Blueberries do best in full sun. Wild blueberries can grow in very thin soils, sometimes they are found growing on rocky outcrops, with the roots down in the cracks, where there is some leaf dust. However, these wild plants are scrawny survivors, that don't require much moisture. Cultivated highbush varieties, like Patriot, produce more fruit, but they also need more moisture, and better soil. If you can make compost with shredded tree leaves, that material will be the main component of your blueberry bed. Mix it in with whatever native soil you have, and that should be ideal. Be sure to check soil pH, and if you have hard water, you might have to add agricultural sulfur sulfur periodically. Its usually necessary to do pH testing at least once a year, unless you have naturally acidic soil.

Thanks - actually, we like the flavor of these "scrawny survivors" and the part about not requiring much moisture is good too (in front of the house where we get intense sun). "Rocky outcrops" with thin soil pretty much describes the whole property, so if there is a variety that does well in those conditions I'd appreciate any info as to where I could buy some, don't really want to transplant what we have (though some might have to be moved). We do have a compost pile going, I can get decomposed bark mulch from the town, but don't know what's in it. I also bought 3 bags of Miraclegro "Garden Soil" from Lowes for some raised beds. We have iron in the water but I don't recall from the report 3 yrs ago that it was hard. Thanks

Good answer Eric you hit the nail on the head. But don't you think pH should be ideal? His place after all is covered with native blueberries.

I'd build raised beds made mainly with whatever high organic soil and compost there is nearby. Usually in such areas there are piles of partially decomposed organic matter laying around.

If you have to water, rain water would be best. With native soil and rainwater they should flourish.

If you need more growth, fertilize with Urea if pH is below 4.5. Use Ammonium sulfate, 21-0-0, if pH is above 5. I'd bet you are below 5.

Thanks fruitnut. But anybody know where I can get this/these varietals (bare root or potted), since I don't really know what we have, or how to propagate from cuttings? I don't want to transplant most of what I have and then have them die - I'd rather go hunting in the woods for them (we have marked the ones we've found with orange tape if they're not right at the edge of a clearing).

BTW, I'm a "she" (AJ's Mama) LOL!

Dwarf and lowbush varieties of blueberry will do the best in thin soils with low moisture. The downside is that these shrubs yield little fruit, maybe one cup of fruit per shrub, per year. Highbush shrubs can yield as much as 20 lb of fruit per season, although our most productive shrub yields 5 lb per season. All of our shrubs yield fruit with good flavor. With regard to well water, or municipal water supply, if you are finding lime deposits in the teakettle, or around faucets, then you have hard water, and its important to test the water for pH, before using it on blueberry shrubs.

Thanks Eric. Maybe we'll plant a variety of high and lowbush then. How much water (and probably more important, soil) does a highbush require?

I would think that a highbush blueberry shrub would require 10 or 12 inches of soil, at a minimum. That is a guess, however. Here in Madison, Wisconsin, I am using around 50 gallons of water per shrub in an average year, and around 100 gallons per shrub in a dry year. Typically, I hand water two or three times a week, for about three weeks during the summer. Sometimes I have to hand water for a week or so during the spring. In drought conditions, each shrub will get 4 gallons of water, three times a week. Our shrubs are heavily mulched with shredded tree leaves, and this helps to retain moisture around the roots.