Try Just Fruits and Exotics for Sweetcrisp. I've ordered most of my plants from them.

heard good things about that place, just fruits and exotics. only problem is they are always showing things to be out of stock, and when i set up notification, i never hear back. maybe i'll give them a call. i'm thinking Patriot, Emerald, Chandler, and Pink Lemonade. 

And to add to the confusion..there is a brand new Blueberry that was just released called Raven.  It is a 9/10 on taste and texture, with extra large fruit.  About 25% of the berries are quarter size......   I can't wait lol, have 30+ spots just waiting for them.   They will be available this fall for the first time and I am #1 on the list for them.  

My BBs take special care or they would not do well in our alkaline soil with alkaline tap water. Yes, it's the lack of uptake of iron that is the problem... that is why in BBs the pH needs to be low. If you don't have too many blueberries, you can premix your water in a large container (trash can) and acidify it with white vinegar, or even dilute (new) battery acid (sulfuric acid). I used the sulfuric for a few years, but now I find it much less work to sprinkle a dry fertilizer mix containing ammonium sulfate and citric acid, and other things, about every week or so, and watering the containers by hand.  

Pete, I've not grown the others you mentioned, but Emerald is one of my favorite ones. Flavor mild but good. Texture very good - firm. Fruits large and prolific and early bearing. Very low winter chill required. Bush - vigorous and low. In my climate, very reliable.

Spartan tastes better than Patriot and ripens at the same time.  Unless you like mildly sweet berries rather than fruity tasting ones.

bob, that's the thing. i have no clue what's good BB. i just know i like what's have at supermarket and i'm sure if i grow it, it will taste better. any suggestion would be great. don't care for too tart ones. i like sweet. 

Ampersand hit it right on the head, moisture and available iron. pH above 5 is murder, they can not utilize the available iron in the soil. North Carolina is third or fourth in terms of blueberry cultivation by state. Eastern carolina's Native soil is good for it. Blue ray, chandler,northland ( smaller berries- with wild flavor) Are all my favorites. blue crop is most commercial variety due to productivity, but the taste is lacking IMO. My favorite aesthetically is Berkeley because they have open centered growing pattern. Rabbit eye - Tifblue and Climax are very good varieties as well.

I'm so glad this thread has been started. Thanks Pete ;).

I've learned so far that "blueboy1977" is a bit of a blueberry growing guru IMO. It would be an oversight on my part though if I didn't mention that he told me that he learned much of what he knows from WillsC. I've gotten a few tips from him as well. So, it would seem, that we might learn much if we pay attention to what those two guys have to say (for starters) :-) . Obviously there are others of you that have been growing them for awhile too - credit where credit is due ;).

Gina, I appreciate the point you made about not buying from the local big box stores. Granted you may get something from them and be happy with it but I think I'm still going to go with that local (mail order) company in my own state (see link in post #6). I figure they've been growing blues in this state for many years and they should know the best varieties to try in my area. BTW the plants they ship are 2 yrs old and range in size from 10-20".   EDIT: Buy 12 of their choice and the plants are only $6.25 each. Sounds to me like it'd be worth giving them a try. 

I found a ton of useful information in this document done by UK Coop Extension - College of Ag. Obviously the info will be useful no matter where you live. There's also a pdf link, that contains photos, at the upper left of the page :  http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/ho/ho60/ho60.htm

Now I'm gettin' excited about growing blueberries. C'mon spring!

Bill Im flattered to say the least ;) but I also failed to mention Fruitnut on GW and on here he is Fruitnutty is also on top of the blueberry game. Him and WillC could write the book on how to grow them in the south both in pots and inground. Im just a by product of those guys!

@m5allen

The thrips can be controlled with a organic insecticide. There are several brands avaible but the activie ingredient is Spinosad. I always had problems with Thrips at bloom and during the summer and fall with new growth. Ive read the beneficial nematodes can be introduced to the soil medium to control them in the soil as well as thats were they go through the pupal stages. I would spray spinosad at bud swell-flowering every two weeks. Then all new tender growth would get sprayed every 2 weeks also through the growing season. It sounds like a lot but its not that bad. I would take an empty windex spray bottle with the spinosad mixture on my daily walks through the plants every couple weeks and just give the new growth a squirt or two. Nothing to it and makes a huge difference in the looks and productivity of the plants. I will also add that spinosad is the ticket for citrus leaf minors as well. Same thing, spray new tender growth every two weeks for a healty CLM free citrus tree.

Thanks blueboy.  I got some spinosad this past summer and finally got the thrips under control.  I will stay on top of it this year before it becomes a problem.  I really wish I didn't have them here, because I would love to not have to spray anything, but I guess a little spinosad is not that bad.  

I read an older post from you about using kaolin clay, I got some of that and tried it this past summer, but it didn't really "stick" to the canes and leaves very well.  Maybe I will try mixing some dish soap this summer and try that.  I would prefer to use kaolin over spinosad.  

Between the pests and other diseases, the commercial growers must dump a ton of insecticide/fungicide on blueberries in FL.  Makes me really appreciate eating organic blueberries from my own garden.  

This year, I should get my first figs (new to this forum).  It will be nice to go from eating blueberries, then blackberries and then hopefully figs.  

Pete, this is my 3rd year with BBerries and I learned that they do very well on pine needles...I mix 90percent of pine needles rotten and fresh with compost and add a little of acidifier like (hydrangea food) to increase the acidity... I add coffee grounds to them as well. I got them from various sources, expensive nursery, local lowe's and grocery outlet.  I have about 10 varieties. My favorite is Chandler. it is big, meaty, sweet, and very prolific, on its 2nd year it was my best. I paid $6 for a plant a year before at Grocery Outlet.  O'Neal is very good but not as productive.

you ought to go around and see what kinds other people grow.. and some are high, medium and low bush, so, you can plant them together they use the space together nicely, and more varieties suppose to increase the polenization.

I had the same problem with Kaolin clay. I only had one variety that it stuck to well because the leafs actually had tiny hairs all over the leafs. The others with waxy leafs it just ran right off. I was too lazy to try it again with soap. Ive read and noticed that the blues in pots in my area with all day sun seemed to shut down and not grow near as much in the heat of summer. I think its probably from the root zone getting to hot and shutting them down in the heat of the day but not positive about that. I say that because my raised bed blues just powered through the hot summers and never slowed down a bit. The kaolin clay is suppost to keep them growing throught the heat of summer by protecting the leafs and surface temps. I never really did put it to the test like I wanted to.

On another topic, I just up potted my last blue to 30 gallon containers last night. Now all of them are set to go for many years;) I also potted up 4 figs to 15 gallon and several citrus and loquat to 15 gallon as well. Feels good to get it done! Ive been dreading it for months and now I can concentrate on those rooted fig cuttings.

A true local in NC. Dan Finch's is where i got my blueberries and I've been been happy. His website is http://www.danfinch.com/berrys.htm . All of mine are rabbit eyes.

As far as soil conditioning I put down a boat load (3-4 inches) of Sapele saw dust from my dad's shop then covered it up with Pine Needles so it wouldn't blow away. I read that even if your soil isn't acidic the saw dust breaking down will create a very narrow layer where the acidity is sufficient for getting iron to the plant. The roots can still get water below that layer. Never done anything since except give them water from the rain barrels instead of city water (Charlotte has around 9 PH).

Pete check out if grocery outlet is in your area.. they sell Duarte's plants and I paid a fraction of what I paid to other plants and am much happier with their plants. Bob is right, Spartan is an excellent fruit.. it was fun to have people taste my different blueberries. I even had some pink blueberry those are super delicious with a tint of pink, rather than blue.  Chandler seems to be the favorite of everyone that tried mine.  Oneal, bluejay, sunshine blue... yes.. there are many and some grow quicker and tallers. they are fun and birds attack their blossoms as well as their fruits. they must be caged here or we would have nothing to eat.  I made a white tubing frame to put the bird netting  it was fun and rewarding, this year they should produce more, since they are entering int her 3rd and 4th year.

I have a few blueberry plants growing now after a few years of moving them back and forth between pots and ground. The plants were just not doing anything. Finally I planted them in 10 gallon pots with prepared soil including peat moss, pine bark, soil collected from under pine trees and crush pine needles. The pots are buried 2/3 of pot height to avoid deep cold in the zone 5a winter. I fertilize it with fertilizer for acid loving plants. Well, the plants started growing finally and fruiting too.

The best growing in my location under the mentioned condition is the variety called "Reka" with good production. I have not learned anything about training its growth (pruning or the number of branches to let grow etc). It is worth trying

Reka: Early. Developed in New Zealand, Reka is a vigorous growing variety to 5’high, adapting well to a wide range of soil types. The bountiful yields of early ripening fruit are medium sized, sweet and crisp. Zone 4-7
like this:
http://www.groworganic.com/out-blueberry-reka-n-14-each.html

I have about 20 cultivars blueberry, but not a lot of any cultivar to fully judge, and probably only around 60 plants total. I have not went into the degree of care that WillsC and Blueboy have. Some have been Plant/mulch then on their own. At l least for my climate and soil (Zone 7 North GA Mountains) and minimal care program Rabbiteyes are much more successful than either standard HighBush or Southern HighBush. HighBush are more demanding in their PH requirements. My SweetCrisp and Emerald are still containerized and okay, but of the other SHB I put into ground only Sharpblue has kept reasonably healthy under a very low care program. Southmoon, Misty, Jubilee basically died a slow death. O'Neal did ok, thinking that is SHB, but I have seen it categorized different if I recall.  Planted right beside them most all the Rabbiteye have done reasonably well. I did not reside with most these plantings, and hope to be able to do a little better with SHB at my new location, but if you are in similar soil/climate to me and don't want the higher input Rabbiteye would be my choice. Those remote plantings are at my cabin, and I still get to eat blueberries with basically no care off my Rabbiteye. At least until the SWD (Spotted Wing Drosophila) find them if they have not already.

WillsC, Is that order for Raven you have the one you were doing on GW? I signed up for a couple, but thought that fell through for some reason.

wow, I read all these posts about how difficult blueberries are to grow and it is so different from my experience.  I grew them in Maine, Upstate NY and now here in SC and as long as you are growing in a an acid soil, they have been some of the easiest plants to grow. My northern varieties are Jersey, Rubel, Blueray, Bluecrop and Chandler.  My southern are Tifton and Climax. I mix a lot of peat moss with our native clay and then mulch heavily around them with wood chips. As long as you don't plant them too deep or let them get too dry the first couple of years, they thrive. Think the most common cause of loss if the soil is acid enough may be planting them too deep or bringing the mulch right up to the stems. I may put a layer of chips 4"-6" deep around the bush but I make sure I do not raise soil level right by trunks. I have not had a lot of bug problems and since I have fruiting trees nearby, the birds have tended to prey on the trees more than the berries. Blueberries do send up new plants and those can be separated from the parent and transplanted. Have not been able to gear myself up to try "Lemonaid" as somehow a pink blueberry just seems wrong. Perhaps with time and with good reviews I will get over my prejudice. :)

Some people have an easy time with blueberries and other people don't.  People tend to focus on the correct soil combination but you need the right water as well.  You can have water that is PH 8 which is just fine for blueberries or water that is PH 8 that is just horrible for blueberries unless treated.   It all comes down to the bicarbonates in the water.  When you water with high bicarbonate water it is just like dumping lime on your plants.good for figs bad for blueberries.  If you have high bicarbonate irrigation water you very quickly overwhelm the acid soils ability to acidify the water around the roots which leads to iron stress and chlorosis.  If you happen to be "blessed" with high bicarbonate water you have to address it or your plants will not thrive.  Notice I did not say survive as there are degrees of damage but to thrive you need the right soil and water.  If you have low bicarbonate water you are set. If you have high bicarbonate water and just a couple plants rainwater is best.  You can also treat your irrigation water with natural acids like citric or vinegar which is a temporary fix but as long as you use it all the time it will work ok....not perfect but ok.   You can also use sulfuric acid (battery acid) that is what the commercial farmers in Florida use and is what I use as well.  It's effect on the soil is permanent and changes the bicarbonates into gypsum, same thing that is in sheetrock.   Just be careful with the acid.  It is not like cartoon dangerous...if you have no cuts you can pour the stuff in your DRY palm and it does nothing.  In your eyes it is very bad news.  Battery acid from an auto parts store is 33% sulfuric acid.  The acid I use is 95% sulfuric and is thick like mineral oil.  I find it easier and safer to use as the viscosity makes it unlikely to splash.  I bought a 55 gallon drum of the stuff which is 750 pounds and will last me a LONG time even with 200 BB bushes.   I use a cup of it to 300 gallons of water in a mix tank which has a pump and out it goes to the 3 BB beds 300 gallons per bed.  My water is very high in bicarbonates as I am on a lime rock aquifer.  

You can use granular sulfur also but I hate that stuff...it takes so long to react in the soil it makes keeping the soil perfect a nightmare.  Some people will argue about that but when you get the soil and water conditions and fertilizer perfect the growth of these bushes is phenomenal.  We are talking about growth measured in feet per year not inches.  New canes starting from the ground and ending up nickel thick and 5' tall in a year.   We have always had BB up north and here.it was easy in PA as we had acid soil and good water.  When we moved here had to learn how to grow them all over again.  



Strudeldog,

Yep that is the one.  The deal did not really fall through just delayed a year.  The grower produces hundreds of thousands of BB plants a year and they had a mix up in their inventory.  Once the plants are released by the University of Florida the grower pays the $3500 per variety fee (+30 cents per produced plant) for the right to grow them and they get the starter plants or cuttings.  The grower then has to grow them out and those plants become the mother plants that they take the cuttings from.  The grower had the mother plants listed in the inventory, they actually had no plants available to sell.  As you can see it is a multi year process before they have plants ready to go.  I was a bit ticked as I had made promises and the grower felt bad about it as he had assured me he would have the plants available.  That is how I ended up #1 on the distribution list for this fall lol.  They btw are incredible at growing these plants.  They go from cuttings to 18" tall multi stemmed plants in a year.  I honestly have no idea how they do it......I am assuming it is weak fertilizer daily and we do have a long growing season of course.  The problem is the Ravens are a late variety (great for home growers) and the growers here want early as they get a big bonus for early berries. Once Georgia blueberries hit the market Florida growers stop picking and the berries just rot and fall to the ground for the most part.  Due to that the Ravens will never be a commercial variety and the commercial folks control what gets produced by the nurseries so this variety will never make it to Lowes or likely much of anywhere for probably a decade if they ever do.  There are only 2 nurseries in the country licensed to propagate them, one in Florida and one on the west coast.  It is the same reason the Sweetcrisps are hard to find.  They are a far superior berry to any on the market but the bush is not a heavy producer so the commercial folks don't want it.   

These Sweetcrisps are year old plants I picked up in December, part of a 50 sweetcrisp order.  18" to 24" tall.  Most went to local friends and I kept 5 of them to replace the rabbiteyes I ripped out that did not due well due to lack of chill hours and the rest took an airplane ride to an undisclosed F4F member and reports are they are growing great.

Will,
Thanks for the great info!  So, using the acidified water eliminates the need for Sulfur or Ammonium Sulfate all together? Sounds like a much simpler fix over using the solids. I do have well water here but I have no idea what the bicarbonate levels are. I'm guessing that the lime levels are lower in this part of the state when compared to what we might see further east. More clay here but I'm sure the bicarbs are not great either.  

I plan to use a few rain barrels and one large plastic cattle watering tank to collect rain water in. I'll continue to water my figs with the well water & use the rainwater for my blueberries. The watering tank is 10' diameter and about 30" deep. I'm going to drain it and move to a more convenient location sometime before the end of this month. With the heavy spring rains we get, it should be full again by the time I need to water anything.

Here's one potentially useful tip I learned from reading that document put out by UK:

"Recent research at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has showed that blueberry plants set in deeper, narrower holes produce more fruit. It is thought that plants with a deeper root system experience less drought stress. Holes can be dug using a tractor-mounted auger or by hand. Plants that grew in holes that were 18 inches in diameter and 24 inches deep produced better than those that were grown in holes 24 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep."

Based on that info I plan to make 18" square raised beds with a whole dug beneath them to meet those specs. It's worth a try. That UK document was written more for commercial growing in mind but the info still applies to those of us who would like to learn more about getting better results from our blueberry bushes ;) .
If interested, here's that link again:   http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/ho/ho60/HO60.PDF

Bill,

Using the acidified water eliminates the need for the sulfur.   Ammonium sulfate while it does supply some sulfur it is mostly used as a nitrogen source for the plants (21/0/0).   Ammonium sulfate is just a great product.  It is a form of N that is easily available to the plants but clings to the soil somewhat to resist being washed out.  In pots you do have to be careful not to apply too much as it is salty and you can't apply it to dry plants or you will fry them.  In pots I would go maybe 1 TBL per 5 gallons weekly. The ammonium sulfate is mostly sold as a tank add for Glyphosate (roundup) as you can use much less Glyphosate + AS and still get the same rate of kill.  Most times the bags of AS won't even have the NPK listed. The AS is cheap....here it is $14 for a 51#, yes 51 lol pound bag.  Have never found out why the goofy amount.  Since for plants you are only using 1 tsp per gallon it lasts a long time.  There are two forms, one that is easily water soluble and one not so much so make sure it is the soluble kind. 

You can just plant the BB and wait and see after a few weeks of using your well water what happens.  If the leaves start to turn chlorotic then you will know you need to address your water.  All it takes is PH test paper a 5 gallon bucket and water.  Once you work out how much acid you need for your water to hit 5.0ish you never have to measure it again.  It will probably just take a couple drops to a few drops of acid.  Water really varies by location.  I have a buddy that lives just 6 miles from me and he has 50 or so BB in half barrels.  While his water and mine are almost identical in PH he does not have to treat his water at all and I do so you just never know. 


Is your soil acidic?   If so that will work just fine.   That is an interesting article.  


When I first started growing them here and found out about the bicarbonates I tried to manage using the well water only when absolutely needed and using heavy mulch as well as pelleted sulfur.  It did work to a degree and with the deep 10" of maintained mulch it worked and the plants grew and fruited.  Just always felt like I was chasing my tail.  When I switched to using the acid the whole world changed.....the plants went from surviving and growing to flourishing and there is a huge difference between those two.  The period when the BB are flowering and fruiting is our dry season.  In the summer I hardly ever have to water.  I still maintain the 10" of mulch, mostly wood chip mulch from the electric company trims.  In the summer I top it with stable waste which is mostly pine shavings...some horse manure and of course some urine.  It is though 95%++ dry pine shavings from the stable where the horses are at night.  The thought is the light colored mulch will keep the roots cooler in the hot Florida sun.  Generally manure and very high PH horse urine would be a bad idea for blueberries but with the acid I can easily counteract it.  If I see the PH in a bed rising I just up the acid a slight amount and the soil is perfect again.  

Glad to hear that the AS is pretty cheap stuff. Living in a farming community, I'm sure I'll have adequate access to it.

That's also a very interesting tidbit about adding AS to Glyphoshpate to increase its effectiveness. Didn't know that. I'm sure the local farmers use it extensively. 

I'll look for PH test paper next time I'm at Lowes or farm store.

Where do you get your Sulfuric Acid? If it's an ag product I should be able to access fairly easily (if I need it at all). If not, can an alternate acid be used such as HCL or even vinegar or similar? 

Bill,

Lowes will have pool PH test paper, least they do here but the color key on those is very restricted so won't show as low as you need.  PH paper is cheap though on like Amazon.  

When I had less plants I got the sulfuric at NAPA.....it was like $30 for 5 gallons of 33%.  As I added more plants I bought the 55 gallon barrel of the 95% sulfuric or maybe it is 93% just can't recall.  You would get it from a chemical company though not an ag outlet.  It is not a restricted product so anyone can buy it.  Sulfuric acid is actually the most used chemical in the country.  You can use vinegar but it's effects are temporary.  As soon as the soil bacteria act on it the acidifying effect is lost.  My friend that has the BB farm insists you can't use Muriatic (HCL) but the University of Florida says you can so I would go with their opinion.  Muriatic is about 5X more expensive that sulfuric for the same effect.  You can also use Phosphoric but same deal much more expensive.  

now it's getting deep. i just wanted to know what would be some good ones for 7b :) i'm thinking some sort of SHB <- just learned what that is. but now i know SHB will need acidic soil more than rabbiteyes. and now know we have few BB experts in this forum :) so.. now the list is Chandler, Spartan, and Pink Lemonade. O'neal (?), Emerald, and Sweetcrisp are on the list too, if i can find them, and maybe Raven which is new and there is a very good chance i won't see that until few yrs later. 

Pete, Just goes to show that you never know what might spark a cascade. Most of us are obviously into more than just figs :-) .

Will,  Thanks so much for the tips. I'll do the PH test before I run out to the parts store. Sounds like you're getting stellar results using the sulfuric though. So, I'll likely go with that if the need arises. I do know a local horticulturist (his dad is also a soil specialist) as well as a chemistry professor. So I guess I could also consult them if need be ;).

Thanks again.