How To Grow Blueberries
By Linda Paquette, Fri Dec 9th
How to Grow Blueberries
Along with lip-smacking sweetness, flower and foliage are alsoworthy reasons to grow blueberries. White, bell-shaped blossomsmake a lovely addition to a spring garden and fiery scarletfoliage adds drama to a fading autumn landscape. In addition totaste and appearance, blueberries are ripe with medicaladvantages; they help lower cholesterol and studies suggest thatblueberries also reduce the risk of some cancers.
Types of Blueberries
1.Highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) are those usuallyfound in the produce department of your grocery. As you mightexpect, they are named because the bushes grow to 6-feet inheight. Fruits are large, from ½ to an inch in diameter.Depending on variety, highbush blueberries are hardy from Zones4 through 11. 2.Lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium)generally reach no more than 18-inches in height. Propagatedfrom shoots spread through underground runners, lowbushblueberries form low mats of plants that produce best on atwo-year cycle. The first year is the growth year and the secondyear is the fruiting year. The sweet, quarter-inch fruits oflowbush blueberries commonly are known as Wild Blueberries andare hardy in Zones 3 through 6. 3.Half-high blueberries (V.corymbosum x V. angustifolium) are a hybrid between lowbush andhighbush cultivars. Although shorter than high-bush blueberries,half-high grow in much the same way as their taller relatives.Taste and size meet halfway between highbush and lowbush. Anextra advantage for the northern grower is that half-highblueberries were especially bred to withstand the heavysnowfalls and cold winters of inland North America and are hardyto Zone 3. 4.Rabbiteye blueberries (Vaccinium ashei), native tothe Southeastern United States, are the tallest of the blueberrybushes, reaching up to 10-feet in height. Because of their thickskins, rabbiteye blueberries are able to withstand southern heatin zones seven through nine.
Site Selection
All types of blueberries grow best in full sun. Plants toleratepartial shade, but production declines as shade increases.Blueberries are shallow rooted and poor competitors againstlarge rooted trees, shrubs, and weeds that compete for water,nutrients, and crowd airways necessary to good blueberryproduction.
The most important element is growing blueberries is soilcomposition. To make the most of your blueberry planting, beginnecessary soil amendments the year before planting. Blueberriesgrow best in loose, sandy loam. Although you may run across wildblueberries growing in a bog, on
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