Just wanted to report that hubby just finished planting the fifty blueberry bushes we ordered this fall. It was a lot of digging since we have clay soil. I dug eleven of the holes and luckily he did it over the course of several weeks before the plants arrived. They are all planted, mulched with oak leaves and pine needles and the in-between land mulched with straw. Hubby plans to build a PVC pipe structure over the area to hold up the bird netting but that can wait awhile. Luckily, we already have the PVC pipe left over from another project so we will be using up stuff that is laying around. I can't wait until they produce. Then I won't have to go to a U-pick to get them. Boy this homesteading stuff is sure fun. I had to laugh at hubby. He does enjoy homesteading and he usually does most of the work because he is at home all day and I am away. He had been commenting on how much work it was when he was digging the holes but that it would be worth it when it was done, and how his shoulders were killing him, etc., etc., etc., and then the day they were all in and I was helping him put the straw down, he said, "I wouldn't mind getting some more blueberry bushes next year." I just chuckled. He sure has become a homesteader through and through. Not bad for a Philadelphia city boy.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), November 15, 2001

Answers

Hi Colleen.

congrats on getting all those blueberry plants planted. i am sure that was a tough job.i think after planting 50 blueberry bushes i would be interested in planting any other kind of plant besides another blueberry.

Since you planted 50 that leads me to believe that you know something about them and hopefully you can help me with a problem that i am having with mine. i planted 6 about 5 yrs ago. the first 2 yrs they did great but i am finding that each spring i am having to cut more and more bad wood from them so that instead of growing taller they are becoming shorter and getting less and less berries with each year. do you have any suggestions on what to do to get them growing better?

Thanks, George

-- george (bngcrview@aol.com), November 15, 2001.

Colleen, we have 190 blueberry bushes in clay soil, here in east Georgia. Try to get your soil acidic, as close to 4.5 as you can. Keep using the mulch. Consult your county agent with problems. No briars like blackberries...isn't that great? Buddy

-- Charles Haddon Jr. (Buddybud@csranet.com), November 15, 2001.

Charles, what are you doing with your 190. I planted 100 a few years ago and they are great, sold alot at the Farmer's Market, were in the process of getting reading for Feb.or Mar. to plant 200 more. We have 4.5 ph, and my well water which I use is low ph tool. We hope to be a U-Pick someday. Are you??

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), November 16, 2001.

Wow, you are all so ambitions with your plantings.!!! I thought we were doing quite wonderful with our 30 bushes. Can hardly wait to be able to pick my own berries. We just planted ours this year also.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 16, 2001.

I'm afraid I am not an expert on blueberries. We planted them in New Hampshire but I was only there for one year after we planted them so I don't really know how they did. The plants did not die and the next year they had a few berries but I don't know how well they eventually produced. I'm sure some of the others on here will be able to answer your questions.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), November 16, 2001.

I'm working on my blueberry & currant patch at the moment. I won't be planting the blueberries yet this year, so I'm going to start composting my pine needles for them (got the leaf mold going already).

My question is, how do you keep the chipmunks from taking all the fruit? Do you build wire cages over them?

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), November 17, 2001.

julie, our problem is not the chipmunks but the birds!! The birds got them this year before the chipmunks ever got a chance. We finally strung clothes line over each row and attached stuff like those aluminum pie tins to it that would move with every breeze. It kept the birds off and I didn't see chipmunks on the bushes. (maybe since it was the first year they didn't know they were there :>( ) We took almost all the blossoms off when we planted and got just a couple of berries from each bush but oh yummy, I just can't wait until next year. It looks like all the bushes are still alive and got new growth on them. We dragged pine needles from under the trees and mulched them really good.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 17, 2001.