blueberries

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tansam
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I have blueberries in pots that are 5 years old and still no fruit.what am I not doing? They did have a growth spurt last year!
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Primrose
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I know they do like an acid soil. Did you use a suitable peat based compost in your containers? Also is there any possibility that they have become root bound in containers that are too small? Afraid I never had much success with my blueberry plants either so hopefully somebody else will come along who is more of an expert who can help you.
The adverts always show bushes laden with fruit but sadly mine only produced half a dozen berries before I finally gave up on them.
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Santa_stunt_double
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Over the past three years we have grown blueberries in 60L to 100l pots of Ericaceous compost with fairly decent crops.

However, we have suffered about 30% of the blueberry plants dying over winter, so we have now moved to a raised bed with ericaceous compost, so maybe next year we will have more suggestions..

Paul
tansam
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Thank you both for replies.I did use appropriate soil - but did wonder if the pot was too big to start with as was a very small plant.what size plant are you putting into 60l/100l pots?
robo
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We had 2 blueberries in our garden at home they had been in for about 5 years in total I think we had 3 berries of them in the 5 years in winter last year we moved them to the plot the soil there is very clayish it leaves a lot to be desired last summer we had loads of berries to be honest we missed them all as we where away for over 2 months but one of my granddaughters used to sit on a deck chair in front of the bushes and helped herself I also got told by a lady on one of the other plots that we had an abundance of them maybe your soil needs changing
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Santa_stunt_double
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Hi Tansam,

Most of the Blueberries came in 2 litre pots, so were about a foot or so, mostly purchased from ordinary garden centres and nurseries. They went into 37l pots initially, and then into the largest pots as the branches grew significantly wider than the pot. In the ground, they're now about 3 foot high, and similar diameter.

However, we have had issues with Cranberries dying off early without fruiting. We now have a bed with 5 Cranberries, all purchased this year, three looking somewhat sad with life, and two thriving. Interestingly, the three unhappy ones (plus one that didn't last a month) all came from a 'big name' Garden Centre chain, the ones that are thriving came from a specialist mail order fruit nursery. Not sure about Board rules on naming - lets just say it's a nursery that sounds like it sells Victorian antiques.

I'm also following advice from my Filipino/American hairdresser (from Cape Cod - where the big Cranberry growers are) on growing - put a 6" layer of sand down first, with compost on top, & keep damp.
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FelixLeiter
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To advise you about what you are not doing, perhaps we need to know what you have been doing hitherto. It's important that they are kept constantly moist. Using the right compost, of the correct pH, is important. The pH of compost, though, can change over time. If you are in a hard water area and you're watering your plants from the tap, the pH can increase. With any potted plant, you also need to feed regularly. You may also need to move your plants up to a larger-sized container as they progress.
Allotment, but little achieved.
Colin Miles
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I have 3 Blueberries which were first planted 10 years ago - doesn't time fly! One of them is really thriving and laden with berries, as it has for the past few years. Another is doing reasonably well and the third is little more than a couple of sticks and branches. Trouble is I can't remember what varieties they are.
Elaine
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Last year, my husband bought me a pack of three Blueberry bushes from his foray to the pound shop :roll: ....I wasn't impressed (it's the thought that counts ) but gave the poor things a chance, expecting them to keel over. The instructions said that one of the plants was a pollinator to the other two. I don't have the names unfortunately.
I planted them in ericacious compost, in pots just big enough, watered them with saved rainwater and left them to it expecting nothing!
One of the plants died over winter, the other one has leaves and showed no sign of flowering and the third flowered and has around 20 berries of varying sizes. The plants are about 10" tall now.
I gave them a feed of ericacious stuff in spring and that's about it....time will tell if the berries ripen.
Happy with my lot
PLUMPUDDING
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I've got three blueberry bushes two were planted in ericaceous compost in the border and one was given to me by a friend and I planted that in a larger pot, then a square planter, in ericaceous compost, with a water reservoir (a lidl special). I get fruit off all three, but the one grown in the planter has grown much better than the other two. The only difference in treatment has been the access to water in the planter, so I'd definitely agree with Felix to always keep them moist, top up the ericaceous compost occasionally and give them a feed for ericaceous plants once a year. I also net them to keep the birds off.

I got the two original plants from Trehane blueberry nursery and can recommend anyone wanting to start with named plants to try them. I bought Herbert, supposed to be best flavour, and Bluegold which has very good flavour and is very productive. The Bluegold is the first to fruit. The other plant is Top hat and has quite a long season.
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