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Oklahoma Gardening

Blueberries Raise or Not to Raise

14 years ago

I took the plunge and bought two each Blueray and Bluecrop today and will be building a bed for them this week. We have mostly red clay, well scraped from terracing decades ago (negligible top soil). We build raised beds for everything. I was thinking about a 4x16 raised bed for them, but now wonder if I should dig a bed more at ground level. I guess it all comes down to keeping them from drying out. I was planning to go 80% peat moss in the raised bed. I could just as easily dig and back fill with the same 80% peat. I can make sure it drains and is not a pond.

So, should I go flush, raise some or all. I plan to have them in a north south line if that matters.

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Comments (4)

boomer_sooner
14 years ago
Here is a paragraph from the website below.

"A site for blueberries should be selected based on soil type and drainage. It should also be in full sun. An ideal soil should be a sandy loam that is well-drained. Heavier soils will require raised beds or rows and the addition of much more organic matter. "

http://www.tulsamastergardeners.org/fruit/bberryprod.shtml

Good luck.
earthy
Original Author
14 years ago
Raised it is. Thank you!
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My experience with bb is if it's not broken don't fix it. Your setup doesn't sound broken. Why couldn't you just water less? And if you've added sulfur 5.5 sounds great. Most of the plants are growing well. What's not to like? I'd caution about adding too much sulfur. Excessively low pH is just as bad as too high. If you really have a drainage issue the best bet would be raising the height of your bed. If the plants aren't too big you might be able to do that in winter by peeling back the top 6-12 inches of roots with the plants included. Then push new material under the plants. Even 6 inches higher would improve drainage significantly.
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scottokla
14 years ago
The grower I bought most of my plants from said it was almost impossible for him to give them too much water except when the water would stand on them.

My soil is pretty good on the top few inches and then pretty heavy under that. With my first 30 plants I tilled in some sand about 8 inches total depth and then dug out the hole for the peat moss, so the result is that the top level of the beds is about 4 inches above grade with the peat moss going down to about 8 inches below grade. The bed is 3 to 4 feet wide. No water stands on it and they have done well. With my last 20 plants I did not till in the sand and started the peat moss hole at grade or just an inch or two above. As the mulch decays it make the bed rise a tiny bit each year and I am hoping it will work but not need as much water. So far so good here also, but only 1 year in the ground so far.

If I was doing what you are doing with the 4 plants, I would do a 4' by 16' raised bed, but do it so the peat moss or peat moss/soil mix is a foot deep but the top level of it is 4 to 6 inches above the surrounding grade. For example, two landscape timber deep would be about right to hold 4 inches of mulch, 4 inches of peat moss above grade, and 6-8 more inches of peat moss where the soil used to be under that.
earthy
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the ideas! We typically build using 2x12's and make 4x4 beds. I might go with 2x8 for these and dig down some like you suggest. It might also help keep the roots cooler in the summer and warmer in the deep freeze times.

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