Question about blueberries.

I just bought 5 blueberry plants and planted them out along my fence, I put some peat moss and also some home compost, even some coffee grounds on top ( I was told acid loving plants like this) and last but noe least pine needdles.

My question is how long until they start producing? Should I pinch the flowers this spring to let the bush get bigger instead of making fruit? Is this plant cold hardy, can it take a light freeze or should I cover it?

I am not sure if I am posting this in the correct area.

Some info from ohio extension
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1422.html

Thank you flowerjen, I'll take a look at it.

I think the main thing with blueberries is to make sure they are well drained. The cold shouldn't hurt them. I personally would leave the blooms. It won't hurt the growth of the plant.

Thank you Jim. The fella that sold me the blueberries told me to pinch the flowers until spring and then stop pinching and that they would produce in the spring time. They seem to be doing good so far, I added a lot of cooffee grounds and pine neddles to raise the acitity of my soil, hopefully it will do that. I am also planning on getting some raspberries as well but for what I hear it is best to plant those in spring so I'll just wait til then.

I've never planted raspberries but I have planted seedless blackberries. Spring is probably the time to plant. Only problem I had was the blackberries picked up a virus, probably from native blackberries, and were bitter. Had to pull them up and burn them. I've never tried any more.

I use to have some blueberries and they did well for a couple of years. The guy who farms the land back of my house let some farm chemicals drift on them and killed them all. Haven't tried them again. When they fly stuff on you don't know where it is going.

I planted my blueberries last fall, they started putting on berries, my DW would take her bowl of cereal out and pick berries into it.
We had some birds that also liked the berries, had to put netting over them...I am very selfish with my berries. ^_^

What I'm saying. My wife like fried green tomatoes. She has to wait til I get the first ripe one. I raise them, I get first shot at them.

carm- you might want to try some sulphur to make the soil more acid--blues like the soil wickedly acid--5.0-6.0 ph
if the pine needles are brown, they really aren't very acidic at all once the pine resin is gone...........
good eating!!!
I like them with rice crispies in the a.m.

good advice...I've been thinking of getting some blueberry bushes next spring. I was out somewhere they were selling vitamin water $22 for a 1 1/2 liter bottle and I thought I could get blueberries for $5 pint that are probably better for you...then I thought I could GROW blueberries for what I spend buying blueberries! My soil is certainly well drained.

Go for it Lynnie. Want a story? Gonna get one anyway.

I had been home from my last heart surgery two days when Jo remembered a lady at our church had told her she could pick her blueberries. The lady was down in Florida where her husband was on a job. We drove over to her house to see if there were any berries on the bushs. There stood six blue berry trees. I don't guess she had ever pruned them and they were solid blue. We went back and got some buckets and returned. I was in my pj's and house shoes and all Jo would let me pick in was a 1 lb. coffee can. You could literall strip whole limbs at a time. Jo was all up in those trees picking, she was in blueberry heaven. She picked about 4 five gallon buckets full. Man what fun. That night she began to itch and scratch. She was covered from her head to her toes in red bugs or chiggers according to which part of the country you live in. The berries were great but they came with a lot of anguish. Lynnie, you would have been proud of me, I didn't even laugh at her and all the scratching, at least not where she could hear me.

eeek! covered in bugs! how do you get rid of those?

You can scratch them off or rub down with a good astringent. You'll still have a little red spot that itchs like H. They are very tiny. About the size of the sharp end of a needle.

Oh I envy all of you
I have native blueberry in my yard -- the blueberries get eaten just a tad prior to when they can be picked by us humans.

Shot Gun time.

You have no idea........................................
I would need a cannon.

who's eating them mrosie? the abominable snowman? *grin*
that's the thing I have to consider, whether or not I'll fight the wildlife for them.

It is either the deer (my first guess) or racoons.. I have seen them pull the coneflowers down and eat the bloom. This morning I looked out the window and there were 7 deer right in front of me (two were smooching --I kid you not) I tapped on the window and they looked at me and I swear one winked. But, the point is that the tapping and waving didn't budge them one bit. This year the deer ate only the middle out of the thuja I planted. It looks very wierd from a distance... like the top of a tree floating over the bottom --- (I can't see the middle naked limbs)

Venison is very good if you know how to prepare it. Deer are new to our area and not a problem yet. Hope it stays that way. The neighbors are more a problem at my house.

Oh Jim, yes venison is excellent, by the way guess what I was doing yesterday, butchering the deer my DH got on thursday, our freezer is pretty full. I guess some people hate venison but I am one of the one who just love it, I make sausages with it as well and it is just excellent.

The blueberrie plants seem to be doing well, my soil is very clayish like not sure if it is acidic or not, I probably should test it and see. Thank you GOODGREEN for the mention of using sulfur, I'll have to find some and see. The pine needless that I used where mostly dry and brown so I am not sure if they are making the soil more acidic or not. I did place a lot of peat moss mixed with home compost in the hole before I placed the plants, acording to the fella that sold me the bushes he said that would make it more acidic as well, also coffee grounds are good.

Sorry Jim to hear about Jo, I have tons of ants in my backyard and more than once I've been covered with them as well, and boy do they hurt. I've learned that putting some grits where the ants are will kill them so far so good.

Here are a couple of articles that ya'll might find helpful:

My article about blueberries: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1333/
LarryR's article about pine straw: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2702/

Nothing quite like living in fire ant country. You can always tell someone from the deep south, because he never stops without looking down at his feet. Even in the house.

Have you ever eaten summer sausage made from venison? A friend gave me a stick last winter and it was the best I ever tried.

No Jim, but I really want to try to make it and see how it tastes. I've only made just normal sausages with benison but I think this year I want to try new recipes.
Oh about fire ants my little girl decided to place her little hand in an ant pile this morning, well lets just say she'll never do that again. I gave them some grits so they wont be bothering us too much longer.

Melody, I love all your articles and pictures, you are one of the reasons why I started growing veggies again.

Awwww....thanks!

Carminator, Windex spray helps to take the sting out of fire ant bites. It also seems to reduce the number of sores produced by their bite. We keep a bottle outside and 1 in the car. It doesn't make them painless, just helps stop the hurt and the itch. Seems the ammonia in the windex counteracts the formic acid in the ant bite.

Wonderful thank you themoonhowl I'll have to try that next time this happens. I still remember the first time I got bit by this little pests when I was little girl and boy did I learn my lesson.

You are very welcome. They are truly nasty critters. A word of warning. They can float. Back during Hurricane Allison the neighborhood kids were wading in the flood waters and came upon a floating ball of fire ants. One of them poked it with a stick and the next thing he knew he was covered in them. Gave LSU entomology dept a call and they said to be very careful to avoid the floating mass as they are surrounding the queen and will attack (not bite, attack) anything that disturbs the mass and threatens the queen. UGH.

eeew boy not even hurricanes will kill them!

I firmly believe if anything catastrophic happens, all that will be left are cockroaches, fire ants and Virginia button weed....grin oh, and mosquitos.

My blueberries seem to be doing good but I have a quick question, one of the bushes has red leaves while the others do not, is this due to the cold weather? I know that I have different varieties but just wanted to make sure that is not deficient on something.

Thank you so much.

It is normal. As weather cools and sunlight weakens, the chlorophyll leaves the plant so the leaves turn red. Some varieties have more red pigment than others, thus the difference.

Thank you Melody, you are always a big help.

You're welcome!

Themoonowl: Add Bermuda grass to the survival thing!

You got it Hemophobic....grin

when/if I get some, I'd definitely get some that get fall color.

We have a U-pick blueberry farm nearby and all of their leaves turn red. They have a great variety of cultivars so that we can pick from May to August.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1333/

Autumn colors are produced when a plant quits producing chlorophyll in the fall. That's how trees change color, they don't actually change, what you see is what is left behind.

Melody that is a great article about blueberries thank you for sharing, I love the pictures you took as well!