Wowie zowie, fruitnut! So, this plant is 7 years old and still in such a tiny pot! My gosh. I baby mine. My pots are ginormous in comparison!!

Patty S.

Patty S:

I've thought about repotting but the plant is still so vigorous that I prune a lot each year. And it takes water fine, about 5-6 liters each day in summer. I didn't thin the fruit any but there were good new leaves this spring so fruit quality is good.

A larger pot would allow watering on a longer schedule. But when I go more than one day I have trouble remembering what I did and didn't water the day before. Right now I do have some young plants on a 2 day schedule to help avoid stem blight.

Fruitnut, what's the growing medium in that pot? What sort of fertilizers are you using?
If I could get 10 pounds off of one plant I would consider that worth the trouble. Easily covered by netting if needed. I've got half of a plastic 55-gallon drum that might be just about right with the addition of some large drain holes.

tc:

It's been so long ago I don't remember. But it is highly organic. And contrary to the conventional wisdom on the container forum, I've had many fruit trees and berries in that type media for 5-7 yrs with zero issues.

My current media is about 2/3 coarse wood-based compost, 1/3 spaghnum peat moss, and a small amount to clay soil ~5%. I want water to drain out the bottom in 10-30 seconds after adding it on top. The volume in the pot doesn't decrease after about one year because there are enough roots to support the plant.

Here's a picture of the Star plant after detailed pruning to thin and shape. Also all current season shoots, which were mostly 2-12 inches, were shortened to 8 inches max. I'll not be pushing for more growth this year. There is now enough small wood for 15 lbs next year. And Star loses most of it's leaves in winter and leafs strongly next spring. So I just want the plant vigorous enough to push 8 inch shoots next spring.

{{gwi:14874}}

Oh my gosh, if you replanted that blueberry, it might become really, really gigantic. I don't know exactly what you're doing, but OBVIOUSLY it is really, really working! I'm so jealous! Hope my little babies do well in their pots outside, and in my potting mixture, acidification and fertilization. And my ridiculous cages to keep the rodents away. Wow.

Patty S.

Wow. I wonder if I could do one in a pot. Are they shallow enough they handle being frozen solid like strawberries?

myk:

I won't allow mine to freeze solid. It might not hurt but I won't take the chance. They are grown where the ground can freeze solid 5ft deep. In Illinois I'd be planting in the ground. So much easier than a pot.

Wow. My kids would strip those trees in a sitting :)

I've got to repot mine. I have a few 5+ year old blueberries that should go into 15 gallon pots (which i now have a bunch of)...they are in 7 gallon currently.

Very nice!!

Do you recall how often and what fertilizer you have used on this plant?

And, how old is this plant?

RM

RM:

The plant was purchased in spring 2004 and put into it's current pot. Mostly I've used ammonium sulfate at irregular intervals. If I need more growth I apply 1 tablespoon per 2 gallons water once a week. I'll probably fertilize once a month this summer because I'm not needing a lot of growth, really none until spring.

It's only in the past couple years that I've learned how to really push bb for rapid growth and early production. But the really rapid growth phase is only the first 2-3 years. After that much less growth is needed.

The only downside I've seen really pushing young plants is stem blight. I've lost 2-3 plants that way. All losses in the first two years. Once these plants get size they have been trouble free for me.

I've had good production every year off Star and Santa Fe. Santa Fe is sweeter but the production hasn't been quite as high only because the plant is more spreading and not as tall.

I'm really liking Emerald for fruit size and production. It probably has 3+ lbs at one year age. And I'm still very high on Sweetcrisp for fruit quality. It probably has 1.5-2 lbs at one year, start of second year in a pot.

Thx Fruitnut,

I also use ammonium sulfate on some of my potted plants. I typically apply one ounce of granular to the soil surface and mix it in. I have not tried dissolving it.

Are you dissolving the granular form of ammonia sulfate in water? You say once per week, that seems like a lot of fertilizer, have you ever burned the plants after say four weeks of repeated treatments?

RM

That particular Star is pruned so beautifully. Great work!

And you have shared that advice (contrary to container forum advice) before regarding berries and not needing re-potting and root work in your highly organic mix, after 7 years. That particular advice is also inline with Ed L from DWN regarding his plants. But this is the first time I've seen a pic of one of your BBs.

Thanks for sharing.
Chris

RM:

Where I've burnt bb is by applying dry ammonium sulfate and watering in or applying too much of anything in a pot and not watering enough. It is essential that enough water be applied often to leach excess salts out the bottom of the pot. If I get on a kick about conserving water, the bb are potentially in harms way.

By dissolving the fertilizer first I've not had trouble. My mix may sound like a lot of fertilizer but one ounce placed on the surface and mixed in sounds like trouble to me. You must be watering a lot.

I've never killed a bb with fertilizer and I think we have given people the basic scheme to force rapid growth if desired. Lots of people think they have to set around and wait forever to get a little growth on bb. Maybe I'm just impatient but I think fast growing and bearing plants are more interesting.

I agree with you! Watching a slow BB plant is like watching paint dry!

I apply one ounce (which is maybe two tabelspoons) once per month. If you are applying one dissolved tablespoon per week you may be applying double the total nitrogen that I am. I like your method of dissolving it though because it probably becomes available to the plant more quickly.

When you mix one tablespoon in two gallons of water, are you applying that entire amount to one plant?

RM

Very impressive, Fruitnut. I only wish I could fertilize with water. Here, the soil is so waterlogged, any additional moisture would just drown them. I lost two 3-yr-old bushes this spring, and they had absolutely no roots left. I have been using a granulated organic fertilizer and have gotten decent growth--but nothing like yours!!

RM:

No, I'm only applying enough of that solution so that some runs out the bottom of the pot. One tablespoon 21-0-0 in 2 to 2.5 gal water fertilizes about 8 first year plants and two plants the size of the Star. I do that once a week when I'm pushing growth and once every month or two when not needing rapid growth. I also make sure water runs through the pot on all waterings between fertilizer. This will avoid salt buildup and results in fast growth, about 12 inches per month.

brookw:

It sounds like you need to replant on a mound or berm. I'm sure slow release organic would push fast growth. Just apply enough often and water as needed. I've had good results using slow release Osmocote. Organic should work as well. I'd like to try cottonseed meal but no one sells it here. I tried bloodmeal and it seemed to raise pH.

Thx fruitnut.

Fruitnut- IMO you are growing these plants hydroponically. I think that is fantastic.

I would guess that after a year maybe a little more the medium matters very little except in it's ability to hold water.

Your great grasp of what plants need and your attention to detail (and watering skills) are admirable! I think most people would kill a plant like this VERY quickly with improper feeding or watering. Not much room for error in that small pot.

Fuitnut blew me away with his pictures in this post!

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0414483114090.html

Fruitnut, I increased my watering based on your advice. I'm wondering if you do the ammonium sulfate in the winter or when there are no blueberries yet.

Mine are fruiting now and just starting to "blush" (is that only for stonefruit or do blueberries blush too?)
I'm wondering if you give any fert at this stage or is it just a waiting game?

I remember you said that spring/summer harvests depends on the work you did the previous fall.

dg:

I do the weekly fertilizer only when wanting fast growth. That is not during fruiting.

Here's more or less my plants schedule: harvest fruit April-June, prune right after harvest, fertilize heavily in summer if needing more growth. In winter water and fertilizer are cut back. In spring I fertilize about once a month.

Hey Fruitnut,

I intend to try your method of dissolving ammonium sulfate in water but wanted to share with you the fertilizer plan that I have been following.

This article is provided by Oregon State University and provides some really great information on how to use ammonium sulfate. It also gives some good information on how to grow blues in containers and in the field that you might find interesting. If you have already read the article then maybe it will be a good refresher.

I pasted the link below, hope you find it useful.

RM

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU info on blues

Cool beans! Very nice haul. It would be a huge harvest at half that amount.

I almost always get into trouble whenever I try to push the envelope with plants. For me, slow and steady wins the race. Using compost and a very light hand with chemical fertilizers makes the plants much less attractive to pests and less prone to disease. Any time I try to supercharge ornamentals or food plants -- it eventually leads to diminished returns (or all out disaster) in the long run.

It makes for good reading to see high intensity growing practices. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah. No offense, but its easy for U of O to pontificate about growing blueberries naturally.

What about those of us who live with ph8 soil and where the rain is 7.5 ph? How many pounds of sulfur do you put on the soil to move it from 8 to say, 5.5? We have to grow in containers. I put 3/4 capful of concrete phosphoric etching acid in a five gallon bucket. I grow in pure peat moss. I fertilize with Miracle -gro and I make no apologies. Thats the easiest way for the rest of us.

WOW!!! The proof is in the pudding...er..potted plant.
I have 3 year old plants that are in the ground, that do not look as good as yours, yet.
I will have to try STAR blue berry plant, it is 4/20-5/20 for ripe fruit.
Do you know of a later ripening blue berry plant?
Have you thought of using 55 gallon drum cut in half, as a pot.

jolj:

Almost any blueberry is later fruiting than Star. It's a good blueberry and might work in your area. Quality is average. It's listed at about 400 chill hrs and does bloom late. But in your part of the country everything doesn't work. There must be local recommendations that would be helpful at least on chilling types needed.

I want plants I can move by hand. I'm going smaller on pots, 5-10 gallon. That size pot will still make a good harvest if you don't mind watering every day.

fruitnut, you truly have a feel for what plants need. I think it's usually called a green thumb!

How important to your pots is the traditional gravel bed in the bottom?

Thanks for sharing.
Marc

Marc:

No gravel in my pots. Number 1 it doesn't help drainage. And number 2 it adds weight and nothing of value. I want my pots as light as possible.

Today I potted up an Emerald. The rootball on the plant was about 12 inches deep. Right down to the bottom of the pot. So there was no dead root zone in the bottom of the pot where water might be perched.