Watering Blueberries - Tips from a Certified Organic Farmer
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- Опубліковано 4 чер 2019
- Discover the tips we use to water our blueberries bushes on our certified organic blueberry farm. Whether your are a home gardener with a few bushes or a large scale farm, you will find our farming secrets here.
I’m a beginner gardener and according to this video all my blueberries are overwatered... thank you for the info. I don’t have a drip but maybe I’ll install it in the spring. Greetings from Ukraine
Your video is definitely one of the better ones for viewing. I think your tips will help our few plants to survive, and then thrive.
Excellent video, thank you. Under and overwatering has been my biggest concern. I have been giving my 8 bushes a little water every other morning and was concerned I wasn't giving them enough so I got down and kind of clawed around with my fingers to see how moist the top soil was under my pine bark mulch I have around them. Turned out the mulch was pretty damp and the soil had some dampness to it. I do have a very sandy/ loam mixture that drains really well. Almost impossible to make a puddle in it. The bushes are really thriving. They are all young plants and this is my second season with them. They are around two feet tall or less and simply covered in blueberries. The way I've been watering is to spray the mulch till it looks good and wet and move to the next bush. Water that and then spray the first one again. My theory has been to soak the mulch the first time and after it's nice and wet the second spraying should go through and reach the roots hopefully. I'll have to give it your drill test. I need to do a soil sample and planned on doing that tomorrow. Last year when I got them the planting instructions were very poor. Didn't mention acidic soil at all and just said to dig a hole twice as deep and wide as the root ball and to put peat moss in the hole which I did. I watered them a lot and never had more than 12 berries combined in 6 plants. I researched all I could over the winter. In early much here in the north east they were still pretty dormant so I decided to replant them all the correct way. They not only are growing tall now but I can probably get 3-4 dozen berries off each one. They are simply thriving much better than I ever expected. I do have a yard that is infested sith rabbits, squirrels, and lots and lots of berry eating birds of all kinds. Night time I have Possums, coons, and skunks, so I built a circular cage with top out of ½" square hardware cloth to protect them until they get a lot bigger and stronger. I have a good 3" of pine mulch over the root area, and left around the trunk open so it looks like a big pine mulch donut. I only put the water around the outside mulch ring. I've been trying hard not to soak the leaves and trunk so I don't get any type of fungus or damage to the trunk. So far so good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Sounds like you are doing everything right. I have 20 organic plants, I started the first few about 10 years ago. You may want to add an organic soil acidifier around the last frost each year as well as organic fertilizer like Holly Tone. When I started using the acidifier, my plants really started to take off. You really can't get the soil too acidic for them. The other thing is to water them w/ filtered water if you're on city water. I use an RV water filter that will attach to a hose bib. You'll be amazed how your plants will thrive without chlorinated water. Wiring around the plants is essential year around as the rabbits love to chew off the new growth.
Thanks for the great info, awesome tip on checking the soil moisture level with your hand!!
Great advice on watering blueberries I always enjoy learning new things to be a better farmer!
Great Video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. As a home gardener I have learned how to check the moisture.
I can recommend to use not only peat moss cause it keeps too much water. substrate mix of pine bark, peat moss and perlite works well and saw dust as mulch and the watering will be much easier :)
Great video. Thanks for the tip !
Great video! The kinds of tips that make the difference!
Great video!
Thank you for the great tips 🙏🙏
We have an ICB tank that we can use along with the drip tape so the cold well water will be heated up in the tank. We are in zone 9b SW Arizona so that tank water will be ideal for the drip tape. Just received our order of Blueberry bushes & will not plant them until I have that soil well prepared which should be in Autumn. I do know that they need acidic soil so I will be preparing that soil all Spring & Summer. I will dig down wider & much deeper for these plants because of this Arizona heavy clay soil & that way the drainage will be better. I was so excited to learn that we could grow Blueberries here in our zone (certain varieties) so I want to give them the best chance to succeed. Blueberries are a very important source of nutrients for the human body (buying them in the grocery stores is not only costly but one does not get much for the money). Judi
Thanks for this
Great tips thanks,
Welcome
thank verymus
Does the water have to be pH adjusted or filtered in some manner? Will public water (with chlorine and who knows what else) be an adequate water source?
Thanks
Спасибо друг!
Ivan this is valuable info. Thx for taking the time to put it out there. How many blubbery bushes do you have? And what is your favorite verieties? Thx
Hi, there is information about our varieties on our website. The decision around selecting a variety is complex - what type of climate zone, what are the berries used for, is there skilled or unskilled pickers available, will it be machine or hand picked, early, mid or late season harvest, taste, colour, size, etc
@@ivanmishchenko3558 10 four ivan! Shoulda thought about that site. Thx a ton. I'm over on south coast Oregon. Super excited to implement your watering and fertilizer ideas into my orchard and berries. Thx! If you ever want to trade tuna for berries lemme know.
@@skylerjoaquin8666 If you are in Oregon than I recommend you check out www.fallcreeknursery.com/
How do you fertilize organically. And how often
Hi great video, I was wondering if you had any tips for my newly planted 6 weeks ago bush now it wasn’t in the best shape but I planted it in a container and did a soil ph test and only water when it needs it but the tester is saying the compost is wet now we’ve just hah a long heatwave here in the UK and I just don’t now what to do next
Hi David, It is best to plant early in spring and give the top of the plant a heavy pruning usually leaving one main stem about 8-10 inches in height with a few buds or even a side stalk. The idea is to use the first year to grow the roots and the pruning reduces stress on the plant when first planiting
Hi! Where are you from?
I have a very long single sprout growing up from the roots.Can l cut and plant it,or not cut it??.thanks.
Hi Michelle, You could transplants the entire plant - stems and roots but cutting a stem for replanting requires a very complex process. It is not possible to cut a stem and plant it directly into a new location. Most blueberry plants are propagated through stem cuttings rather than seeds but the process is quite complex.
@@ivanmishchenko3558 ok ,l will transplant it with the roots.thanks for the info.
I love to grow blue berry's .the bugs seem to not bother them.l would like more blueberry plants but no blueberry plants to in the nursery this year .l hope transplanting the crazy werd long branch will grow in to a plant.
can i buy blueberry plants to send to indonesia
Great video thanks for information I am Harish from india. So I want to grow this. But I live in hilly area and high chiling area so pley advise please
Hi Harish, Probably best to check with any local growers or nuseries if that is possible. Are there any blueberry farms in your region?
I've heard blueberries dislike tap water and should be watered with rainwater? Is this true. Does the water need to be a specific pH?
We use a municipal water source and many commercial farmers use well water. Of course the plants also received water from rain. In my climate watering is an absolute must. Our blueberry plants enjoy our tap water.
The ideal EC-Value in the water should be 500 mS/cm rain. Tap water has often more than 800 and this is too much. Rain water has only 100 so you can add some fertilizer without doubt.
The PH of water should be not higher than 5.5 but in my experience the soil can tolerate some watering with a higher PH, but you should avoid it. The PH is not so sensitive as the EC Value.
The ph of the water isn’t super important relative to your soils buffering capacity. If the soil ph is correct, you’ll be ok.
What's that noise in the background? Is it bird's repellent?
What do you think about these commercial moisture meters?
Hi Rob, I don't have any experience with them so I can't provide an opinion. My guess would be they would be very helpful in larger fields.
Do you water blueberries in the winter?
No - it rains through most of the winter here and the plants are dormant.
@@ivanmishchenko3558 yes but not where I'm from we get rain in the summer
@@adriangotze1356 It may be best then to get advice from a local farmer or nursery in your area.
Want brand of drip tape?
Netafim. Highly recommended
I have lots of fruit on my beautiful potted Pink Lemonade blueberry bush, but they won’t ripen. Please help.
Are they not ripening every year or just this year?
@@sparkyourdivineconnection1493 I purchased it as a 2nd yr bush a little over 2 months ago. It arrived with flowers all over which turned into a host of blueberries, but they aren’t ripening. They are getting bigger, just not blue. I also have a good bit of newly grown leaves. Overall the plant appears to be very healthy. Soil is a mix of potting soil, compost amended with a soil acidifier. Mulched with pine bark. Since potting I’ve water twice with fish emulsion. Maybe I’m just impatient, but I just want to make sure I’m caring for my plant well. I also have a centurion and a pink icing bush to increase berry production. Note I am a first year gardener. Thanks in advance your your assistance!
@@chantelwilliams7978 Just give it some time probably too early too ripen
@@chantelwilliams7978это не голубой, а розовый сорт! Ягода должна быть розовой! Привет тебе из России!
What do you do if the leaves are brown fro under watering??
Remove the plants and replace with new ones
Где русский язык? Тебя смотрят из России!