Any and all ideas are welcome from container size to type of blueberry plant to soil, etc.
Need advice - want to grow blueberries in containers
I know they like acidic soil. In terms of container size, most plants work best if you pot them up gradually as they grow rather than plopping a tiny plant into a huge container right away, so I'd start small and work your way up a size or two at a time as it gets larger. I'd also buy some bird netting to put over it to keep the birds from getting all your berries. I've never grown them but my Grandma used to have blueberries, and without the netting I don't think she would have ever seen one blueberry! Since my climate's nothing like yours I'll leave variety recommendations to someone else!
Last spring I purchased Tophat blueberry bush. I kept it in a container over the summer months, I pruned all the blossoms back as recommended for the first year. By last autumn I decided to put it into the ground. It's currently blooming up a storm for me. I thought I'd share that info. Since this is one of the few self-fertile blueberry. I'm glad I've got this plant. Looks like I'm going to be ready to harvest some blueberries this year. :-)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/127350
Good information so far. Congrats Lily on your success! Blueberries are so good for us - where I live, it's hard to get much fresh fruit. I have had success with other container plants so I certainly want to give this a try and freeze the fruit.
Anyone from MN with ideas on types of plants to buy?
your state extention service will have information on the types you should have... with blueberries they are quite location specific.. a large high end local nursery will hopfully already done this research for you.. and will have ONLY available, ones for your location..
when I was growing them in AL I was suprised I couldn't use any of the ones I knew from years in MA.. ( oh.. thoes flavorful wild bushesfromin the woods ) In AL they wanted me to grow the rabbit eye blueberries.. be it high bush ....low bush .. be sure to explain to the ( LOCAL ) AG extention service you are growing in elevated containers.. As in the ground... below a foot or two or perhaps three feet where you are the ground/plant will freeze.. below that it will remain unfrozen.. in a container it will ALL freeze solid.... as your two to three ft will be up in the air and much colder then in the ground..
Bridge Freezes Before Road Surface
you've seen this warning as a highway sign... it's very true for planters also...
you'll also warm up before the ground does also.. my local squrrels know this and choose my planters over the ground for storage of late winter meals ..
Gordon
Great information Gordon. Thank you.
GH; very sound advice! I too was stunted to find above ground pots were frozen solid during light frost. While the ground is seldomly froze here in our zone! Appreciated your posting.
Kim