flowering shrubs: lingonberries, rhododendrons, Erica.
Is it possible to plant blueberries on a plot
It is not necessary to go to the forest for blueberries; it can also be grown in the garden, creating comfortable conditions for it. Culture loves coolness, tolerates winter cold well, but can suffer from early autumn frosts. Blueberries require a month and a half to go to rest. If the crop is not harvested 50 days before the frost, early cold temperatures down to -10 ° C can damage the bush. Spring return frost for blueberries is not dangerous, since it blooms late in the second half of May.
Blueberry lovers do not have to go to the forest, because you can enjoy it in your garden
When growing blueberries, it should be borne in mind that it is very sensitive to a lack of moisture. During the season, it is necessary to keep the soil moist, otherwise the bushes will begin to dry out.
Choose a place
The garden form of blueberries - a perennial short bush with sweet and sour berries in appearance is no different from its forest relative. However, the conditions for the cultivation of cultivated berries are somewhat different. In the forest, the berry grows in the shade of the trees, for planting in the garden he should allocate a sunny area. With insufficient lighting, the berries become smaller, yield decreases.
Blueberries should be protected from strong winds, especially in winter. Therefore, it is better to set aside quiet corners in the southern part of the garden, closed from the cold winds by a fence, hedge, garden buildings. A warmer microclimate is created in such a place, in the winter the snow lingers, creating a reliable protective pillow for plants.
The place for blueberries in the garden should be given the brightest, most of the day warmed up by the sun
Garden blueberries are quite demanding on the composition of the soil. It grows well on breathable loose peaty-sandy soil with a high level of acidity - pH in the range of 3.8-5. Groundwater should lie 40-60 cm from the surface of the earth, but with regular watering, deeper water layers are also possible. However, one should not plant bushes in lowlands or in clay areas where water stagnates for a long time - blueberries cannot tolerate flooding. Clay soil can be made looser by adding a bucket of sand for every square meter.
Optimal landing times
Bilberry planting time depends on the climatic conditions of the region. It should be remembered that blueberries love the cool, so in regions with a warm climate, it is better to plant it in September-October, when comfortable warm and humid weather persists. In the spring, hot days quickly begin in the south, blueberries may not take root and die. During autumn planting, before the onset of frost, plants will have time to adapt in a new place.
Healthy blueberry bushes quickly adapt to new conditions and soon begin to bear fruit.
Planting blueberries in spring
The best time to plant blueberries in the central and northern regions is late spring, when the threat of return cold weather is over. During the summer months, plants will grow stronger and prepare for wintering. During autumn planting, there is a high risk of shrub death, since autumn nights can be very cold, early frosts are not uncommon. At first, blueberries should be shaded with a spanbond so that the bright spring sun does not damage the young plantings.
How to plant blueberries
Just like forest, garden blueberries prefer to grow on acidic soil, so you should prepare the site before planting. Sand, coniferous litter, sawdust are added to peat and must be acidified. One year before planting, ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate (20 g each), nitroammophoska and potassium sulfate (10 g per m2) Or, in a few days, spill the soil with a solution of citric or oxalic acid (15 g per 10 l), apple cider vinegar (100 ml), powdered sulfur (60 g per m2) If the soil on the site is heavy, a little more river sand is added to it. Do not fertilize the soil with manure or ash, otherwise the bush will only intensively increase the vegetative mass, and he will not have enough strength for the crop.
Having created the necessary soil conditions for blueberries, you can count on a good harvest
For better rooting of the bushes, it is recommended to use a hydrogel. 10 g of the substance is poured into 3 l of water and after swelling is mixed with soil. Hydrogel will retain moisture in the soil for a long time and protects the roots from waterlogging, which is especially important for young plants. Hydrogel acts as a reserve source of moisture, able to water the bushes, to prevent them from withering and drying in severe drought and heat.
Important! The addition of hydrogel to the soil has a beneficial effect on plants, contributes to their more intensive growth and better fruiting, and increases stress resistance.
Step-by-step process of preparing a site for planting blueberry bushes:
- Dig holes 60 cm wide to a depth of 80 cm, leaving a distance of 1 m between them.
Blueberry pits are prepared in advance so that the donkey soil
- Drainage is placed on the bottom - pebbles, expanded clay with a layer of 10 cm, a portion of the prepared substrate is poured on top.
- They spill the soil and allow the water to soak.
- Knead the earthen lump, straighten the roots and put the seedling in the pit.
- Sprinkle with earth, without deepening the plant.
A bush of blueberries is covered with soil, not deeply deepening
- Water the plant.
- After absorbing moisture under the bushes, mulch is laid out. As mulching material, you can use sawdust, bark, needles.
Video: tips for gardeners on growing blueberries
In the future, blueberries are moistened twice a week with 2 buckets of water. To maintain the pH level 2 times a year, the soil is acidified. In areas with neutral acidity, foliage turns yellow, shoots stop growing, the bush grows weak and can die.
In the first years after planting, pruning blueberries is not required, you only need to remove broken or dry branches. In the fourth season after leaf fall, regulatory pruning is carried out, leaving 6-8 the strongest shoots on the bush. The blueberry bush should be well lit and ventilated. Over time, anti-aging pruning is performed, gradually replacing the old branches with new ones. Blueberries should be fed only with mineral fertilizers in small quantities (for example, Aelita fruit and berry - 20 g per 10 liters of water).
On a note. A container garden can be created from blueberry bushes by planting plants in decorative vessels with a depth of 70 cm and with drainage holes. Blueberries are planted in containers filled with prepared soil with high acidity. At the beginning of June, Aciplex chlorine-free fertilizers (20 g per plant) or Piafoscan blue (30 g) are applied to the soil, planting them in the soil. In subsequent years, the amount of fertilizer salt is increased to 60 g per bush. Container garden care is the same as for plants planted in the ground.
From the blueberry bushes you can create a container garden that will decorate any corner of the site
Ways to plant blueberries
Propagating bushes of garden blueberries is not difficult on their own by seed or vegetative methods.
Seed sowing
Ripe berries are kneaded, dipped in water and stirred. Several times drain the water with the seeds that have surfaced to the surface. The seeds settled to the bottom are dried and sown in moist peat in a greenhouse. Regularly watered, slightly opened for ventilation. After 2 weeks, shoots should appear. Remove the film and clean the containers with sprouts for the winter in a well-lit cool room (with a temperature of + 5-10 0FROM). You can take the pots to the garden, but be sure to cover with agrofibre, folded in several layers.
Two weeks after sowing blueberry seeds, seedlings appear
In the spring, after the soil has thawed, the shelter is removed, the sprouted seedlings dive into boxes and put in a place for growing, protected from wind and direct sunlight. Seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place after a year in late summer or early fall. Berries will appear in the third year.
On a note. Seeds for sowing can be used from berries that have been frozen. It is advisable to dip them in a 1% solution of a growth stimulator (for example, Epina) before planting for 2 hours.
Video: how to grow blueberries from seeds
Planting seedlings
For planting, 2-3-year-old potted bushes should be purchased. Bilberry with bare roots dries very quickly and may not take root. The container plant is removed before planting from the package and dipped in water for half an hour. Seedlings are planted in pre-prepared pits, watered and mulched.
For planting, it is better to use two to three year old blueberry bushes.
Division of the mother bush
In the autumn, they dig out a bilberry bush and carefully divide it so that each part is a relatively autonomous plant and has roots and shoots with intact buds. Such bushes associated with a maternal ground or basal shoot are called "partial". For good survival, each layer should have at least five healthy kidneys. Dividends are planted in the garden on a prepared site or in a spacious pot and left to winter in a cool room.
Planting cuttings
When grafting, young shoots are cut into pieces of 5-7 cm at the end of June. The upper leaves are slightly cut off, the lower ones are cut off. Cuttings are dipped for an hour in a solution with Kornevin or Heteroauxin, stimulating root formation, and planted in pots with peat soil. Water and cover with a film. Within a month, moisten the soil, conduct airing. Rooted green cuttings are planted on a plot for growing. Young plants are planted in a permanent place in the fall or next spring.
Propagate garden blueberries is not difficult cuttings that are harvested in the summer
Blueberry transplant to a new place
The need for an adult plant transplant may arise when you need to rejuvenate the bush or choose a more suitable place. Blueberry bushes easily tolerate transplanting.
In an old bilberry bush transplanted to a new place, productivity increases significantly after anti-aging pruning
In late spring or autumn, they dig a plant along with a large lump of earth and plant it in a new place. Sprinkle with soil, water and mulch. With the help of pruning, old bushes are rejuvenated: all branches are completely cut off, leaving stumps no more than 20 cm.
Reviews
It will be preferable to plant blueberries in October and before the beginning of November. You can plant bushes in the spring from March to April. It is best to plant two to three year old bushes, and older plants take root and soon bear fruit.
GENCE197420//forum.rmnt.ru/threads/chernika.92887/
We must buy sour peat, pi ash 2-4! Dig a large 1x1 hole, fall asleep and plant! pour water with vinegar once a week, if the clay soil is expanded clay drainage. Growing with a bang! Sea of berries.
Anonymous//www.u-mama.ru/forum/family/dacha/10490/index.html#mid_217684
Better cuttings propagated, at one time planted a couple of bushes. They still bear fruit. Planted next to the currant bushes, so as not to open. But it’s better to buy in a trusted place, otherwise it is not known which grade you buy, and whether or not blueberries at all.
Varchenov//forum.rmnt.ru/threads/chernika.92887/
Four years ago, he planted several young blueberry bushes on a prepared bed. In August he made the soil of a bed based on peat mixed with sand, sawdust, with a small addition of sulfur (a quarter of a teaspoon). Bushes located in the shade of the wettest part of the site. Planted in two rows at a distance of 40 cm, pouring diluted citric acid in water in a ratio of 1 to 10. The first fruits appeared only this year.
matros2012//forum.rmnt.ru/threads/chernika.92887/
Blueberries are a valuable berry crop. Growing it in the garden is not so difficult, you just have to follow the rules of agricultural technology. Gardeners love "domesticated" blueberries for delicious berries that can be enjoyed without leaving far from home. Blueberry leaves and fruits are also widely used to strengthen immunity and improve vision. A beautiful shrub of light green color, which acquires a reddish tint in the fall, will serve as a wonderful decorative decoration for the site.
