being stuck at the house for last two days and it seems like most of tomorrow morning will be also spent in the house. 

so i have been surfing the net trying to see what other fruit is easy to grow. after going over dozens of different berries and other things, it seems blueberries are one of the most easy to grow fruits, and my wife and i enjoy them. 

so, where is the good place to order blueberry plants? and what is the best varieties for the zone 7b? if possible, i want one to be sweetcrisp since i heard such good report on that one. 

We grow rabbiteye bbs here in 8b.  Climax, tifblue, and another are doing great in my yard, up over 7-8ft tall and prolific (just ask the birds). 

You need at least two plants, of different varieties, for reliable pollination/fruitset.  There are early, mid, and late bloomers in this group, so pick to maximize similar flowering time overlap.  I have two early and a mid, I think. 

Acid soil! 

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/D30270C0-F2DC-4B33-8AB7-036865AB6AAE/91832/pub1978HomeBlueberryProduction.pdf

Cannot stress enough the need for acidic soil for blueberries. You should prep the soil and check ph before ordering them. They like ph 4.5 - 5.0. Many varieties cannot tolerate higher ph.

I have found an easy to grow berry is blackberry. No soil treatment, very prolific. Also needs 2 varieties for pollination.

Phil

Lowes has them with fruit on them for less than 10.00 per plant in the spring.  At least 5 different varieties every year.

You should be able to grow northern highbush and rabbiteye in 7b. If you pick out a mix of early, mid, and late season varieties, you should be able to ripen blueberries from late June/early July through early September. Birds love blueberries and will take them all if you don't cage or net them. I like chandler and jersey for northern highbush. They don't sell retail, but Fall Creek Nursery has a good guide to varieties: http://www.fallcreeknursery.com/nursery/variety/nursery_northern-highbush

If your soil's all clay, dig the holes extra big and add some peat. It takes the plants a few years to ramp up to good productivity, so I think it's worthwhile to buy bigger plants.

Great minds must think alike Pete. I had just been talking privately with a couple other members about this very subject. I'm planning to add a few to my yard this year.

I found this great company practically in my own back yard. They sell 10-20" plants at very reasonable prices with quantity discounts. They apparently offer many varieties that cover zones 3-10.  Here, take a gander: http://www.blueberrycroft.com/cms/home

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!

I would find a local nursery of even the big box for blueberries; they propagate fairly easily and are usually pretty cheap (my store charges 21.99 for a 4 yr, 3' plant in a 3 gallon pot). The big boxes are often less, but my opinion of the plant quality is for another time. Don't bother with mail order, you'll get a 1 year old plant that will take 3 years to bear for the same cost with the shipping.

Most varieties are going to be interchangable, some get bigger fruits, or sweeter fruits, but it's not really worth paying more for something. Just get 3 different varieties for good pollination and a lengthy harvest season. In 7b you should be able to do highbush or rabbiteye. I grow highbush in 6b with no problems except birds eating the berries before I do, might have to get some netting. And one stupid deer ate the flower buds on some last winter.

And a little secret: blueberries are incredibly beautiful plants ornamentally. Lovely white flowers in spring, flame red in the fall that is better than burning bush...use them in your landscaping. I planted mine right in my front flower beds under the bay window, they look great. Well, they did before yesterday's 18" of snow buried them.

i'm looking for firm, sweet blueberries with good fall color. placement will be sort of problem. i was thinking of putting all my fig trees on front yard this yr where it will get max sunlight. same area used to have low bushes, but we pulled them out. i'm thinking of planting the blueberries there. add some stuff to make it acidic and seems like that would be it. 

Blueberries go wild in 7b. I grow a combination of both Northern and Southern blueberries and an assortment of early mid-season and late berries. Some of the varieties turn red in fall and a couple are actually evergreens. Blueberries can tolerate wet feet and are one of the few fruiting plants which will do well in damp spots. If you want a long season but don't have a lot of room, consider some of the smaller low bush northern varieties as part of your mix. Blueberries require very little work compared to other fruiting plants. No real pruning burden other than periodically removing dead growth. All cultivated varieties are pretty sweet. The biggest problem I have found is that some varieties produce such a large berry that they are impractical for things like blueberry pancakes or muffins. My personal favorites are some of the smaller berried varieties which seem to be more intensely flavored than their larger cousins. Mature Climax and Tiftons will reach tree size in 7b with berries well out of reach from the ground. They are the only variety I have ever snipped back to keep production where I could reach it. Dead ripe berries in this climate are either going to be bland or will start to ferment within a day or so of picking, so I have found its better to pick every other day and to take them when just barely ripe so that you have longer to share them with family and friends.

Blueboy - what variety is that is your rasied planter? 

i think blueboy is big with blueberries. seen his username all over the GW :) i think he's very found of Sweet Crisp. 

I have blueberries. I don't give them any attention but this year I will. My blueberries are pathetic little tiny bushes that produce about 1/4 of pint of blueberries but the birds get them. They brown up and lose their foliage in September. I live in prime blueberry country and I struggle with them. I will do more for them so they can thrive

nothing is exactly like fig. root them, feed them.. and they magically provide figs!!! i've been looking for some other fruits. but everything i want seems to require just the right condition, just the right chemicals.. too much hand goes into them. but it seems blueberries are not all that different from figs as far as being hands free. give 'em acidic soil mix.. and they do all the work. 

I get mine here.  Great prices!  They also have good descriptions. 

http://degrandchamps.com/  They have a trial offer: 6 plants for $35, 12 plants for $65 & 24 for $125.  The plants are 2 yrs old, > 12".  Shipping for you would be $26.

Since blueberries are shallow rooted I dig a hole and replace my clay with Peat.  I make cracks in the hole sides and bottom and stuff peat in there so the roots can spread more if they want to.  Blueberries also like a lot of mulch.

I have a few varieties. Reka, Darrow, and another 1 I can't remember. I don't know the best time to prune for cuttings but is be glad to send ya some

I have a few varieties. Reka, Darrow, and another 1 I can't remember. I don't know the best time to prune for cuttings but is be glad to send ya some

I also grow blueberries - I think over 50 plants, most in 15 gal pots partially embedded in the ground. As with figs, do your research. As others have said 'acidification' is essential. That can be accomplished in various ways.

As for varieties, read about what is recommended for your area/zone. Ask what other locals are growing and have good luck with. Don't depend on what your nurseries or big box carries. I've seen BBs sold locally that would doom anyone to failure. But if you know what you are looking for, you indeed can find good ones at good prices at places like Home Depot.

Figs are much easier to start from cuttings. I've done some blueberries, but you have to be careful since many of the newer varieties are still under patent. BBs from cuttings take much longer to get to fruiting than figs. Starting from cuttings is another gardening experience, but if you want fruits buy larger plants. Buying 2-3yo plants can save that number of years before your first scant crop.

I get some bird theft - but that is part of why I grow so many (In addition to believing you can't be too rich or have too many blueberries). Some use bird netting or enclosures, but bird netting to the ground here can ensnare larger snakes. Not fun.

hey pete. i thot i'd show you what i just ordered. i have alkaline soil so blueberries are out. these may be weird but all my reading says they taste like blueberries.

http://www.burpee.com/fruit-plants/specialty-fruits/honeyberry-collection-prod000507.html

In regards to the acidification, I have read some research that suggests the acidity is not as important as iron availability. At pH above 5 or so iron starts getting bound up by soil colloids and hard to get, blueberries have evolved to need lots of iron as a result of being in acidic soils.

I have heard some people have good luck with adding iron every spring instead of acidifying heavily.  I do it as well to be safe since I have clay soil around 6.5 (before I amended with peat and soil acidifier, haven't tested lately) and they are green and happy.

Moisture is also crucial, mulch heavily with pine bark/mulch/needles!

I would not say that blueberries are "easy to grow" but with a little effort you can grow nice ones. I bought some wonderful, healthy plants from True Vine Ranch <http://www.truevineranch.com/> . They also said the key to growing blueberries, when you dig the hole, toss the soil and plant in 100% peat moss. It works like a charm!

The really easy ones to grow are black berries and raspberries! My raspberries are incredibly prolific! They throw off so many young sucker that 5-6 friends have now started their own patch off just last season's suckers -- from my only 4 plants. They were sending up suckers into the yard so fast last summer that I finally got tired of digging them up and giving them away. I finally just started mowing them down. And besides, there are lots of raspberry varieties, you can space it out to have a crop from June through sept/oct.

I find blueberries to be very finnicky and high maintenance.  I have only been growing them for about 3 years and have learned a lot the hard way.  The first year, I killed all my plants (mainly through watering with our high pH tap water). 

I read a bunch of Wills' posts on GW and finally found a recipe that works.  I feed them a little bit of ammonium sulfate during the growing season, which they seem to love.  Although, I got a little too aggressive with it this past summer and killed one of my Sweetcrisps.  I have them planted in terracotta containers in a mix of pine bark fines and peat.  I try to water only with collected rain water (which usually isn't a problem in FL). 

My main problem now is that the chilli thrips become a huge pest in the summer and also the aphids love the new growth.

So far, figs seem to be much lower maintenance, which will be nice. 

where is a good source for Sweet Crisp? i can't seem to find one...

Blues are not "easy" to grow unless you live in a area with naturally acidic soil. There are some places like that and usually it's around the piney woods. Here in east Texas they can be grown in ground. I have clay soil and I found to get the most out of your plants a raised bed 4x4ft by 12in high will give you outstanding plants. I fill the beds with 50% pine bark mulch, 30% peat moss and 10% perlite or sand. On top of that I keep at least a 3 inch layer of pine bark nuggets for mulch. The key IMO is rain water. City or well water will work but acidification of the water will eventually be needed. The pic of my plant in the raised bed is Emerald. That variety is a beast for production!

Thrips are a pain and I had bad problems with them the first 3 years but I have found they are worse is dry years. Last year they seemed to just disappear and it was a wet year.