Number/spacing of blueberry bushes in hedge for berry production

13 years ago

I am planning a curbside blueberry bush hedge for my semi-urban property and have a few questions to help me plan for decent berry production (understanding these will become dual-use bushes for a neighborhood pedestrian marketplace!).

From my understanding, I need to plant 2-3 varieties for best berry production. I would also like to plant for early, mid, and late season harvest. If I do my math right, this results in the need for a total of 6-9 bushes (assuming they'll fit my urban space).

Since pollen will presumably just blow around, I think planting same-season bushes evenly spaced throughout hedge for balanced curb appeal, i.e., balanced visual of blooms across hedge over time, wouldn't make a difference in pollination. I haven't measured yet, but the hedge would be the length of a typical ranch home. The pollen wouldn't need to "work harder" to get to their destination, right?

Are 2 bushes/varieties enough to boost berry production, or is there a magic "no less than" number for a significant difference? This is important in case I can only cram in a maximum of, say, 6 bushes in my space.

Currently, my local nursery only has early season bushes. When will nurseries have mid and late season bushes? Would there be bushes available in fall/winter? If I don't nab these now, will I have to wait another year before I can get my hands on early season bushes? If so, I guess my hedge won't be going in all at once, but gradually through this summer?

Extra question --

I'm contemplating a mixed hedge planting, like blueberry and azalea. Would that work, or would one type outgrow the other in size/spread as to require superhuman feats of pruning? Or should I just stick with a mixed hedge of different varieties of blueberries?

Thanks!

Peachy Green

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Comments (7)

TheMasterGardener1
13 years ago
Plant flowers in between to atract bees to help pollinate them. i dont know spacing but i know they love growing by rock mounds so thy like drainage.
peachygreen
Original Author
13 years ago
Bus stops! Or rather, lay overs! I love that idea. I'm planning to plant "understory" plants anyway, so this definitely gives me liberty to splurge on the splashy ones. Thanks!
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It's going to be another long post. I don't live in the U.S, so I haven't got a clue on how cold or warm zone 5a is. The most important thing when deciding the right blueberry cultivar for your area is - how many chill units/hours do you get (on average) in winter? Blueberry plants need to expose to a certain amount of chill hours over winter in order to bloom and fruit properly in spring and summer. If they don't get enough chill hours, they will produce very small amount of berries or not at all. To find out how much chill hours you're getting in your area. Go here. http://getchill.net/ click on the wunderMap to locate a weather station near you, write down the station name and type it in the fields on the getchill website. Check the total winter chill hour for each year, 2014, 2015 and 2016. There might not be any weather data for the older years. Chill units/hours are temperature between 33 to 45 degree fahrenheit, or 0 to 7.5 degree celcius. Temperature below freezing or above 48 degree will not count or add to the accumulated chill hours. Northen highbush cultivar is high chill and requires between 800 to 1000 chill hours and can tolerate below freezing temperate in winter. Southern highbush cultivar is low chill and only requires anywhere from 150 to 400 chill hours. While rabbiteyes requires 400 to 700 chill hours. You can grow southern highbush and rabbiteyes in high chill/cold area just as long they are protected from frost and extreme cold temp in winter and early spring. You can't grow northern highbush in warm area because they won't break dormancy if they don't get enough chill hours, hence delay in vegetative bud break and growth in spring. I live in Melbourne Australia and we get an average of 750 to 850 of chill hours in winter. We don't get snow but we do get frost every now and then on clear cold night. I have collected 19 different varieties so far, 6 northern highbushes, 8 southern highbushes and 5 rabbiteyes. It's currently mid winter here and all my northern highbushes have shed their leaves (half of them lost their leaves by late autumn). Most of my southern highbushes still have their full leaves. So far, None of the rabbiteyes lose any leaves, I noticed the leaves are much thicker and waxy looking than northern and southern highbush cultivar's. I grow all my blueberries in plastic containers and so it's very easy for me to move my sourthern highbushes inside the greenhouse when the temp is expected to drop below freezing. I put them all on the trolley and drag them in, It's good exercise :) If you are planning to grow your blueberries in soil, make sure that the soil ph level is at 4.5 to 5.5 otherwise they'll have a tough time growing in it. Strawberries and blackberries requires a higher soil ph of 5.5 to 6.5. Once you have determined the average chill hours in your area, choose the right cultivar family, northern highbush, southern highbush or rabbiteyes. Choose 2 different varieties that blooms around the same time. E.g. Very early season, early-mid season, mid season, mid-late season or very late season. Misty and O'neal are 2 very early season southern highbushes in growing in Melb.
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Kevin Reilly
13 years ago
Check other nurseries or online for a greater variety of cultivar/seasons....

I ordered from Berries Unlimited and was happy with the plants I got. You can spring extra cash and get a 4-5 year old bush and have a good harvest this year. I got two year old's and have to wait a year. Also, I think bees do a most of pollinating for blueberries, not wind....

"Maine's blueberry crop uses about 50,000 hives each year."
Edymnion
13 years ago
I'm just north of you in Chattanooga, and I ended up with a pair of blueberry bushes from Walmart and one of a different variety from an ACE Hardware nursery near the house.

I potted them the first year in a 50/50 mix of miracle grow and peat (they're acid loving, make sure you plant them with some peat), and they grew and produced prolifically.

My aunt has a few "bushes" as well, although they're more like trees at this point. Easily 15 feet tall and 10' wide each. So obviously some winter pruning will be required to keep them as hedges, but it will take several years before they get into bush territory.
peachygreen
Original Author
13 years ago
I spoke to a master gardener this weekend, and he told me that I'm really pushing it now to get shrubs into the ground before it gets too hot. I have way too much prep to do, so will opt to plant my blueberry hedge this fall with dormant plants. That way I can prepare the land, make sure the soil is properly acidic (thanks Edymnion for the peat tip!), etc.

@melikeeatplants, thanks for the idea of looking at online nurseries. I like the idea of splurging on more mature bushes. The master gardener also recommended that I chop off all the blossoms for the first year to boost berry production the second and subsequent years. I don't know if I have the patience to wait three years for berries!!

@Edymnion, funny you should mention your aunt's bushes, er, trees. My friend is giving me two very similar bushes, and I'm looking for someplace out back to transplant them to. They've been growing wild in an understory microclimate. They're pretty mature, so I hope the transplant won't hurt the root system or shock them too much.
Kevin Reilly
13 years ago
Well good luck! There are lots of reputable online nurseries...below is a link to one I put in an order with earlier this year....just be sure to google search nurseries first. You'd be surprised at the terrible reputations out there...

Here is a link that might be useful: Berries Unlimited
nhardy
13 years ago
How tall of bushes are you looking for?? Some get really tall, some are half high and other are dwarfs.

I picked the half high ones that bloom mid season. A bunny ate one of my Chippewa last year. I found my Sams Club had Chippewa this year!! My bluegold is still going strong. The spacing of my plants are based on the varieties I picked.

I agree that you need to prepare your soil now and plant down the road. I picked up a hugh bag of sphagnum peat moss, blood meal, cottonseed meal, garden sulfur, my neighbor's pine needles for mulch and a ph meter.

Here are some link for research:
http://web1.msue.msu.edu/fruit/bbvarbul.htm
http://www.fallcreeknursery.com/Nursery/VarietyChart/SouthernHighbush.htm
http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/Blueberries.htm

The people on the GW fruit forum can help too. Bluecrisp was a new one they were talking about.

My favorite azaleas are the deciduous exbury azaleas. They are more slow growing upright ones. I have mine in the partial shade. Is your area full sun?? Or does it get any shade?

Here is a link that might be useful: Evaluation of eight low chill blueberries

Number/spacing of blueberry bushes in hedge for berry production

Comments (7)

TheMasterGardener1

peachygreen
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Kevin Reilly

Edymnion

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Number/spacing of blueberry bushes in hedge for berry production

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TheMasterGardener1

peachygreenOriginal Author

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Kevin Reilly

Edymnion

peachygreenOriginal Author

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peachygreen
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