Growing Blueberries

Planting, Growing, Pruning, and Harvesting Blueberries

Blueberries are one of the easiest fruits to grow.

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The modern blueberry is a 20th-century invention. Before the 1900s, the only way to enjoy these North American natives was to find them in the wild. Then, scientists started to unlock the secrets of cultivating blueberries, and we’re glad they did!

Plump, juicy berries are now easy to grow in your backyard on bushes that are resistant to most pests and diseases, and can produce for up to 20 years. A relative of rhododendron and azalea, blueberry bushes aren’t just a great edible plant but also an attractive addition to your overall landscape, offering scarlet fall foliage and creamy-white, bell-shaped spring flowers. Learn more about why you should grow blueberries in your home garden.

Note: Blueberries are a favorite snack of hungry birds, so it’s recommended that you protect blueberry bushes ahead of time with netting or other methods.

There are four types of blueberries: highbush, lowbush, hybrid half-high and rabbiteye. The most commonly planted blueberry is the highbush. Most blueberry breeding has focused on this species, so there are many varieties that range widely in cold hardiness and fruit season, size, and flavor. Read more about blueberry varieties below.

Planting

How to Plant Blueberry Bushes

Select a sunny, sheltered spot. While blueberries are tolerant of shade, better crops are obtained in the sun.
Blueberries thrive in soil that is acidic. The soil pH should ideally be between 4 and 5. Soil can be acidified by mixing a small amount of granulated sulfur into the soil several months before planting. Peat moss, as well as pine bark or needles, are also good additions that will help acidify your soil.
The blueberry is a shallow-rooted plant. Therefore, it requires a soil that holds moisture, but also drains well and doesn’t stay wet.
Mix organic matter into the soil before you set your blueberry bushes. (See more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.)
Bushes should be planted as early in the spring as possible. If available, 1- to 3-year-old plants are a good choice. Be sure to go to a reputable nursery.
Dig holes about 20 inches deep and 18 inches wide (about twice as wide and twice as deep as the roots of the plant).
Space bushes about 5 feet apart in a row, with at least 8 feet between rows. Prepare a planting mixture of 2 parts loam and one part oak leaf mold, peat moss, aged sawdust, or compost, and place a layer of this mixture in the bottom of the hole.
Set the bush in the hole with its roots spread out. Don’t plant the bush any deeper than it grew in the pot. Pack the hole tightly with soil.
Apply fertilizer one month after planting, not at the time of planting. Apply ½ ounce of a 10-10-10 fertilizer in a band around the plant 6 to 12 inches from the crown.

Can You Grow Blueberries in a Container?

Yes! In fact, blueberries grown in containers are easier to protect from birds and other critters, more disease resistant, easy to harvest, and easy to move if needed.

Here’s how to do it:

Use a large container with drainage holes.
Use a potting mix designed for acid-loving plants such as azaleas or rhododendrons, or mix sandy soil with peat moss and compost.
Plant the bush in the container and water well.
Add mulch on top of the soil.
Place the pot in a sunny spot.
Keep soil moist.
In northern regions, overwinter the blueberry container in a protected area or cover the container with straw or wrap it in burlap.

Varieties for Containers

‘Top Hat’: Bred by the University of Michigan for small spaces and containers.
‘Pink Lemonade’: Pink blueberries contain genetics from rabbiteye blueberries (a standard in the hot South). These pink berries can be planted in nearly every climate.
‘Pink Champagne’: Another pink variety full of antioxidants and sweeter than blue blueberries.

'Pink Lemonade' blueberries
‘Pink Lemonade’ blueberries

Care

How to Care for Blueberry Bushes

Mulch to keep shallow blueberry root systems moist, which is essential. Apply a 2- to 4-inch layer of woodchips, saw dust, or pine needles around the bush after planting. Read more about mulching.
Blueberries need 1 to 2 inches of water per week.
Drape netting over ripening blueberries, so that the birds won’t make away with the entire crop.
One year after planting, apply 1 ounce of 10-10-10 fertilizer per bush in the spring at blooming time, and increase the rate by 1 ounce each year thereafter to a maximum of 8 ounces for mature bushes.
Do not allow the bush to produce fruit for the first year or two after planting.
Pinch back any blossoms developing on newly set plants to allow the energy to go to growth.

How to Prune Blueberry Bushes

For the first 4 years after planting, there is no need to prune blueberry bushes. From then on, pruning is needed to stimulate growth of the new shoots that will bear fruit the following season.
Prune plants in late winter or early spring before new growth begins.
Cut out dead, broken, short, weak, and spindly shoots.
On highbush varieties, begin with large cuts, removing wood that is more than 6 years old, drooping to the ground, or crowding the center of the bush. Also remove low-growing branches whose fruit will touch the ground, as well as spindly twigs.
Prune lowbush blueberries by cutting all stems to ground level. Pruned plants will not bear the season following pruning, so prune a different half of a blueberry patch every two years (or a different third of a patch every three years).

Pests/Diseases

Birds
Blueberry Maggot
Powdery Mildew

Harvest/Storage

How to Harvest Blueberries

Blueberries will be ready for picking in late July to mid August.
Don’t rush to pick the berries as soon as they turn blue. Wait a couple days. When they are ready, they should fall off right into your hand.
If you plant 2-year-old blueberry bushes, they should start to bear within a year or two. (Pick off any flowers that form the first year or two after planting, to allow the bush to become established.) Be aware that full production is reached after about 6 years.
Blueberries are one of the easiest fruits to freeze. Learn how to properly freeze blueberries so you can have them all winter long.

Blueberries

Recommended Varieties

Blueberries are partially self-fertile, so you will harvest more and larger berries by planting two or more varieties. Planting more than one variety can also extend the harvest season.

Highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum): A six-foot shrub hardy from Zone 4 to Zone 7.

For withstanding cold winters, choose ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Blueray’, ‘Herbert’, ‘Jersey’, or ‘Meader’.
For big berries, choose ‘Berkeley’, ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Blueray’, ‘Coville’, ‘Darrow’, or ‘Herbert’.
For flavor, usually the main reason for growing your own fruit, choose ‘Blueray’, ‘Darrow’, ‘Herbert’, ‘Ivanhoe’, ‘Pioneer’, ‘Stanley’, or ‘Wareham’.
For something different, try ‘Pink Lemonade’, which produces bright pink blueberries!

Lowbush (Vaccinium angustifolium): For the coldest climates, lowbush varieties are your best bet, hardy from Zone 3 to Zone 7.

These are the blueberries you find in cans on supermarket shelves. When fresh, the fruits are sweet and covered with a waxy bloom so thick that the berries appear sky blue or gray.
The creeping plants, a foot or so high, are spread by underground stems, or rhizomes. They blanket the rocky upland soils of the Northeast and adjacent portions of Canada. Lowbush blueberries make a nice ornamental fruiting ground cover.
Plants sold by nurseries are usually seedlings or unnamed wild plants, rather than named varieties.

Half-High: Breeders have combined qualities of highbush and lowbush blueberries into hybrids known as half-high blueberries.

University of Minnesota introductions include ‘Northcountry’, a variety that grows 18 to 24 inches high and has excellent, mild-flavored, slightly aromatic sky-blue fruits; and ‘Northblue’, which grows 20 to 30 inches high and produces an abundance of dark-blue, nickel-size, somewhat tart fruits-just right for pies.
‘Northland’ is a half-high that grows 3 to 4 feet tall. From Michigan, it has relatively bland, average-quality fruit.

Rabbiteye (Vaccinium ashei): Grown in the southeastern United States, Rabbiteye varieties are extremely adaptable, productive, and pest-tolerant. They do, however, have a high degree of self-incompatibility and require two or more varieties be planted together to ensure pollination.

Wit & Wisdom

In Ireland, baskets of blueberries are still offered to a sweetheart in commemoration of the original fertility festival of Lammas Day, celebrated on August 1.

Blueberries are one of the few truly blue foods on earth.

For centuries, Native Americans gathered “star berries” (the blossom end of each berry forms the shape of a perfect five-pointed star) from forests and fields and ate them fresh or dried them for later use.

Dried blueberries were added to stews, soups and meats.
Dried berries were also crushed into a powder and rubbed into meat for flavor.
Blueberry juice was used to cure coughs.
Blueberry juice was also used as a purple dye for cloth and baskets.
A tea made from the leaves of the blueberry plant was believed to be good for the blood.

Recipes

Cooking Notes

Visit our recipe archives to find delicious blueberry recipes ranging from salads to desserts!

Reader Comments

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Shedding Light on the Subject

Hi, jj: Much of this depends on whether they would be getting direct sunlight. Seven hours in the second half of the day is somewhat pushing the envelope for success, but it certainly might be possible. Another possibility might be to plant bushes in containers and move them (such as on a child’s wagon) to get maximum sunlight. If it were up to us, we would definitely try it with a couple of bushes as a test. Good luck!

Transplanting Young bushes

We planted a variety of 4 blueberry bushes in our yard this spring (2015). We realized halfway through the summer they had been planted too close (in a line about 2ft apart). What is a safe way to dig them up and spread them a little furthur apart? We live in Southern Louisiana and were planning on waiting until late December, January, or February, the coldest part of the year for us, when we thought the bushes would be dormant. What is the best way to do this without damaging the plants? Thanks!

Yes, transplant when the

Yes, transplant when the bushes are dormant, usually after the first frost of the fall/winter. Make sure to dig far enough around the root ball and deep down to get as much of the roots as possible. Have the new holes dug and ready for the bushes.

How much & how often can i add 20% Iron Sulfate to each B.B Bush

How much & how often can i add 20% Iron Sulfate to each Blueberry Bush to lower the P/H , i have added some Elemental Sulfur, about 2 months ago & Pine bark Fines and pine Mulch . I keep checking the P/H but everything is very slow in falling, so i bought some 20% Iron Sulfate... So i need to know how to apply it, i think 2 Tbsp's per Bush , per month is correct? But i am not for SURE? Can you help me? Thank You Jerry

The acidification process

The acidification process with elemental sulfur is slow and can take up to 6 months. It works faster when the soil is warm. Wait until spring to test the soil again and see what the values are. If you still think you need to use the iron sulfate use about 2 tablespoons per bush.

Should I cover my 1 yr old

Should I cover my 1 yr old high bush blueberries this fall to help protect from northern new hampshire winter? they are still very very small.

As long as the varieties you

As long as the varieties you have chosen are hardy to your zone, they should winter over just fine with 6 inches or so of shredded bark, pine needle, straw, or shredded leaves for a mulch; heavy snow cover will do the rest. I don’t know how practical covering them is since I don’t know how many you have or how tall they are but if you want to baby them you can place chicken wire cages over them and fill the cages with leaves or cover them with a heavy weight polypropylene row cover.

We just bought a house in

We just bought a house in middle TN that has a row of 4-5 blueberry bushes. It had a good crop this year, but i don't know how old the bushes are. Any recommendations for how i should care for them? thanks,

We live in zone 8A Pacific

We live in zone 8A Pacific North West. There is a local legend / but supposedly true story about an old Blueberry farm that was abandoned over 50, 60 years ago land locked back in the woods between other private farms. They say there are only a few plants still growing and some of them have turned into 20 or 30 foot tall trees with huge trunks that produce berries of intense flavor. Every article I have read notes that Blueberry plants only live for around 25 years. Have you ever heard of or seen any old plant living that long or looking like a tree trunk? Thanks for your help.

Our farm is in Gresham,

Our farm is in Gresham, Oregon. Our blueberry bushes are approximately 75 years and younger. We have been in operation for 58 years. As long as you prune yearly, fertilize, water and deal with the most common diseases, you can get more than 20 years at least in the older varieties.

I have two blueberry bushes,

I have two blueberry bushes, which are about eight years old. Last year only one bush bore fruit. This year neither one had fruit, just a few berries on each. We had severe winters here on Long Island the last two years.Previous years I had more berries then I could handle.

I would cut them to the

I would cut them to the ground in late winter to stimulate new growth. You probably will not get fruit the first summer, but they should start producing the following if they are fed, watered, and other conditions are correct.

iwant to cut my bushes back

iwant to cut my bushes back in november will it hurt the bushes or kill them. they are old and some young plants i need to clean them out.please let me know

Sara, See the "Care" section

Sara, See the "Care" section of this page on pruning back your blueberry bushes. When you cut the stems back to ground level, it does not kill them. In fact, it only makes them stronger. Now, if you want to get rid of your blueberry bushes, that's another story...

Greater than 15yr old

Greater than 15yr old blueberry bushes, last year one had a few new branches with bright red berries, not blue berries that weren't ripe. This year a bunch more, look a lot like honeysuckle berries. These branches are sprouting off the main trunk and producing these bright red berries right next to other shoots that are produceing blueberries. All from the same plant! What is going on with my blueberries!! Please help!

Hi Eric, The blueberries may

Hi Eric,
The blueberries may have something called the blueberry shoestring virus. It is spread by aphids. One way to reduce infection risk is to get rid of the aphids. Read more at http://migarden.msu.edu/upload...

I live in southern Alabama.

I live in southern Alabama. We want to plant Blueberry bushes. What would you suggest for this area and how many?

Rabbiteye varieties are best

Rabbiteye varieties are best for Alabama - and where I live (between Mobile and Tuscaloosa) the Climax and Tifblue varieties work really well. Make sure you have at least two different varieties growing near each other for maximum production.

I am in Western Massachusetts

I am in Western Massachusetts (Zone 5a) and I have 8 lowbush Brunswick's to plant (they were a gift). They are all the same variety...should I pick up a different variety or are these self-pollinators?

Hi Kim, Brunswick blueberry

Hi Kim,
Brunswick blueberry bushes are self pollinating. This is a wonderful hardy blueberry variety.

I bought a Vaccinium Hybrid

I bought a Vaccinium Hybrid two years ago from a reputable greenhouse and planted in it in a large container. So far it has not blossomed or produced any fruit. I am just curious if there is something I am missing, or does this variaty take a few years to produce fruit. As a side note I live in Canada.

Hi, B: In some respects this

Hi, B: In some respects this may depend on the exact type of hybrid you have and where you are in Canada, but it is true that most blueberries take 2 or 3 years, at least, before they become established enough to produce blossoms and fruit. Patience! And thanks for asking!

Where can I buy blueberry

Where can I buy blueberry seeds? How much? When would they be ripe enough to fall? Where do I get the seeds? I live in Montebello, New York. And, where do I plant them? Please answer my questions.

It's best to purchase

It's best to purchase blueberries as a plant, not grow from seed. Visit your local garden center or there are many online plant retailers such as Starbros.com and Burpee.com. Just Google "buy blueberry plants."

You can grow them from the

You can grow them from the fruit if you really want to though. My mother in law threw some old blueberries in her compost hole and a blueberry plant started to grow. It took 2 years to tell what it really was, and another 5 to start to actually blossom. It was about 2 years after that before it really made enough berries to call it producing though. So, 9 years from seeds/berries that she got from the store.
I went and got a 5 gallon plant and it started making berries the next year.

Would it be ok to plant some

Would it be ok to plant some bushes this late in the season? I'm not expecting berries but is like to get them hardy and healthy for next year. I live in northern Arkansas.

A while ago I bought

A while ago I bought blueberries in a store that had worms inside. This year I planted three bushes and I wonder if they should be sprayed to prevent worms. If so what should I use?

At least a week before the

At least a week before the first insects are expected to emerge (early June), place yellow monitoring traps baited with ammonium acetate in the the top third of bushes without foliage touching them. If you monitor the traps and detect flies, only then should you spray an insecticide. Speak to your local cooperative extension about approved insecticides.

I have a Patriot and an

I have a Patriot and an O'Neil blueberry bush planted near each other in a large container. Both had white flowers, but these are turning brown and only a few appear ready to produce blueberries - the majority seem to have shriveled. They get morning and evening sun and indirect but bright light the rest of the day. The plants come from a garden centre this year and appear to be about a year old. I water them weekly. Can I save them?

It's normal for flowers to

It's normal for flowers to turn brown and drop off after they are pollinated. The flowers that are not pollinated will stay on the bushes for a few more weeks and then drop off. Make sure that you have some bees or native pollinators in the area.