Here in SE GA z9a. My two small blueberry bushes have had buds for a week or so. The weather has been cool/cold. All off a sudden a heat wave 80*, and they are breaking bud. Is it too early to fertilize? Usually fertilizing is a month away. Feb and early March can be really cold, in the 20s. Thanks
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I think Ison nursery recommends fertilizing them in mid March, likely to avoid stimulating strong growth before the last strong frost, which has the potential to harm the plants.
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Yeh, always tempting to fertilize early when growth starts. I’ll wait.
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We always have a cold snap about mid March in SE GA.
If they’re blooming then or have small fruit, watch out. We lost our entire crop two years ago.
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Agreed. I can cover my bushes if necessary. I’m in Camden County, where are you?
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Here in southern TN… i fertilize mine early spring as buds begin to swell. I use organic hollytone fertilizer.
My rabbiteyes are 7 ft tall and quite bushy. They produce a lot of nice berries.
All of my varieties must be early or mid ripeners… they are finished fruiting mid July.
As soon as each bush finishes fruiting… i give them another healthy dose of hollytone and a shot of miracle grow high N.
From Mid July until November i have been getting some nice late summer, early fall growth. Have had no tip die back over winter either… even with lows of 3F.
I have been doing this 2x a year fertilizing for the past 4 years… well because prior to that they just were not putting on much new growth.
They are now.
Last spring was the first year that i lost any blueberrry fruit from late frost.
My tifblue rabiteye blooms for extended time… it blooms some early mid and late… makes it a good polinator for most any other rabbiteye.
Last year mid March we got 24-25 two nights in a row the early blossoms on my tiffblue were in full bloom… and got toasted. But… it continued to bloom after that… the mid and later blooms and I still got a good crop from it.
If you are in the south and you have early ripening blueberries you might try fertilizing them a second time… as soon as the last berries are harvested.
It has been working well for me here in southern middle TN.
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West of Vidalia. Just saw your question.
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