what is the best flavored blueberry

I have a patriot blueberry bush and would like to add a second bush to my collection. What do people consider the best flavored blueberry and which online nursery should I go to to get the biggest bush?

I haven't had a harvest yet with my new bushes, but Raintree has a nice variety & the bushes they sent were of very good size (3' +/-). In addition to taste, however, I'd go for one that will flower at the same time as your Patriot for good cross-pollination. Raintree also has pretty good descriptions for their bushes to help you with your decision. Watch them for shipping costs, tho. They pack their plants WELL, but they do charge a bit more for the effort.

I have a lot of blueberries and many of the common northern highbush types. My very favorite is O'Neal Southern Highbush. The berries are large and very tasty. They start early, before my others and just keep producing for months. Unlike the others, the fruit on O'Neal does not ripen all at once so you will have flowers and fruit of differing stages all at the same time.

I bought the O'Neals at a local Agway but I like to get my mail order Blueberries from Nourse Farms. Just put in 12 more blueberries this spring I bought from Nourse.

We have never had blueberries before but are thinking about adding them to our garden. Should they be planted in the spring or can we plant them in the fall? Am I correct that they like acid soil? Anything else we should know before we try this?

Thanks for any input

I think that spring planting is best . And yes, they like very acid soil......4.5 to 5.5 ph. Mine are doing well. I added soil sulphur and a good amount of peat moss in the planting hole area. Some sand and peat moss make a nice and loose soil that holds moisture but drains and aerates well. ...no standing water.
I wish that the catalogs would rate them according to sweet, semi-tart, and tart.

Hey, Indy. I am having trouble with blueberries I planted. I put them into straight peat moss, as instructed by the folks from whom I bought them. pH appears to be 6 to 6.5 in most of the holes, and I can't seem to get it down. I am thinking maybe this fall after the plants lose their leaves, I may lift them and redo the soil mix. I know another person who is successfully growing blueberries and who is doing same you are doing. Seems straight peat moss may not be the best way to go, even though that is what Waters Blueberries said to do.

There was a thread in which pluots were talked about and in which a particularly sweet blueberry was mentioned. Can't remember the name.

I have Elliot, Duke and Blue Crop bushes.

CJ

CJ,

I think you need to add some quick acting sulfur now and then slow release sulfur like soil sulfur....and work it in a little bit. Peat moss likely will not be acidic enough by itself. Further east of you the blueberries are grown quite a bit....Perhaps the muck soil is to their taste.....I don't know for sure.

Mulch them heavily with oak leaves or pine needles and they will be very happy. Use Azalea food for the short term though.

I planted two blueberry bushes this spring from five galon containers. They did very well and gave me, the birds and squirrels a nice amount of berries. (Everyone's got to eat!) My question is do I need to prune the bushes back ? and if so, how much?

Thank you!

VJ

According to Raintree - prune the older branches.

http://www.raintreenursery.com/how_to/BLUE.html

BackyardZoo,

Thank you! Looks like a very nice website!

VJ

gg123456,

To answer your initial question, for your location, I would suggest Duke, Toro and Elliott. Duke is early, large berry and very sweet. Toro is similar, but ripens a little later, and Elliott is a late berry that extends your season but not quite as sweet. The are my favorites for zone 5 in PA.

krowten

I feed my blueberries coffee grounds and left over coffee. It's a nice smelling, organic "fertilizer" that is high in acid and makes the bushes downright perky. (Yes, the pun was intended.)

But are the blueberries up all night?

Never found any beer cans around them - so I guess not. On another blueberry thread someone suggested hitting Starbucks up for their used grounds. Now that is something I can afford at Starbucks!