Use the rabbiteye variety. Probably Tifblue or Climax. You probably want to get more than one type to ensure pollination.

Buying blueberry plants can come into the money. I have couple of friends in my area that have quite a few bushes so they let me dig up the sprouts. I now have 45 pretty good bushes myself. I am very blessed with good rich soil. For some reason blueberries will not grow in chalkie or parire soil. Have your soil tested first. Of course you probably already know that. Good luck

Yes you do need two vareties for pollination.We have Climax,TifBlue,Sharp Blue & Premier.We got them from a guy down near Alex City for $4.00 each.Got his name out of the Alabama Farmer's Bulletin.We have blueberries from middle of June till
1st of Aug. Jan

Thank you for your help and suggestions.

I just recently ordered some 2-year plants from a large mail-order nursery in central GA (Ty Ty Nursery) and was very pleased with the condition of the plants and speed in shipping (I ordered on a Friday and they were here on Tuesday via UPS Ground). In my case I ordered 2 Tifblue and 2 Powderblue. The 4 plants set me back a total of $64 (including shipping), so they were pricey. Just make sure you get at least 2 kinds of the southern highbush varieties. I made the mistake of ordering a sampler from Burpee 3 years ago and it turns out they were northern varieties. They're just not doing anything in this AL heat and are the same size they were when I planted them...I'm probably going to dig them up and toss them this spring to make room for other plants.

I live in lower Shelby County, down by Lay lake in Wilsonville. I am blessed with nice sandy/clay soil with, NO ROCKS. Only problem is that my soil is neutral ph. I am adding compost to the soil, and using pine straw for mulch. I have planted my blueberries in raised beds. How can I make the soil more acidic?

I don't know Braveheart.

Probably your best bet is to work in pine bark mulch, too, in addition to the pine straw. You should also be able to buy some sort of acid-rich fertilizer in any gardening store. Miracle Gro used to sell a product called "Miracid", but I haven't seen it in the stores lately. Maybe they don't sell it anymore or possibly I haven't looked hard enough. I need to find something for my blueberry plants I just put in last month (see my posting above). If anyone has suggestions let me know. Thanks.
Tom (Helena, AL)

Mimidi, call your Auburn Cooperative County Agent. They usually have an office in the county courthouse. Ask then about the varieties for your area.

Tom35080, you are very lucky with TyTY Nursery. TyTY has probably the worst reputation in the North American nursery business community. There are a number of posts on GW about them. The info about them on Dave's Garden Watchdog was so bad and hurt their reputation so badly they put pressure on Dave's to take down the thread.

Good idea about checking with my county agent.

Go to this link and you find all you need to know about blueberries including the fertilizer needed to lower the Ph. It is provided by the Alabama Extension Service. Happy planting.

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1078/

Cfair I checked out this site and there is lots of good infromation.