Garden blueberries: photo, planting and care in the garden
Content:
Garden blueberry
Garden blueberries are extremely picky and prefer only acidic soil as a favorable environment. In addition, care for such a capricious plant like blueberries should be timely.
As a fertilizer for the healthy life of blueberries, minerals are used, the composition of which is rich in a complex of microelements that are vital for the full growth and development of young shoots. Blueberries should be bred by cuttings, not seeds. Below is a photo of such a popular berry.
Garden blueberry: short
Planting blueberries
drunkard;
fool;
blue grapes.
The root system of the blueberry is developed, the roots are fibrous, the branches are straight, dark gray or brown. In height, the shrub reaches an average of eighty centimeters. Blueberry cultivators sometimes grow tall varieties that can grow up to two hundred and fifty centimeters in height. Blueberry leaves are relatively small, have a smooth surface, have a petiole, are covered with bloom and pronounced veins. The average size of blueberry leaves is about twenty-five millimeters.
Blueberry inflorescences have no identity in parameters: some varieties differ in small flowers that do not even reach five centimeters, other varieties have an inflorescence height of up to nine centimeters. Blueberry berries are round in shape, and the size of their diameter ranges from seven to eleven millimeters. The outer part of blueberries has a blue-gray tint with a bluish bloom, while the inner part has a dark green tint. Favorable living conditions for blueberries are fraught with a rich harvest.
Garden blueberries: planting features
Opinions differ on the best time to plant blueberries. The vast majority are sure that the most suitable time of the year for planting is spring, but autumn is also a favorable period. The advantage of spring planting is the speed of adaptation of blueberry seedlings, since the subsequent summer period gives the sprouts the opportunity to gain strength, become strong and increase the chance of survival at low temperatures.
The very process of growing blueberries does not have increased requirements, you just need to adhere to simple rules of agricultural technology.
Garden blueberries: suitable soil
The main task in cultivating blueberries is to ensure the correct soil - it must be acidic.
The soil must be fertile and the soil clean. This is the peculiarity of the shrub, namely: blueberries are intolerant of previously used soil, the pH value (pH) should be no more than four. The soil is predominantly clayey or peaty.
The taste of the berries themselves depends on the choice of soil. Returning to the question of the best period for planting blueberries, I would like to note that in the spring you should do this before the buds swell. The choice of blueberry varieties to be planted will depend on the climatic conditions.For example, for areas with harsh winters, Canadian blueberries are perfect.
Climate
But for a comfortable climate, without low temperatures, any varieties of garden blueberries are suitable. Advice: it is better to buy seedlings with a closed root system, they are sold in special containers.
Planting blueberries in the garden
Before planting blueberries in the ground, it is necessary to place the pot in which it temporarily stays in water to soften the soil. In addition, prepare trenches sixty centimeters deep. Next, the transplant is carried out by the transshipment method: remove the shrub with soil, the roots must be straightened. It is necessary to maintain a distance of about fifty centimeters between the seedlings of the bush.
If tall blueberry is chosen as a planting specimen, the distance between the seedlings must be doubled. It is important to lay a mixture of peat, coniferous sawdust and sand at the bottom of the trench, drainage is not used.
To provide soil acid, forty grams of sulfur must be added to the mixture. The specified substrate should be mixed and compacted. I would like to draw special attention to the fact that blueberries do not tolerate organic matter.
The roots of the shrub are carefully straightened and covered with a substrate. Planting is carried out in such a way that the root collar is located about three centimeters above the soil surface. After that, it is necessary to water the seedlings, and mulch the soil with straw or sawdust, peat may also be suitable for this.
Planting blueberries in the autumn season differs only in that weak shoots are removed first, and the length of developed ones must be reduced to fifty centimeters. If you choose an autumn planting, you must use two-year-old shrubs, the length of the branches of which is not changed before planting.
Outdoor care
To create favorable conditions for the growth of blueberries in the open field, it is necessary to loosen the soil up to five centimeters in depth, while not damaging the root system of the shrub. However, it is undesirable to frequent with such a procedure, this can lead to excessive dryness of the soil. One of the ways to take care of the plant is better to choose mulching.
Mulch keeps the soil from losing moisture and protects against the harmful effects of low temperatures. It is undesirable to damage the mulch layer, so care should be taken when loosening. Blueberries require regular but moderate watering. Do not allow stagnation of moisture in the root system. It is advisable to water once every three days with the calculation of about a dozen liters of water per one bush.
It is advisable to water it in the morning or evening, it is advisable not to allow water to get on the leaves in order to avoid burns. During the formation of berries, it is necessary to increase the frequency of water procedures for blueberries.
In the case of a lack of moisture, the berries are formed small and do not acquire those taste qualities for which many are so fond of blueberries. Frequent watering is also necessary in the summer, in addition, it will be useful to sprinkle the shrub from six to eight in the morning or in the evening.
Fertilization
Blueberries, like any fruitful plant, need feeding. The best period for this is the first or second week of spring, when the buds have not yet had time to swell. As a top dressing you can use:
fertilizers with zinc;
potassium sulfate;
ammonium sulfate.
It will also be beneficial to use superphosphate. This kind of top dressing is best used in the summer or autumn period at the rate of ninety grams per one shrub. In addition, blueberries prefer magnesium.
Formulations containing magnesium are used once a season at the rate of twelve grams per shrub. To prevent the soil from losing its acid, it is also recommended to use sour peat.
Popular breeding methods
Using seeds
Blueberry seeds can be purchased at specialized points of sale or collected by yourself, while stratification must be carried out. For this, the seeds are placed in the refrigerator for three months. After sowing is carried out in a mixture of peat and sand in a ratio of one to three. Life will awaken in seeds and appear in the light at an air temperature of twenty-three degrees Celsius. The soil in which the blueberries were planted must be loosened.
Cutting method
Another way of propagation of blueberries is cuttings, which allows you not to lose the quality of the shrub variety. Gardeners give preference to cuttings, appealing to its reliability. To do this, you will need to carefully divide the rhizome into pieces no more than fourteen centimeters in size each. This procedure is more favorable to carry out in the spring season, in order to be in time before the start of sap flow in the plant.
Cuttings release shoots at a temperature of one to six degrees Celsius. It is advisable to plant the cuttings in a mixture of thirty percent peat and seventy percent sand. Providing proper care, we get strong, healthy seedlings. It is necessary to grow seedlings separately from other plants, and then they can be planted in a permanent place of growth.
Pruning fruit shrubs
To obtain a rich harvest, it is necessary to timely trim the shrub, get rid of damaged shoots and wilted leaves. The most favorable such care is for plants aged two to four and a half years. This procedure promotes the formation of strong branches and the development of the root system.
In this case, do not forget about the distance from the root growth. If the plant has been living for more than four years, then shoots that need to be disposed of for more than four and a half years. As for young shoots, only the strongest should be left. In addition, upright bushes are advised to thin out in the middle. If the blueberries are spreading, then attention should be paid to the lower branches.
Garden blueberries: harvesting, shelter for the winter
Blueberries must be picked in autumn, preferably in the morning, once a week will be enough. The fruits retain their properties well in the refrigerator, however, it is better to avoid close proximity to other products in order to avoid extraneous odors. In order to extend the life of blueberry berries, you can store them in the refrigerator, after washing and drying the fruits.
When the air temperature drops below twenty degrees of frost, blueberries are covered with spruce branches, while the branches are pressed against the soil and fixed with wire.
Blueberry problems
The worst enemies of blueberries, like many other berries, are birds, as they can peck your entire crop. To avoid such situations, wrap shrubs with a thin net. In addition, the plant must be protected from attack:
aphids;
May beetles;
scale insects;
caterpillars.
Insecticides are used in pest control (for example, Actellik), but it is better to collect scale insects by hand. At the same time, it is necessary to process the plants for preventive purposes, the best period for which is April, or the period when the blueberry fruits have already been harvested.
It is important to properly take care of blueberries, otherwise fungal diseases (such as spotting, gray rot or phisalsporosis) cannot be avoided.
Such diseases develop with high humidity, which means that watering should be moderate. As a means of prevention, you can use one percent Bordeaux liquid. And right after landing - Topaz.
Garden blueberry photo
Blueberry varieties
