'Top Hat' Blueberry Bush - Winter Care?
allisonw
16 years ago
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
16 years agoallisonw
16 years agoRelated Discussions
TopHat blueberry
Comments (2)The Tophat Blueberry plant is plenty hardy enough to be left outside all year.There is a danger if it is kept inside a somewhat warm garage or other protected place above 45F.Blueberry plants need a certain amount of hours between 32F-45F.The only reason I can think of why to bring them inside is if the containers are really small.In that case the whole pot can be buried in the ground.Also a premature warming inside could start growth too soon. Brady...See MoreTop Hat Blueberries
Comments (1)I ordered top hat blueberries from a garden center and it came the same way, leaves developed in about ten days. It doesn't need pruning but if you want when the follage starts to die off at the end of the season you can trim out any thing dead or any branches that are irritating each other. I just used the Miracle grow for containers-nothing fancy of course, mine are as new as yours so I don't know what the crop will be like this year....See MoreTop Hat Blueberry Help!
Comments (3)Jayrad: Most fruit trees and bushes need a minimum accumulation of chilling hours before they will fruit. After the chilling is satisfied, there is a certain number of degree days needed before bloom commences. So it is temperature controlled rather than daylenght. Some blueberries will fruit with little or no chilling needed. My Southmoon is that way. I don't know what causes it to start flowering because it starts in October and flowers until April apparently with no chilling needed. Perhaps it is the shorter days of fall that trigger flowering in Southmoon. But this certainly is the exception rather than the rule if true. And even Southmoon blooms mostly in spring rather than fall or winter. I'm not sure what the chilling requirements of Top Hat are. But it sounds like in FL, to do what you want to do, you would need an evergreen type that needs little or no chilling like Southmoon or Sharpblue. You can probably do what you want with blueberries but the right variety will be critical. They vary moreso than most fruit in chilling and growth habits. Find the right one and it will work for almost any situation. Get the wrong variety and you will be out of luck. The Fruitnut...See MoreTop hat blueberry bush
Comments (5)Is that one of those tiny container blueberries, by any chance? I know blueberries require a more acid soil than other plants and you shouldn't use a fertilizer with a nitrogen source from nitrates. Not sure why, but I've seen that in several places. Have you done a search for blueberries in this forum? Do you know how to do so? If not, you go to the bottom of the first page where all the fruit posts are listed and type in blueberries in the search box and it will take you to the posts on blueberries. Good luck with your Top Hat blueberry. We're both newbies to blueberries, evidently. I have container Sunshine Blue blueberries. They stay small and are good for containers and are self-fertile. That means they don't need another variety to pollinate, but I've read that it improves their yeild if there's another variety to have with them, so who knows? I've got a couple other varieties to go with them just in case. Vivian...See Moretapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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