BLUEBERRIES

Good are a great choice for their fruit, as well as shrubs for your landscape. Their fruits and veggies are easy to choose, freeze, have many uses, and be noticeable among vegetables for their high content of antioxidants--those chemicals that slow aging that help your immune system combat infections. Blueberry bushes are easy to grow, have few problems if any, with attractive glossy oriental leaves in summer turning a beautiful red in fall. When choosing which blueberries to grow, first determine which group you want. There are many cultivars to choose from within each of these groups, varying mainly in time of bloom and fruit size.

You'll be wanting to choose at least 2 if not 3 different ones for cross pollination, unless they are one of the few listed as "self fertile" or "self-fruitful". Help to make sure to choose ones from the same group as, for instance, a lowbush won't pollinate a highbush type. Make sure too that they are listed to bloom at the same time. You will find cultivars (cultivated varieties) listed as early, core, or late season. Even though this often identifies maturing of the berries, comparative bloom time is identical except for some commercial cultivars. So the bees can move the pollen among your different shrubbery, plant them near each other, or preferably intermixed.

There are five main groups of blueberries, addressing three main species. 3 of such groups are suited to northern gardens. In the South you will see rabbiteye and southern highbush cultivars, which aren't robust in the north. That they can't survive below about zero to -10 degrees (F) minimum winter temperatures.

Hardiest of the blueberries, the lowbush (Vaccinium angustifolium) would be the fruits those in cooler climates wish to pick from the wild. Native People in the usa dried the berries and pounded them into "moosemeat" -- a substance they used to make pemmican. Wild lowbush blueberries are grown commercially in certain upper states, particularly in Maine. They're grown more in the coldest northern parts, not merely as they are more hardy (zones 3 to 7), but that being only a foot possibly even high and usually under snow they survive better than highbush cultivars. Space these about 2 to 3 foot apart. Gardeners who develop wild blueberries in their backyards can anticipate about a pint of berries for each and every foot of row in late July to Aug.

There are only a few cultivars for berry, and a few picked for ornamental use as low, massed groundcovers or even as a vegetable for large containers. In the event growing in containers, give some winter protection such as an unheated car port, or bury pots (ofcourse not tops) in the fragment pile. 'Top Hat' is a mounded cultivar under two feet tall and wide. 'Burgundy' has a wonderful dark red fall foliage color, and grows about one foot high and about one meter wide.

The Northern highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum) is the most popular blueberry plant in many areas, both for home gardeners and commercial farmers. They may be the ones you find at u-pick farms. The shrubbery grow from 6 to 15 feet high, and produce large berries midsummer in zones 4 to 7 usually (-20s to 10 degrees minimum winter temperatures). Yields vary extensively among the cultivars, but most gardeners can anticipate from 5 to 15 pounds per bush.

Although less hardy than the lowbush, some cultivars of the highbush grow well in zone 3 (-30 degrees) when planted in a spot sheltered from the wind. They usually develop areas with growing periods of at least one hundred sixty days between frosts. A large number of cultivars require a relaxing length of 600 or more hours below 45? Farrenheit, making them unsuitable for hot and mild environments.

Some of the more popular highbush cultivars include the early-season 'Duke', 'Bluecrop' in mid-season and 'Jersey' in late mid-season, 'Nelson' in late-season, and 'Elliott' in very late- season. If you only have room for starters, look for the self-fruitful 'Bluetta'. Intended for really red fall leaves look for 'Brigitta', 'Hardyblue', 'Legacy', or 'Reka'. A few of the major fruits can be found on 'Chandler. '

Crosses between highbush and lowbush good have triggered several lower cultivars than highbush, but taller than the lowbush, which are often classified as "half-high hybrids". Being not as long (3 to 4 feet) and so more guarded by snow in the north, they often make it through better there than many highbush cultivars. They develop in zones 3 to 7. Yields on these generally range from 2 to 8 pounds every bush.

Most of the half-high cultivars are self-fruitful, but even these will have larger fruits and better yields if more than one cultivar is nearby. 'Chippewa, 'Polaris', and 'St. Cloud' require another cultivar for cross pollination. Some popular cultivars in this group include the early 'Patriot', the early on mid-season 'Northland', and the mid-season 'North Sky'. 'Friendship' is one of the few late-season cultivars.
The moment choosing blueberry bushes, to make their culture even easier, look for ones which includes disease resistance, especially to "mummyberry" and originate canker. Mummyberry causes vegetables to show pink prior to ripening, shrivel and show up off (these are known as "mummies"). Stem canker may cause cracks in the canes and then fatality, particularly on Northern highbush cultivars.
When planting, allow sufficient space for experienced growth--5 to 6 ft apart for the highbush, 4 to 5 ft apart for the half-high, and one to 2 feet apart for the lowbush. You could find more on blueberry culture in the Fruit Gardener's Bible, by Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry.