Blueberry is a kind of fruit with high nutritional value. Can you plant blueberry bushes in pots? Yes, you can plant blueberries in plastic plant pots. They can not only be appreciated, but also blossom and bear fruit at home. The fruit is big and sweet, safe and pollution-free.
Blueberries can be seen in spring and bear fruit in summer. You can plant them not only in the field, but also in blueberry bush pots. Moreover, the technology of growing blueberries in containers has been very mature. As long as it is done, it can achieve results all over the branches. So how to growing blueberries in pots?
At present, there are many varieties of blueberries. Planting blueberries in containers is also very extensive. The climate in the south is humid and hot. It is more suitable to plant rabbit eye blueberries in pot. It can also be mixed with several varieties.
The climate in the north is dry, with low temperature in winter and large temperature difference in four seasons. Cluster blueberries are more suitable for planting in the north. High cluster blueberries are the basic varieties. Most orchards will plant multiple varieties together to pollinate each other. This also improve their fruit setting rate and fruit quality.
In the family planting method, select 2-year-old or 3-year-old blueberry seedlings. Such seedlings and blueberry bush planters are easier to plant and survive. When selecting seedling species, it is best to choose Beilu, black pearl, Duke, Nanjin V3 and other varieties. They are more suitable for family potting.
The self pollination of rabbit eye blueberry, sharpland and O'Neill is not real. So pollination trees must be configured to give full results. It is not easy to choose this variety for family potting. The dwarf blueberry bush is only suitable for outdoor planting in the north. You can use other varieties as family potting.
You can plant blueberries all year round. The best time is to buy them from autumn to the second spring before germination. Blueberry seedlings in this period are easy to transport and simple to manage.
After planting in autumn, a small amount of flowering and fruiting can be achieved in the second year. Normal flowering and fruiting can be achieved in the third year. The full fruiting period is the fifth year. If the potted blueberry bush are properly managed, the fruiting period can be maintained for 35 years.
In fact, growing blueberries in pots is a very simple thing. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The first step in planting blueberries is to choose a blueberry bush pots with good air permeability. The oxygen in the air continuously provides the growth nutrition for blueberries through the blueberry pots soil.
First identify some flower soil with weak acidity, good air permeability and not easy to accumulate water. Fill a small part of it into the blueberry planters. Then put the healthy young blueberry plants into the blueberry bush pots. Fill the pot with the rest of the soil. After that, put the blueberry bush planters in a warm position and slowly maintain it.
The root system of fruit is often more extensive and slender than that of flowers and plants. What follows is that they have a greater demand for growth space. So when we provide best pots for blueberries, we must choose large size blueberry planters. This make blueberries grow more smoothly.
Because blueberries have fibrous roots and shallow roots, it is forbidden to use deep blueberry plant pot. I recommended using 15cm plastic plant pots for small seedlings, and 25cm plastic plant pots for finished plants. So don't use large plastic pots for small seedlings.
With the blueberry pots, the next thing we need is the best soil for blueberries in pots. When preparing the soil, we can mix some organic fertilizer with the fluffy pots soil. This not only solves the problem of air permeability, but also solves the problem of nutrition. It can reduce many unnecessary troubles in your subsequent planting.
At present, blueberry bush potted are more popular in the south. Because most of the potting soil for blueberries in the south is acidic. The pot soil can make blueberries grow well without acidic treatment. However, the soil in the north is alkaline. So it is necessary to acidify the pots nutrient soil.
For potted blueberry bush in the north, mix the soil with 3 parts of garden soil, 3 parts of rotten leaf soil, 3 parts of river sand and 1 part of rotten organic fertilizer. Such nutrient soil is acidic, loose, permeable and fertile. For container planting, we must use acidic potting soil for blueberries. The blueberry bush pots soil should contain sufficient organic matter.
Blueberry plants in pots will grow faster and stronger in the appropriate pot soil. The drainage of soil with pH value of 4.0-5.5 should be guaranteed. But blueberries in pots prefer water. So add some perlite and vermiculite, peat soil or compost soil to the pot. This can increase the acidity of blueberry pots soil and improve the water retention of soil.
When we grow blueberries on balcony, the light is sufficient. The temperature is too high, the soil evaporation is large. The soil of the blueberry bush planters will be flooded by salt. Therefore, we should wash the salt regularly. We can prepare a bucket of water, soak the pot for blueberry bush in it. Then take out the planters for blueberries, drain the water, repeat it several times. Wash the salt thoroughly and wash away the toxic substances in the pots.
If we don't wash the blueberry planters with salt, the pH value of the pots soil will change. This will increase the salinity in the pot soil and eventually lead to drought and death of the blueberries. Therefore, washing the salt in time is a very important thing. The growth condition of blueberry bush is acidic soil. Blueberry bush in container can grow well only in acidic soil.
Before planting, place the seedlings in a cool and ventilated place for about 2 hours. Then plant them in the pots. When planting, first lay a layer of stones at the bottom of the pot. Add the pots soil and base fertilizer. Then implant the seedlings into the containers. Finally sprinkle a layer of soil, gently compact the soil, and pour water once.
After growing blueberry plants in pots, put the pots in a cool and ventilated place for about 7 days. Then move them to the sun. Water thoroughly to keep the soil completely wet. Then cover them with a thin layer of soil or plastic film. Keep them in a place with sufficient scattered light. It only takes about 30 days for the blueberries to survive.
You can buy bare root shrubs directly in the market or online. It is most suitable for planting blueberry bushes in pots in winter. For the first planting of bare root blueberries, you can pour some rooting solution to promote rooting and germination.
If plants and maintain blueberries in the ground, it needs appropriate spacing. You can plant more than one blueberry every meter. Some blueberries are self-pollinated. These varieties can complete pollination by themselves. If there are other varieties nearby, their yield will increase a lot. It is best to raise more blueberries at home.
Blueberry likes light very much. It can tolerate semi cloudy environment. But if you want it to turn out, put it in a place with more than 6 hours of direct light every day. Growing blueberry bushes requires large plastic tree pots. When we growing blueberries in grow bags, the soil temperature should not be too high. It should not exceed 18-20 degrees.
When we caring for blueberry bushes in pots, we should pay attention to shade preparation and replenish water to blueberries in time. Blueberry tree in pot like the sun. During the growth period, place them in a sunny place to receive light. Maintain ventilation at high temperature. In terms of temperature, the most suitable temperature is between 16 and 25℃.
How to overwinter blueberry bushes in pots? In winter, you should pay attention to keeping warm, but don't put potted blueberries next to heating facilities. Just keep the temperature above 6℃. Only plant one blueberry seedling in each blueberry plant pot. If you want to plant more, you need more blueberry pots. Don't plant several blueberries in one blueberry planter. It's difficult to grow fruits.
Blueberry bush is a drought tolerant fruit tree, but it is not resistant to water logging. Therefore, when watering the potted blueberry bush, we should pay attention not to water frequently. How can you see dry and wet? Usually, when the soil humidity of the blueberry plant pot is lower than 60%, it needs watering. If you do not know how to judge can use the soil humidity detector to measure it. At that time, watering can be carried out according to the data.
If there is less rain outdoors, water the blueberries regularly. It is best to water them with rain. People in the North should avoid watering them directly with tap water. Otherwise it is easy to make the pots soil alkaline. Blueberries are easy to turn yellow and affect the flowering and fruit. Keep the slightly acidic pot soil. Usually, you can use the containers to store some rain at home.
Blueberries have shallow root distribution and are sensitive to lack of water. They should always keep the blueberry bush pots soil moist without ponding. In the blueberry vegetative growth stage, maintain the most suitable water conditions to promote plant strength. In the blueberry fruit development stage and before fruit maturity, appropriately reduce the water supply. This prevents too fast vegetative growth from competing with the fruit for nutrients.
After fruit harvest, restore the most suitable water supply to promote vegetative growth. Reduce the water supply from mid autumn to late autumn, so as to enter the dormancy period in time. I recommended to apply 500ml of vinegar at 3 ~ 5 degrees every month, including half a tablespoon of vinegar. This can maintain the acidity of blueberry pots soil.
When planting blueberry seedlings in planter, we need to use rotten leaf soil as the base fertilizer. This kind of fertilizer is more breathable, but it doesn't have much nutrition. We need to add some rotten animal manure. It is the best fertilizer for blueberries in pots.
When it grows to verdant, we can use chemical fertilizer. But don't apply too much fertilizer at one time. We need to apply less fertilizer frequently. Caring for blueberry bushes in pots, you need to give some acid fertilizer regularly. Avoid the alkaline soil in the blueberry bush planters, and give some ferrous sulfate regularly.
For blueberry bush care in pots, it is best to choose some varieties that bloom in spring. When blueberries are just pregnant with flower buds, you also need to supplement fertilizer appropriately. Organic fertilizer is recommended. The compound fertilizer and mixed organic fertilizer is better than single. The best ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer is 1:1:1.
Blueberries are sensitive to chlorine. Do not use chlorine containing fertilizers such as ammonium chloride and potassium chloride. In addition, blueberries are sensitive to fertilizer. If you accidentally apply too much fertilizer, it will cause root burning and seedling burning. I don't recommend applying more fertilizer. Generally, topdressing once a half month is enough. You can use some special fruit and vegetable nutrient solution to dilute and irrigate the roots.
You can also use ammonium sulfate and diammonium phosphate. The ammonium sulfate can reduce the pH value of blueberry pots soil. Adding some crushed stones to the soil can often strengthen the roots of plants. For people who don't want to use organic fertilizer, they can also choose some animal manure. Blueberries are more delicious and can meet the requirements of natural nutrition.
Planting blueberries requires proper pruning. If you see blueberries bloom in the first year, be sure to cut off all their flowers. There is no fruit in the first year. Even if it does, its fruit will be too small to eat. After each fruit bearing, properly prune it to maintain a good plant type. This promote branching and facilitate more flowering and fruiting.
In the first growing season, pruning blueberry bushes in pots as little or no as possible. When pruning blueberry young trees in the first three years in winter, remove the lower thin and weak branches, drooping branches, horizontal branches, Cross branches, over dense branches and overlapping branches of bore branches in the tree crown. Flower buds at the top of branches can be cut off by slight short cutting.
Ensure each branch of blueberry can receive sunlight and fully absorb nutrition. Whether potted or ground grown blueberries, cut off the branches at the bottom, clean up the diseased leaves and branches. Clean up the fallen leaves on the blueberry planters soil, and properly trim the branches that grow too vigorously.
Powdery mildew is the most common disease of blueberry bushes. This fungal disease is easy to cause the leaves to turn brown. This will seriously cause the blueberry bushes to hang up. Improper treatment will reduce the yield of blueberry bushes. You must remove them in time.
The more common pests include blueberry shoot borers. These are easy to cause dry leaves and wilting of branches. We should also pay attention to prevent cherry sword Spodoptera and weevil. The best way to growing blueberries in pots is to cover it with appropriate medium.
Every year, cover with a layer of wood chips or peat soil 4-10cm thick. This helps to regulate water and avoid weeds. If blueberries start to bear fruit, protect them with something in a grid. For example, mosquito net.
The above are the methods and maintenance points of growing blueberries in containers. Rabbit eye blueberries with tall plants can be planted in the south. It has strong adaptability to the environment. When the whole blueberry turns blue and tastes sour and sweet, you can pick it.
Learn more in our Growing Plants in Pots guide.
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