Blueberries

dclegg_gw

10 years ago

Is okay to use 12-6-10 rose food on blueberries, if so is this the right time to do it? Thanks

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Comments (5)

bamboo_rabbit
10 years ago
Second part first..no. I fertilize weekly or monthly depending on what I use Mid February through mid September. If you fertilize this late the plants will put on new growth that can be damaged by the cold.

Your first question is more difficult. Blueberries need the nitrogen to be in the form of urea or ammonium sulfate and NEVER from nitrate. The fertilizer should NEVER contain Muriate of potash. So if your rose food follows those two rules it will be ok, maybe not ideal but would work.
happy_fl_gardener; 9a, near DeLand
10 years ago
bamboo - I was going to ask you about when to fertilize the blueberries for the last time. I did give them a light ammonium sulfate drench last weekend but I figured that it was for the last time this year. I did go to the Helena fertilizer store in Mt Dora as you suggested. I had to buy their 16-4-8 for the blueberries which I did apply last month. I do have some new growth and a couple of the Emerald's have started to bloom. This has been happening the last few years - premature blooming mostly with this variety.

About the Mt Dora Helena store, they never carry the 12-4-8 because they don't have any commercial blueberry farms that order from them. The Tampa store is the only one that carries that formulation. You are fortunate that you can buy it.

I went to a strawberry growing powerpoint presentation last Saturday at my local Ag Center. When bird protection was discussed, one idea suggested is to use chicken wire instead of bird netting over a PVC, or other, framework. This will prevent killing the birds and snakes trying to get to the berries.
Sounds like a good idea to me because it can also be used as a framework to drape winter protection material (old sheets) over the plants.

Christine
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I fight this battle every year, and do pretty well until late winter. Rabbits love to eat young blueberry branches. of course, blueberries usually only produce on 1-3 year old wood, so you may get some fruit, but without some chicken wire or something around the plants, your harvests will always be severely limited.
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bamboo_rabbit
10 years ago
Christine,

The 16-4-8 is fine...it just has a bit more nitrogen so no big deal. I deal with the Dade City store and they carry both the 12-4-8 and 16-4-8.

Those Emeralds do like to put up some fall flowers, I just snap them off when I see them. The fall flowers don't hurt anything but even if they do ripen they are never good.

For those that have bird problems that is an excellent idea. I am just fortunate that at least so far I have not had many bird issues.
happy_fl_gardener; 9a, near DeLand
10 years ago
Wills - You are right. The fruit from the fall blooms are no good. I will take them off. I would rather have bird problems than deer issues! :)
bamboo_rabbit
10 years ago
Yep birds are better than deer any day.

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Blueberries

Comments (5)

bamboo_rabbit

happy_fl_gardener; 9a, near DeLand

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happy_fl_gardener; 9a, near DeLand

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