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Fruit & Orchards

blueberry bush growing and sun?

13 years ago

I have big plans to plant around 60 blueberry bushes. My ideal spot in on a slight slope. The problem is I have a 40 ft oak that casts a shadow on the area for most of the morning. About half of the area receives full sun starting early in the morning. The other half recives full sun after 11 am or so. So filtered sunlight goes through the tree. My concern is this should I remove the tree to receive more early sunlight, or it not that important. Once its gets past 11am the whole receives good sunlight until dusk.So is losing a few morning sunglight hrs enough to remove a large tree? Now I live in amongst a ton of tres,most of which are oak. SO taking out a tree is not a big deal to me and this one is leaning the right way and would fall easily. The ? is, is it worth it and would I benefit from removing it. thanks alot,branodn

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Comments (3)

fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
13 years ago
brandond:

You will benefit only if you must have maximum yield. At most the yield will be reduced ~10% on the affected plants. Can you live with that? Do you have a use for the wood? What would it cost to remove? I ask mainly because the potential loss of yield seems secondary to me.

My blueberries are very productive with partial sun in a greenhouse.
ericwi
13 years ago
We have several blueberry shrubs planted near the east side of our house, so they get morning sun only. These shrubs are healthy, but they only produce about one cup of fruit each year. Our shrubs that are in full sun, all day, produce 1 to 3 quarts of fruit per season.
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gtippitt
13 years ago
A compromise might be to prune the oak tree. To get more light to your berries, you can limb up the lower branches and thin out the upper branches. I think that cutting down a tree should always be avoided if at all possible. One benefit of the tree is that its fall leaves will provide an excellent mulch for your bushes every fall. You can pile up the leaves between the bushes to prevent weeds. Before you apply each season's new batch of leaves, you can rake the decomposed leaf mold up near your bushes from the rows between them. You can then pile up all the all the great leaves in the middle. It will save you the cost of buying mulch or hauling it from further away.

You might get some competition for water and nutrients between the trees roots and your bushes, but blueberries have very shallow roots that might not be hurt as bad as some other plants. You may find that the plants nearest the tree will need a bit more water and fertilizer.

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