Add a layer of mulch after planting: Evergreen wood chips, sawdust, and pine needles will help to keep the soil acidic. 3. Containers are especially ideal if you don't have adequate soil conditions for blueberries. Water thoroughly after planting to ensure moisture reaches the deepest roots. Lay dry berries in one layer on a baking sheet and place in freezer. Tips for Planting and Growing Blueberry in your Garden. Upcycle an old sink or tub to grow your blueberries in. Growing them in pots is the answer, however, if you want to grow blueberries but your soil isn't optimal for producing the fruit. Collect the seeds by separating them from the juice and pulp. Below we share everything you need to know to grow these delicious berries in containers in whatever outdoor space you have. Find yours in a one-gallon basket at Nature Hills Nursery. Continue amending the soil periodically because the soil tends to revert to its original pH. These plants require full sun and acidic soil to thrive and produce fruit. Keep the soil moist but not soggy. You should start growing blueberries in as large of a container as possible. Consider the important chill factor, or chill hours, when planting blueberries in containers. Since sulfur takes months to alter the pH, gardeners wishing to plant immediately may need to create an acidic planting medium to plant into. They'll need a few hours of darkness in each cycle to help them acclimate as they would outdoors. They make good plants for containers so you can get a reasonable crop whatever the size of your garden. However, due to the nature of the plant's growth, I'd actually opt for a more horizontal system that's much lower down, so you have plenty of room up top for a trellis to train the canes onto. University of Minnesota bred varieties are in bold and include the date of introduction. This will prevent them from molding in storage. And our new Tower Garden HOME lets you grow greens and herbs indoors, year-round. Poor air movement increases danger of spring frost injury to blossoms and favors disease development. Recommendations are based on trial results. As its name suggests, this variety, a hybrid of V. corymbosum and the wild lowbush V. angustifolium, is very cold hardy and will grow happily in Zones 3-7. Wet thoroughly. Keep the moss consistently moist. The Bushel and Berry collection of berry cultivars are compact, and self pollinating, so they make great container choices. Containers of blueberries need to be placed in a sheltered spot between December and March when winter winds are at their worst. Even if the coffee grounds you use happen to be acidic, a massive amount would be needed to change the soil pH, and the results would not be reliable. Blueberry maggots and cherry fruit worms can also be occasional problems. Get more tips on fertilizing blueberry bushes here. An equally effective potting mix uses equal parts garden soil, well-rotted compost, and coarse sand. Depending on what youre growing and what stage the plants are in, your indoor tower garden needs to be refilled every 10 to 20 days. A soil with a pH closer to 7.0 will require more peat (5-6 inches) than a soil with a pH of 5.5-6.0 (4-5 inches). It can take a few months for the cutting to root. Lee recommends half well-drained soil and half peat moss for containers. The new shoots will eventually replace the older stems. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Adding sphagnum peat can serve this purpose if the original pH is between 5.5-7.0. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Drosophila suzukii (aka SWD) is a serious agricultural fruit pest, a tiny vinegar fly (or fruit fly) that lays its eggs inside fruit. A cultivar that needs 450 chill hours, such as the 'Midnight Cascade,' is considered to have low chill hours. The largest berries are produced on the healthiest wood, so a good supply of strong, one-year-old wood is desirable. Ammonium sulfate is usually used as a fertilizer for blueberries instead of aluminum sulfur used to lower the pH. Once macerated, the seeds sink to the bottom. Do not use wire as it may cut into the stem.