I have six bushes, four that are 19 years old, two that are six. They are on a slope at the edge of the flatter "yard". They have always done extremely well for me. I try to keep the grass and weeds trimmed away, and once a year I pour on a dose of Miracid (my soil is already pretty acid here in southwest NH). I prune out anything broken in late winter, and the obviously shaggy barked old branches in the middle. First question: the four older ones are very woody, with the fruiting branches getting longer and longer. They are also getting very tall, especially the two Earliblues which top six feet easily. My soninlaw is just shy of six feet tall, and he is shorter than the big bushes. We had heavy rain last week, and the branches arched over just like some of my rose bushes, with the weight of foliage and fruit. Can I just whack back all the branches to say 4' when they are done fruiting? I thought that doing it in August would give the plant time to set up new growth to strengthen the roots before winter. Second question, the setup: I used to cover them with old tobacco netting that my mother gave me, but that eventually disintegrated. The last year that I had enough to cover the four larger bushes, I had forty quarts. Without covering, I get to enjoy the cardinal and bluejays... So, a friend spoke to a local man for me, who makes aluminum frames for greenhouses. The suggestion is that he put sleeves in the ground, into which adjustable uprights will go. That way we can account for the slope. The uprights are connected with aluminum cross lines, and the whole thing is covered with greenhouse cloth to keep out birds but let in enough sun for ripening. He suggests a butterfly door in an aluminum frame as well. The door comes off, the cloth comes down after berry season for storage. He says I can leave the frame up year round. The question: does this sound feasible? I know it may not be economically justifiable, but my daughters grew up picking berries under my mother's woodensupported tobacco netting berry house, and I want my granddaughters to have the same experience. The four year old is already a good clean picker. There is something magical about going into a tent to pick berries... I appreciate your thoughts.

I would transplant now. I myself moved a blueberry plant, and I did it this time of year, last year. It's doing great! Well I would wait till it is dormant, maybe another week. I would leave roots alone, unless damaged. I guess if putting in a pot, you may trim roots, but root trimming is only done to keep plants at a certain size. Done with potted specimens, otherwise I can't think of any good reason to trim roots? Trimming now and planting later is about the worst thing you could do, disturbing it twice is a very bad idea. Top Hat and Sunshine Blue are nice dwarf plants, but any blueberry can be grown in a pot. I would grow more compact plants, often given in the description. Pots need some protection in the winter. Buried, or in an unheated garage. Normal blueberries need big pots too. Use 60% pine barks fines, 20% peat moss, and 20% perlite. If you can't find pine bark fines, use Fafard potting soil. Go on line to fafard dot com, and search for stores near you that carry it. They have a store finder. 52 mix is great, but any fafard potting soil will do. Fertilize with cottonseed meal, or Plant Tone. You can also supplement with ammonium sulfate (be extremely careful 1 tsp/2.5 gallons, once a month for 3 months, don't use till plant get's used to new home). Fafard mix has just about no nutrients except the time release product in one of their potting soil products (still use organics mentioned- you can't OD with organics, and the two mentioned keep acidity correct, very important). Adding a dose of kelp will introduce trace minerals. Full sun is needed for sure. PH should be good if you follow suggestions. Do not use regular potting soil. One alternative potting soil is Happy Frog if Fafard can't be found. Most private non box store nurseries carry these products. This post was edited by Drew51 on Wed, Nov 13, 13 at 9:54

If you ever read the name MARTIN S LOWNEY, then you are reading lies. Google him. He works for the US department of agriculture's inspection service. He is a government pawn. This is what happens when big government is in control. It's scary. This entire site IVILLAGE is full of people (Rhizo 1?) working to spread false information. They are called "SCHILLS". When someone knows a little TOO much information, be wary. THEY PROBABLY ARE PAID BY YOUR TAX DOLLARS TO SPREAD LIES. These birds are harmless and CARRION EATERS- meaning carcass eaters. They keep down disease, not spread it. They are probably just smelling the afterbirth on the calf. MR LOWNEY spreads these mythical situations across the web. It's repeated and passed down as fact. It's not. It's more big government lies ruining our country. You need to watch out for this government- not the vultures.

Bob, Great Shot, glad to see some of your finches are already molting to their summer breeding plumage, that means spring is coming,,,Hurrah!! Fortunately we got a nice sunny 35degF day today so I was able to get a shot from my bedroom window showing my whole feeder setup. The first shot is looking east from my bedroom window. In this shot you can see my seed hopper and suet feeders on the Maple tree, which is 60ft from my camera position. This location is working very well because many of the birds roost in the Maple tree during the day. Although you can barely see it in the photo about 20ft to the right of the Hopper there is a 65ft high pine tree that affords great cover for the smaller birds. Ten feet to the left of the Maple tree there is a small Butternut tree that is a favorite roosting place for the Morning Doves. I generally see upwards of 35 doves in that tree each morning. Another 15 ft to the left is a second 60ft Pine tree and behind the feeder sight you can see an 18 acres open meadow. You can see the woods are the far side of the meadow. That woods extends for about a square mile and it is mostly old stand hardwoods. Across the road to the left of this photo is another 300 acre hardwood stand, some new growth near the road, but old stand hardwoods from about 100 feet off the road. In the foreground to the left you can see my old garment hanger with the Niger & mixed seed tubes. On the left end on top you can see the plastic bucket lid that I use for a platform feeder. From my vantage point I generally use a 300mm lens to shoot birds on the hopper, suet feeder or on the ground below the hopper, while I use a 200mm to shoot close ups of the birds on the garment rack feeders. As you can see, all the birds at my feeders seem to play nice and I see very little competition.