Hi all, I am looking for some suggestions and/or experiences with sunlight requirements for blueberries (northern highbush WI 5B). Currently I have a raised bed space built that’s roughly 50sq ft but it is located against my west wall of my house and will get afternoon sunlight only starting around 1pm—so 6ish hours give or take the time of year. Not sure if no morning sun or just plain lack of enough sun altogether poses any problems with this setup.
There is varying info online so I am hoping someone has some first hand experience. I would hate to amend the beds and waste the resources if it’s a good chance of failure upfront.
I’m running out of room in my full sun spaces but was thinking 4 bushes in ground would fit in this new space.
i have a few patriots and a Chippewa that gets about that same amount of sun. they produce well but not as well as ones in full sun. if you like honeyberries, they do better in shade, as does currants. i love my aurora honeyberries!
Thanks Steve, good to hear yours produce well in partial shade. I think I’ll give it a go. Have a handful of honeys and currants I put in last year—those were pretty nice to fill in spaces since I didn’t have to worry much about them being picky about soil.
@DaveW-wi5b How’d these end up growing for you in this spot? I too have a W/NW facing side of fence I’m considering growing some stuff along but it’s peak light is late spring to fall.
Only thing I don’t like about your specific location is the proximity to the foundation/concrete stem wall but I tend to be a bit cautious.
I ended up using this bed on the west side of my house (in the pic) for veggies. I did plant a smaller , narrower bed on the east side of my house that I put blueberries in. They grow well there with morning sun. Not sure if they are producing at 100% but I get quite a few off the bushes last year and this year. Half pine bark fines, half peat moss.
Looks like a success to me! I’ve basically resigned myself to taking sun wherever I can get it and knowing it’s never going to be perfect with the bulk of it showing up in late spring→summer.
I’ve gotten fruit off of bushes with ~6hr of sun. I did try to find them some afternoon shade though as they got toasted in full afternoon sun once the heat rolls in Sept/October and they appreciated it. Summer always sends in that October scorcher or two before it gives up
Can’t speak to whether they were good harvests since that was the only place I grew, but definitely got harvests
Yep, same here. Can’t say I’ve ever noticed anything amiss within the 5-7h range myself. My preference would be to pick up a large amount of it in the morning and then taper off by mid afternoon but due to trees, slopes, etc it doesn’t really get rolling bright until 10am (in the summer). I actually went and installed some of those cheap DLI meters in certain areas to see how much actual light I was getting and on full sun (no overcast/clouds days) it was like 30+ moles where 20+ is considered “full sun” and I know these spots aren’t seeing more than 8h of light a day.
