How to Grow Blueberries for a Successful Harvest

Growing blueberry bushes and harvesting lots of those amazing berries is everyone’s dream! It isn’t hard, but it is work and you have to keep up with it. So lets start! I will be consulting my dad for this post, because everything I know about blueberries I learned from him! The blueberry bushes are his pride and joy, besides his kids and grandkids, of course 😉 We will harvest about 15+ gallons of blues this season!

The basics. Blueberry bushes are essentially woody canes that grow out of the ground. They love full sun and will produce the most berries when in a sunny location. The canes will even reach in the direction of the sun, which I think is so cute! Probably because I also reach for the sun, haha! In the top left photo, you can see the bushes leaning towards where I’m standing, which is the direction the sun crosses the sky. Blueberry bushes can tolerate SOME shade. We have a few that get less sun than others, but keep in mind it can effect production. Blueberries need a more acidic soil than most other berry bushes, good drainage, and consistent watering (at least until well established). Insect pollination is needed to set fruit and bushes fruit best when multiple bushes are planted! There are different varieties that will do better depending on where you live. As is the case with most things you plant.
We have mostly Southern High bushes, and a few Rabbiteye, but there are also Northern High Bushes. Your local cooperative extension sites should have information on the best varieties for your area! I highly recommend researching that first. They need yearly pruning, fertilizers, and soil amendments. This is going to make sure you have the best, healthiest possible plants for a big harvest.

Planting. Once you have chosen your location, the variety you want, and bought the bushes… now you plant! Amend the soil where you are going to plant. I like add compost and some wettable sulfur to my soil. However, you can do a soil test to see exactly what you’ll need to make your blueberries happy! The sulfur lowers the pH of the soil. So if your soil is already between 4.5-5.5 pH, you won’t need to add soil acidifier.

Dig a hole a little bigger than the plants root size. Add the plant to the hole and fill it in! Give it a good watering. I love watering new plants with fish fertilizer. Such a good boost of nitrogen. Then you want to mulch. I love using woodchips around all my berry bushes and fruit trees. The woodchips break down slowly over time and add more goodness to the soil. It’s like a slow release fertilizer. The mulch also helps the soil retain moisture, keeps the soil cooler in the summer, and helps suppress weeds. Make sure to water newly planted bushes regularly.

Caring for your blueberry bushes. In the first year or two of your bushes growing, you can remove the blueberries that grow. This helps the plant focus on growing roots and more canes! That part is up to you though. Don’t feel like its something you have to do. But it can be good for new plants just getting established. I prune my bushes in late winter while the plants are still dormant. You want to keep them to 3 square feet. Any canes that grow outside of that can be pruned away. I fertilize in early spring. This gives the bushes the boost they need when breaking dormancy and setting fruit. I use wettable sulfur because it helps the soil’s pH and makes for happy bushes! Then azalea fertilizer. Yes, the flower food haha. Azaleas and blueberries are relatives, so they like the same food! Just follow the instructions on the package and add both sulfur and fertilizer to the drip line of the plant.

Once Established. After a couple years and your plants are established, they’ll need more pruning. Be on the lookout for a new post when I’m pruning mine. I’ll take lots of pictures and have a post just for pruning! But you will want to remove spindly or small branches, ones growing toward the middle of the bush, canes outside the 3 square foot space, older canes, and probably some others I forgot. But don’t worry, there will be an update post!

Happy Gardening!!