Stacey:

The cane berries would be a good choice. You should get some fruit the 2nd yr. But why don't you try a blueberry in a pot. Then you can take it with you. If you get a big plant to start, you can harvest a little fruit the second yr and have a great crop the third. You can leave some fruit on a young bb. It's just that there should be a lot more leaves than fruit. I even have to thin the fruit on my four yr plants some I guess because I don't prune hard enough. Mine are in 15 gal pots and I get about 5-8 lbs per plant. You could start with a smaller pot unless you buy a really big plant.

The Fruitnut

It's just so the young blueberry bush will grow instead of fruiting. Modern cultivars fruit heavily from a small size, which slows their progress toward becoming larger specimens producing a larger quantity of fruit. Without picking the flowers or tiny, recently set fruits off you may have a little twiggy plant sprinkled with berries much of the time instead of one that is making lots of vigorous vegetative growth. If you would be more pleased by getting a small quantity of berries right away, are not concerned about results after three years then leave the berries on.

If you get a fall-bearing or ever-bearing raspberry then you should get some fruit the first year, and a lot the second year. So that might be easier than a blueberry. If you do get a blueberry it would like to fruit for you right away, but that takes energy from growth so you are supposed to take the flowers off.

Where did you read to wait 3 years? Most often it is only suggested you pick flowers off the first year in my understanding. Modern varieties? Highbush blueberries are probably the least bred-up cultivars of any commercial fruit.

Many people ignore even this advice and enjoy fruit the first year without stunting plants to the point where it affects their survival. But it will take longer for you to get large yealds. Just make sure that the soil doesn't dry out at any point during the growing season.

You can also buy larger potted blueberries (3 gal and up) from many nurseries that are ready to bear. Potted plants will require even greater attention to water.

Put a blueberry in a 5 gal pot. Dig a hole in the ground. Put some rocks at the bottom and sink the pot into the hole so that the side of the pot is covered and doesn't get too warm or cold. You can move the pot when you move.

Yikes, I have to take care of potted blueberries in my nursery that I have buried in the ground. I can't wait to sell the last of them so I don't ever have to worry about keeping potted blueberries watered again. They're like pets without the affection (and vetinary bills). If I have any left by mid-spring they're going out of the pots and back into the ground and I'll transplant them for clients. I have no difficulty transplanting blueberries from the soil in the fall, should have done this to begin with.

I will agree, however, that if you're going to grow blueberries in pots, you will benefit somewhat from burrying them in the ground- but without the rocks.

Thanks folks. I read the 3-year thing on the state's Coop Extension page about growing highbush blueberries....

I could have said "garden selections" or something else instead of "modern cultivars". Choice of terms not critical to the point.

Rocks in the bottom of a hole (or pot) serve only to retard rapid drainage. And a pot buried in the ground may result in a plant rooting out through the drain holes.

Of course, if a plant is ready to grow out the drain holes it is overdo for being moved into a bigger pot (or planted out).

If you read carefully, I said rocks in the hole (outside of the pot, not inside the pot). They serve to create a volumn for the water to stay if the ground does not drain well.

How about trying some plants like melons and stawberries while the blueberries are growing? Sweet things from the garden without such a long wait. The melons are also satisfying because the vines grow so quickly- I don't know how old your daughter is, but maybe a "teepee" for some smaller melons to grow on would be fun- a fort in the garden. I even like to do that- a true kid at heart. Have fun.

Base of pot will be sitting in puddle if enough water accumulates. This is undesirable.

What about plants that are supposed to be 3 year old plants? would you want to pull off their flowers if you are just getting them and transplanting or potting them up?

How big should a 3 year old plant be approximately?

Come on, can't anybody back me up on the lack of necesity of removing flowers for 3 years. Extension bulletins are about as reliable as recomendations on the internet (joke intended). I really don't think that this is a standard rec and I have personally established hundreds of blueberries without doing this.

harvestman:

I say it all depends. But I'd also say too many people are into blanket recommendations. There are cases where removing most of the fruit is warranted. But there are cases where concentrating on getting good vegetative growth during or after fruit growth will carry the day. The number of fruit trees where I've removed all the fruit on a young tree is near zero. But I do thin hard young or not. As long as there isn't way too much fruit, such that the fruit will be small or poor quality, then I'll leave some fruit on most anything.

Did just get a small bb and removed nearly all the fruit and fruit buds. But we're talking a plant with 15 leaves and the potential for 50 berries. Not a good ratio.

The Fruitnut

I agree that it's fine to let 3 year bushes to fruit. I have done that before on some bushes and they seem to do fine. It's just at the end of the year, I felt they hadn't made much growth that I like.

So it depends on whether you want to reach mature size as soon as possible, or you don't care and would rather taste some berries earlier.

Just want to add that as fruitnut said, letting it fruit doesn't mean keeping all flowers, mature plant or not. You can tell some of them will be small and poor fruits, (say on weak branches or too many of them) and spending plant energy on those is a bad option.

The suggestion of picking off all flowers is because it's the safest option and usually also targeted to commercial growers whose long term objective is to reach plant maturity as soon as possible. Backyard growers may have different preferences.

I haven't seen this recommendation for commercial growers. Please direct me to this information. I subscribe to commercial magazines to try to keep up with this sort of info. For years I have read to remove flowers for the first year only. Publications for homegrowers produced by landgrant U's are very unreliable. I guess I'll just google for MSU's latest specs. Get back to you.

Of course if any plant is not growin vigorously you would remove flowers to encourage vigor. I go further than this and often remove spur wood from Asian pears and apples that have become spur-bound or have stunted because impatient homeowners insisted on harvesting apples the first year from transplanted mature apple trees.

OK, went to Cornell's commercial recs. Should have done that before I opened my mouth in the first place. They recommend you remove flowers for the first 2 years. Of course they say other things that I don't agree with based on my own experiences- beginning with how acid the soil must be for good production.

However their recommendations are blanket production specs based on purely economic terms. In other words how to get maximum production in least amount of time. I will continue to recommend that homwgrowers pamper their blueberries with adequate water, excellent organic rich soil and mulch and remove flowers only the first year. If their plants grow well, we can keep our secret from Cornell and enjoy our early berries. It's worked for me the last 20 years.

Since you seem to trust MSU better, here is the paragraph from their website http://web1.msue.msu.edu/vanburen/e-2066.htm

Pruning Young Bushes:
Young bushes require little pruning for the first three years. Remove damage branches and less vigorous, spindly growth around the base of plants (Fig. 1A and B) to encourage vigorous upright growth. If possible, remove flower buds also so that young plants use their resources for growth rather than fruit production. Buds may be stripped by hand or pruned off, though either practice is often impractical in large plantings.

Nope, I trust them both equally, good advice but never good enough to overide repeated experience. Every man is in love with her or his anecdotal experience. No one has done a controlled study of carefully installed and cared for home blueberries. I wouldn't even consider waiting 4 years to taste my first fruit or requiring it of a customer. But I have sometimes had plants I've installed get off to an excessively slow start- flowers never removed and plants not watered during drought.

If I was growing acres of blueberries I couldn't give them them maximum attention. However, I don't see why anyone should take my word on it. Best to run with the research. At least now you can run with Cornell's (hey they're Ivy League) But maybe it will coax an experiment by someone out there and I will be happy to hear results. Buy some extra plants and remove flowers at different intervals. I am greatful for the information I've gotten because of this thread.

Only 3 years? I'd go with ever bearing strawberries.