Hands up who has tried to grow a blueberry before?
Ok, now hands up who grew one successfully?
I know I have tried and failed. Not failed as in to death do us part. Failed as in I got sick of looking at a stick that had three blueberries on it!
I persevered. I can now give you some great growing tips on how I got mine to look so good.
Blueberries like a position that receives full sun most of the day but if you live in Ipswich, like me, and temperatures in Summer can reach over 40C, it is recommended that plants should get a little afternoon shade.
I have found growing my Blueberries in pots is a lot easier than the ground. They are an acidic loving plant and I find my local soil just isn't good enough.
I always use excellent quality potting mix, like Searles Platinum Potting Mix but add some (about a cup or two) course bark (10mm-25mm in size), usually just the Searles Orchid Bark is fine, to provide an open potting mix for root development. Blueberries produce masses of fine roots which mat together. Without an open potting mix all Blueberry varieties will only have a life of around 2-3 years in pots. This mix will extend the plants life well beyond this. Mulching the top of the pot is imperative to minimise drying out. Blueberries hate wet feet but fruit will taste bitter if they dry out too much. Mulch seems to help with both these problems.
Your Blueberry should be fertilized every three months with a good quality organic slow release complete fertiliser like Organic Link. A liquid fertilizer, like Triple Boost should be applied to the foliage fortnightly through the growing season. A good liquid trace element mix like Bio-Trace should be given about twice a year. Plant health is very important for best fruiting results.
I have grown a number of different Blueberries in the past. My current favourites are Blueberry Burst, Sunshine Blue and Gulf Coast.
BlueBerry Burst
Saying I'm excited about BlueBerry Burst would be an understatement. This Australian bred, naturally dwarfing evergreen blueberry (1m high and 75cm wide) is said to grow and fruit WELL anywhere in Australia.
Blueberry ‘Burst’ has been successfully trialled in both hot and cold environments throughout Australia and humid and dry areas too.
I have been successfully growing mine in a large pot in Ipswich for years and my friends grow theirs at Mt Marrow. Both have suffered through hot, humid summers, cold wet winters as well as hot dry summers, cold dry winters.
It has exceptionally large fruit and a very high yield and it still tastes amazingly sweet kind of like, you know a blueberry!
For those of you living in a warmer climate fruiting should start in July and those in a cooler climate around late august. Fruiting concludes within 3-4 months.
Sunshine Blue Blueberry
Sunshine Blue has it all. This semi-dwarf, versatile shrub features showy hot pink flowers that fade to white in spring, with delicious, sweet blue fruit during summer.
A wonderful shrub that is easily grown, producing abundant amounts of fruit for eating or use in pies and sauces.
Sunshine Blue tolerates higher pH soils better than many other blueberries and it is self-fertile.
It is a Southern Highbush with the low chilling requirement of 150 hours making it suitable for the subtropics, but is also surprisingly cold-hardy and a wonderful addition to patios and gardens in cooler areas.
Flowers October to November
Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast Blueberry is an exceptional hardy Blueberry, perfectly suited to the subtropics.
It has excellent flavour, firmness and good picking scar. A vigorous upright bush with moderate toughness and good tolerance to root rot.
It has a late fruiting season October, November, December.
While Blueberries are self pollinating they always produce better and more abundantly if they are surrounded by friends!