I think the knock on Sweetcrisp will be low yield. I don't know the cure for that. Mine that were small, very small, in June are now 2ft by 2ft after lots of tipping. They have outgrown Emerald but I have favored the SC. The one 2nd year SC I have is very big, head high in a 12 gallon pot. It's got some fruit buds but not a lot.

Growing SC slower would probably promote more small wood and thus more fruit buds. Next year I'll not push these plants which should slow them down and perhaps allow more fruit buds.

Sweetcrisp is supposed to be very easy to root but that is not legal. At a few bucks a plant I'll give the breeder his well earned royalty.

Just got them in today and they are tiny!!! Will they be okay to pot up and leave out side for winter or should i keep them inside untill spring?

For anyone interested Just Fruit and Exotics has 2-3 gallon sweet crisp plants. Wish I would have known that before they shipped my plants last week:(

As far as propigating plants, I would never do anything illegal;)

Blueboy,

Not sure where you are but there is a source of sweetcrisps outside of Gainseville a ways. 3 gallon potted plants for $6.80 each.

Yes pot them up and leave them outside this winter. A zone 9 winter isn't too cold for these babies. All of bamboo's are outside all winter.

10-4, thanks Fruitnut! Then thats what I will do. You r the man!

Bamboo, Im in zone 9A like you but in Houston TX. I cant find a blueberry plant around here in 3 gallon pots for less than $35. You got it made in the shade over there dude! I could see my self having 60 something plants like you if I lived there. Im becoming quite the blueberry junky aswell;)

Blueboy,

There are advantages living in a commercial BB growing area. Cheap plants, specially formulated and cheap fertilizer....the only thing I can't get cheap is pine bark fines unless I buy a semi load lol.

I thought you were more local because you mentioned Just Fruits and exotics......great place. Wife and I were up there just a few weeks ago and all her plants look awesome. I was most impressed with her blueberry, blackberry and pomegranates, both the size of the plants and the selection of varieties.

These BB are a disease I tell ya:) Have 64 at the moment but adding 20 or so more plants in the coming weeks. Bought the peat and 70 bags of pine fines just the other day.

Blueboy,

I bought a very beautiful and healthy Tifblue last year which is no longer due to a very bad case of stem blight. I've never read anything about Tifblue being particularly susceptible to the disease, but none of my other blueberries were affected. It did set fruit well for me (in Pearland), although as you know, last winter was a pretty cold one. If you're wanting to buy a Tifblue, I saw some gorgeous 3-gallon plants at Buchanan's in the Heights for $20 last weekend. I thought about replacing mine...

Bamboo, I have been ordering my plants from them and they seem like a stand up operation. They replace plants if they send you one thats sick which is alot more than I expected from a nursery. I havent found another online seller that has a better variety of Rabbiteyes. They got it going on! You posted some pics awhile back with a field of BB plants in 1/2 blue 55 gallon drums. What are they potting those plants up with? I know you said pine bark mulch but is that all? No peat or sand or perilite? Im trying a mix of pine bark mulch, perilite, and peat with 80 percent of it pine bark in pots for a couple plants of mine to see what happens.

Julia, Ive not looked around as hard as I could for plants in the Houston area. The few that I have bought here came from Maas Nursery in Seabrook. Everything is expensive there! I know you mentioned Buchanan's, any other places you get your plants from in this area? What varieties do you have and planting methods are you using? I havent talked with anyone in this area about growing these plants, only what Ive read online has been my guide so far and help from this forum. I would like to pick your brain alittle to see what youve learned so far?

Blueboy,

Just pine fines......that is it, nothing else. Even the commercial operations that grow on the ground plant in just the pinefines. They do add tiger 90 sulfur to the pots after the fact every 6 months. In my opinion the reason they can just use pine fines is due to the perfect fertilizer they use. The fertilizer supplies everything the plant needs and all from the right acid sources. I love the stuff and at $10 for 5o pounds you can't beat it. Far as I know all the commercial BB operations in the state use the same fertilizer.

When I plant mine I do till peat and pine fines into the sand here. I then put the plant half down into that mix and the top half of the rootball is mostly in just the pine fines. The plants seem to like both types and I guess the commercial folks just use the pine as it is cheaper and easier than adding the peat...I can't criticize the approach as the plants are huge.

Blueboy,

I'm not sure that I'm the one to ask for advice - your blueberries look much much healthier than mine from the photos I've seen! I've only been growing them since last winter, and it's been a rough year for everything... I also only have a few plants. I started out with a Brightwell and a Tifblue in a raised bed and a Premier in a container. The Brightwell and Tifblue both produced well last year and the Premier less so (but it was much smaller starting out). As I said, my Tifblue bit the dust and I replaced it with a Powderblue, which seems to be doing well. I also have another Premier in a container now. They're all planted in about 75% peat, 25% compost, topped with pine chips.

My favorite place to buy most of my fruit trees and berries around here is Froberg's Nursery in Alvin. It's kind of a small place, but they really only sell fruit and Paul Froberg who owns the place has been a great source of advice. He grows every variety before he starts selling it to see how it does in the area, he's really friendly and happy to talk with you about his plants. Last year, I think they only sold Premier and Climax blueberries. Good prices - they were about $5 for nice sized 1 gallon plants. They're only open on weekends, though, and I think they don't have any berries in yet this year - he told me December. Buchanan's and Caldwell's (in Rosenburg) are nice places, too, although I find Caldwell's pricey. Joseph's nursery in Pearland is great if you're ever looking for any tropical fruit.

Have you ever read Clayton Bell's blog? His blues seem to do well, although he's north of Houston :

Here is a link that might be useful: The Bell House

Thanks for the info Bamboo. Pine fines, is that the same thing as soil conditioner? The bags of soil conditioner here state that it is composted pine bark. I assume thats what you are using? I tested that stuff with my ph meter and dropped to 3.5 instantly so I know its acidic enough. How much of the sulfer are they adding to those 1/2 barrels every 6 months? I would think about 1 table spoon every six months? Thanks again for the info!!!

Julia, Ive been wanting to go to Froburgs for awhile. I didnt realize they sold BB there! Now its a must go, probably this weekend to just look around. I didnt get Premier, Tifblue, or Climax because the chill hours show to be alittle to high for averages here in Seabrook. Its funny how we can have microclimates in such a small little corner of the world. What are your chill hour averages in Pearland? I have read the Bell House Blog and Im impressed! Some of his plants look to have to many berries and not enough leafs though but Im sure the berries are still plenty edible. I just planted my blues last winter also but I pulled off all the flowers after planting so I didnt get a chance to taste any except for a hand full of Sunshine Blue and Bountiful Blue. Are you going to try any souther high bushes? Ive found that the Thrips favor the SH to Rabbiteyes. Did you have any Thrip problems this year on any new shoots growing on your BB?

Blueboy,

To be honest, I'm not sure what thrip damage to blueberries looks like. I googled it and came up with some photos of puckered leaves - is that what you're talking about? If so, I did not have problems with that. Although I definitely had some thrip problems on my roses and blackberries...

My blueberries look similar to Bell House ones. The leaves are a little thin. I've often wondered what your secret is to that lush growth? What fertilizer do you use? I wonder, though, if it might have to do with sunlight. My plants are in most day filtered shade, with only about 2-3 hours of direct sun. The Bell House bushes look like they could be in a similar situation. Yours looked like they were mostly out in full sun.

Like I said, Froberg's doesn't have the berries yet this year, but I love to go there and look around. I think mostly Paul Froberg's a citrus guy, and he does a lot of his own grafting. He has a nice selection of varieties of just about everything that does well here, though.

I've thought many times about the Sunshine Blue - the size factor makes it pretty appealing to me, as I'm always looking for smallish landscaping shrubs. Otherwise, I think I only have space for one more blueberry and it will probably be a rabbiteye, since it will go in the raised bed with the others. Do you have a recommendation for one? Which do you think you've had the best luck with?

Urban Harvest lists Pearland as getting an average of 400-600 chill hours, although I admit I haven't calculated it myself. I'm often jealous of you guys closer to the coast - I think you have a better chance with tropicals than I do!

Blueboy,

What he told me was a half handfull twice a year on the sulfur. The pine fines are just pine bark that has been crushed small....perhaps from dust up to 1/2" pieces. It does break down SLOWLY but even the stuff in the large pots is not nearly as fine as what the soil conditioner is. I'm sure they sell pine bark in your area so buy that and run it over with your lawn mower :) Or run over it is your driveway...... Here walmart sells it in purple bags and is sold as simply pinebark. They also sell pinebark nuggets and mini nuggets.it is all the same stuff just sorted for size.

Plug in this address and check out the pics. These little bugs ate me up this year. Ive heard that it was an exceptionaly bad year here for thrips due to the drought. They also left those deformed scars all over my bellpeppers. They are still out there as of yesterday but hoping this front will nock them back.

http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/events/08blueberries/08blueberries_haviland.pdf

Im using a fertilizer that you should be able to find around here. Its MicroLife Fertilizer 6-2-4 Its all organic you apply every 3 months. I know Maas has a lot of it. Its suppost to be the best stuff going in Htown

http://microlifefertilizer.com/

Its a local company here in Houston that makes it. That plus a little sulfer is all I have ever put on my plants plus I pulled off all the flowers the first year which I think really helped put on the growth.

Im getting strong growth from Beckyblue, Woodard, and Brightwell. For southerhigh bush you cant go wrong with Sunshine Blue or Emerald from what I can see.All my rabbiteyes are listed at 400 and below on chill hours. I do have a powderblue but dont know if it will get enough chill hours in Seabrook. Its growing fine but listed at 500 or so chill hours. My plants got summer sun from 8am to 5pm.

Bamboo, thanks for the info and clearing up the pine fines for me. I got exactly what you got for pine material so I should be good to go. After sampleing what a handfull of sulfer is it comes out to right at a table spoon.

Blueboy,

If you're around, Froberg's is set up at the farm with a large selection of trees for sale this weekend. They had blueberries, too, although only Southern Highbush. Jewel, Misty, and Sunshine blue in 3 gallons for $25. I ended up getting a Misty, even though I said I wouldn't. They were some beautiful plants.

Thanks for the headsup Julia. I may drag my whole family out there this week to check that place out! I would do a little research on Misty. From what Ive read its a pretty sensitive cultivar and prone to over flowering with not enough leafs which can severly stress the plant. I remeber it saying something about using dormex with Misty to keep it from flowering too early. That being said I dont know what zone that info came from either so it may not have any bearing on us in Htown. Im pretty sure that info came from Florida but not too sure. I would like to know how it works out for you though cause if all goes well I may have to man up and get one too!

I know I recommended Emerald for you here in Htown but I may have stuck my foot in my mouth. Right now that plant is in full bloom and not too sure how much fruit it will produce this spring. This is the first fall with this plant and may be alittle different next year. We will see. From what I can tell all the fruit buds that havent broke yet are swelling so I will let you know how that goes by the end of December. I did do some pruning mid Sept to get rid of a bunch of thrip damadge so that might have spurred it into fruiting too early. Im not to sure as this is all trial and error for me right now.

blueboy:

Emerald has a huge number of flowers so maybe some will hold out until after the freezes stop. I'm glad you added the fact that it was pruned late. I think that's one option to force bloom on a few really low chilling varieties.

Maybe you can avoid freeze damage and make a crop next spring.

Well, what you've read about Misty is a little disheartening. Like I said, I bought it on a bit of a whim, so we'll just see how it does. I don't really have any more space in my raised bed, so I think I'm going to pot it up for now at least. The plant I bought has pretty impressive foliage - it's about four feet tall with maybe ten pretty decent canes and very lush green foliage. Maybe I'll just pinch back the buds this year and see how it goes.

I kind of wish I'd gone ahead and bought a Sunshine Blue also. I'm not sure why I didn't - I've been looking for one for a while. I feel like I never quite get my purchases right when I have my kids in tow. :) One of the advantages of mail order, I guess. I'm hoping they'll have them at the regular nursery next time I go...

Dont let the info I gave you on Misty get you down. Im just giving you a heads up on what Ive read about it but on a positive note it also says the fruit is excellent quality. It may just take alittle more pampering to get there but then again, may be not! From what Ive read and been told most of the southern high bush tend to over flower anyway, its the nature of the beast. I have experienced more problems with pests and blight with the SHB than with the Rabbiteyes so they will be more challenging in our area.

Fruitnut, I will have to make a note about trimming Emerald late in the season. The only reason I did that is cause the thrips really took a toll on the new shoot growth at the tips and really shortend the distance between the leafs plus it looked terriable. I also trimmed my Sunshine Blue at the same time for the same reasons and not one bud is even swollen on that plant.