Blueberry Orchard today

Me too, berries are more fun. I also like my black currants and raspberries a lot. Although I still like my stone fruit. No plans to give it up. Adding some jujubes this year too, besides a couple of new blueberries. Jujubes are no spray, low maintenance trees which sound good about now!

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Yes!! I have four jujubes now and I love them!! Honey jar is my favorite. Also have a Li and a sugar cane.

Last winter maintenance step I do for my blueberries is below. A lot of pine needles!!!

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Nice! I buy pine bark mulch for my blueberries. I do collect needles but mostly use those for mulch on all container plants.

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Do you know what varieties you are putting in? I want to put some in also but not sure what varieties or how i want to go about it.

The smaller fruited ones seem to be sweeter. Lot’s of threads about them. This is on my daughter’s lot on Russell island, I was thinking Honey Jar as the only complaint is they are small. The trees tend to be small. The 2nd one I’m undecided. I don’t know much about them. Maybe So the distorted jujube for looks and a bigger size? I just want some fruit, not tons. So only two, open to suggestions too!

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A great thread that will help you immensely choose a jujube or 3-4 is right here.

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Today. May 15, 2020. Rabbiteyes are doing awesome and survived the two late freezes well. image image image image image

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Well if we’re showing off here a bit on blueberry orchards, here’s my labor of love. We have 600+ blueberries, many different varieties including some trial ones. Just some photos from this year’s harvesting. We did two months of flats every single day. Lots of work, but you don’t work a day if you do what you love!

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Wow. Very nice. That fabric holds up to the sun? What brand is it?

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I believe it’s called gator fabric. https://www.alliancegator.com/gator-fabric-gf20/

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Your plants looks like tree’s, how do you get them to grow like that and how long does it take to grow to that size. Wish mine is of to a good start.

I know of the Gator Dust polymeric sand…sounds like they have a lot more.
Besides being uv resistant, I wonder how the weed barrier differs from competitors.

5 or 6 years and just good soil around here for growing blueberries.

I got everything written down so hopefully I get a huge success now. Blueberry,s in a couple of years? Wishful thinking.

I’m on year three in-ground. I push the limits of what’s possible or at least that’s what the locals tell me :smile: . It’s all about proper pH maintenance and foliar feeds of the right ratios. Those two things took my blueberries from twigs to tree trunks. Also translates to fruit loads. I “whooped” for lack of better words, my local competitor whose blueberries are twice the age and half the yield :wink:. It’s all in the love to the bushes, neglect the bush (or worse yet cheap out on ferts) and they’ll neglect you with their poor harvests.

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So far on my farm that Gator Fabric has outperformed local brands and Dewitt. It’s going on year three and my Dewitt fabric is partially failing and one local brand I had to totally replace. I’m excited to try lumilys fabric this year and see if it outperforms all of them.

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We have a few B/B farmers nearby where my wife and friends go to every year without me, so, I don’t know how they do it. I should be ok now.

Yes, when conditions are right these plants thrive. If you don’t start with good soil, not sure how you can keep them alive? Soil must be acidic before you start. One of the biggest mistakes made, to try to work the soil from basic to acidic with the plant in. It has to be done before you plant if you want plants to thrive. Starting them on the wrong foot, they tend to never regain balance.

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My main reluctance to use fabric is that weed and tree seeds will come up in the mulch on top of the fabric and roots will penetrate the fabric, and you have a mess if you try and pull them a year or two later on. So, fresh mulch every year works as well as fabric in my book (except where the mulch is inorganic).

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I read an online publication that trialed growing pecan seedlings either mulch, white or black rubber mulch and in-ground vs. raised beds. Although this will have nothing to do with with thread because blueberries are their own beast, the results showed:

white rubber mulch in raised beds (let’s say the raised beds were 24" off the ground) grew phenomenal seedlings.

it was determined that more than one fertilizer application made at Spring bud break had made no additional difference in seedling size. I can’t say I recall the media composition but I want to say it was very simple and used often: appx. 40% perlite to peat moss. Beds were constructed above ground.

finally, growing a seedling any other way could not produce results that even came near what was accomplished repetitively in raised bed(s) production of Carya illinoinensis/pecan.

I had the link bookmarked and when I deleted it over a year ago, I was being directed to an academia page where it no-longer-existed.

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