The first key to blueberry growing success is to pick the right variety for your climate and to give it company. Blueberries produce more and bigger fruit when planted with at least one other variety to allow for cross-pollination. Planting multiple varieties with different maturity dates also stretches out the harvest season.
Before settling on specific varieties, you will need to choose the types of blueberries that are best suited to your region: highbush, lowbush, half-high, or rabbiteye. Regardless if you live in Manitoba or Miami, there is a blueberry type that will thrive in your backyard.
A second key to success is the soil. Blueberries demand soil quite different from that enjoyed by most other garden plants. For blueberries to thrive, the soil must be well aerated, moist, very high in humus, and—most important of all—very acidic. These conditions are not, however, difficult to create. Start by doing a soil test, then acidifying it, if necessary to a pH of between 4 and 5.5 by mixing in sulfur, a natural mineral, the season before you plant your blueberries. The amount to use depends on your soil's initial pH and your soil's texture, and ranges from one to seven pounds per hundred square feet. If you indicate on your soil test that you will be planting blueberries, most testing services will tell you the amount of sulfur to use. Mix it into the top six inches of soil across the area of the entire mature root zone.
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