can't type much cuz of shoulder surgery. Here is what we give our customers who buy bushes from us.
Planting Instructions for Blueberry Bushes
Buy adequate peat moss to put two shovels full in each hole plus some additional to mix with the soil you remove from hole. You must have the peat moss before you begin planting. Wal-Mart seems to have the best prices on peat moss. A 1.1 cu ft bag will plant two or maybe three bushes easily. A 2.2 cu ft bag will plant 6-8 bushes.
Dig your hole a minimum of twice the diameter of the top of the pot your bush comes in. YES more is better. The hole should be at least as deep as the pot is tall and again a little more is better.
Use your shovel or a spade fork to loosen some soil in the bottom of the planting hole. Mix two shovels full of peat moss with this lose soil. Now set the pot into the hole to be sure you have the correct depth. The top of the pot should be about even with the ground at top of the hole. If the top of pot is above the ground make the hole deeper, if the pot is more than an inch or so below the ground add more peat moss until top of pot sets even with ground level.
Make sure your peat moss is thoroughly wetted before you plant. I do this by filling the hole with water and mixing the water and peat moss together so it absorbs the water and is completely wetted. Let the water soak into the ground and peat moss and then take your plant from pot. Try to be careful and not disturb the roots any more than necessary while removing it from the pot. Some times the dirt will fall away from the roots in spite of your efforts. This is OK but get it planted and watered quickly when it does.
Miracle Grow potting mix and garden soil both contain mostly peat moss and have a wetting agent applied so it is much easier to wet the peat moss in it than regular bagged peat. It costs a bit more but is much easier to work with if that’s important to you. Just make sure you get plenty of peat moss in the hole regardless of the source and type. Blueberry bushes need a highly acid soil and peat moss is the way you start them off right in life with that highly acid soil they need.
Set your bush with soil that was in the pot with it in the middle of your planting hole. Finish filling the hole to the top of the soil that was in pot with the bush using a mixture of soil you removed from the hole and peat moss. Make sure the top 2” or so of the fill is your native soil you removed. Tamp it down good and water thoroughly.
If you have done the job correctly you should have a depression in the soil surrounding your newly planted bush that is from 1” to not more than 3” deep. This is a water well for use in watering the bush and it will let you know when you’ve watered it correctly. Fill the well with water and let it soak in. As long as the water is soaking in quickly you need to keep adding water. When the water stands for a few minutes without soaking in it’s time to stop watering.
WARNING: Failure to keep the bushes properly watered during their first two summers in the ground will ABSOLUTELY result in the death of your bushes. This is a absolute MUST if you want them to live and grow. Keep them watered not less often that every other day if it’s not raining during the hot dry times of the year until they are two years old and you’ll have vigorous and healthy plants.
It is advisable to remove the blooms or failing that the berries from your bushes the first two years. This will allow the bushes to put all of their energy into plant growth and you will have large mature plants at least two years sooner than if you allow them to bear during those first two years. The choice is yours but keeping the berries off will aid in keeping the bushes healthy and add reduce the time needed for them to mature.
If you have questions at any time regarding the bushes you have purchased from us feel free to call us at 256-435-1125 and ask for help. We’ll be happy to assist you with problems you have with the bushes you buy from us. We cannot however guarantee they will live as that depends completely on the way you tend to them. They were healthy and growing well in pots at our house for at least six months before we delivered them to you. IF you take care of them as stated above they should continue to live and grow. But failure to follow these instructions is an almost certain death sentence for your bushes.
You will need at least two different varieties of bushes for proper pollination. We raise and sell a total of five varieties which are: Tifblue, Garden Blue, Brightwell, Climax and Premier.
If you buy only a few bushes just make sure you have them relatively near each other and they should pollinate fine. If you are planting larger numbers of them they should be planted in rows. You may alternate varieties within the rows or plant one variety per row and make sure the row next to it is a different variety. Plant rows 12’ to 14’ apart and plant the bushes 6’ to 7’ apart in the rows. I have found that when bushes are mature that spacing of 6’ and 12’ is barely adequate to allow for easy mowing of grass and care of bushes. That’s the spacing I have. Were I to do it again I’d use 7’ and 14’ and that’s what I suggest you use if you are planting for commercial production.
The very best mulch you can use around your bushes is pine straw. You can usually find it for sale at the Calhoun County Co-Op or Wal-Mart in bales. If you apply it liberally around your bushes to a depth of several inches and for at least a diameter of 24” to 36” you will keep down weeds and when it rots into the soil it helps keep the soil around your bushes acidic.
Do not fertilize the first year you plant. After that a soil test to determine the best choice of fertilizer is recommended but you can just add a small amount (not more than four ounces) of a good balanced fertilizer (8-8-8 or 13-13-13 for example) in lieu of the soil test recommendation and it should do fine most of the time. Using a natural manure is even better, you can use cow, horse or goat manure if you have access to it.
