I wonder if you change out the soil if they would be any good...

Scott, the blueberries sold by Walmart and Lowe's are from the same wholesale company in Oklahoma. I forgot the name of the company, but remember when I bought mine from both places last year, they were the same grower.

Glad you posted cuz I wanted to ask you when I should put some of my Espoma acid fertilizer on my plants. I know they bloom way early, and I checked and have lots of buds on my plants. I didn't put any fertilizer in the potting mix when I planted them last fall, just the straight peat.

Susan

I guess I should say "blueberry plants" instead of "blueberries". It sounds wrong when I read it back. Anyway..

Susan, I put Miracle Grow Miracid on mine at a third to half the regular rate and I do this three or four times per year based on the stage of the plants. The first application I put on near budbreak, the second I put on in late May, the third just after harvest, and maybe another in August. I will have to check my notes because I don't remember the exact times. I can often tell by looking at the plant if it needs a boost. The plants appearance will improve almost immediately after application.

I think all of these plants come from Park Hill over by Lake Tenkiller. That is where all the ones I bought last year were from. They have all been of great quality in the past, as long as the retailers keep them moist.

I picked up a couple for my wife, for Valentine's day (BIG HIT!) They were dry, but totally dormant and look to be ready to bud.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Susan, when I saw your post that you had buds on your blueberry plants, I thought buds?? ..what buds?? So I raced outside to check out my plants and sure enough.... there are buds. How exciting!

Scott, I hope you periodically drop helpful hints to the newbies since we're only half a year into this blueberry business. I know I could use the pointers. I saw the pictures of your land and BB plants on the snow thread and they were absolutely breathtaking. What I wouldn't give to have that much space - well, I guess for a price I could, huh? lol

George, that is the coolest valentine's day present for your wife. I'm sure she was thrilled with such a unique gift. Good job!

Lynn

Lynn, yeah for you! Yes, there are buds, but I don't think they will break dormancy until a bit later. Blueberries bloom (in my limited experience) very early spring, and then it takes a while for the fruits to set. Scott, correct me if I am wrong, but I recall this from last year. I purchased my plants in March and they were blooming, or about to bloom then.

Now, they are about to complete their first full year of growth in my garden, so it may be a bit later or earlier, depending on the weather as well.

Scott, thanks for the info on fertilizing.

Susan

Although I know a lot more than when I started, I suggest asking a lot of others besides me when it comes to getting good answers about blueberries. I don't think we have a lot of experienced people here in Oklahoma, though. If I could have found a good, reliable source for 3 or 4 gallons of blueberries each year, I probably wouldn't be growing my own now.

During winter and early spring before budbreak, you can tell which buds will have berries and which will be plant growth. The big, fat ones (usually at the ends of last years shoots) will make berries. I've learned that it is a good idea to prune off more of these than I would like to in order to still get good plant growth and have tasty berries. If my plants are shorter than 2 feet (about 3 yr old or less), I prune off almost all of them (but leave a few to see how each plant will taste).

I have forgetton the exact timing of budbreak and blooming. I do know that when we had the late freeze last April (I forgot the date) that about 50% of the blooms were open. Losing 50% of the blooms might have been a good idea on my older plants since I didn't prune enough.

My most important 2 reminders are (1) to mulch with about 4 inches of pecan shells (best), fine pine mulch (good), or pine needles (ok) - or better yet, mixtures of them all; and (2) keep the roots moist all the time. One ten-day vacation in July without them getting water and they may be all dead when you come back. The roots don't even go down a foot.

All of my open space came at a steep price. We had to live for 10 years in Texas (good jobs and no state income tax) in order to save for it.

Yeah, that is the nice thing about Texas. I lived there for a couple of years while working for a federal agency. The bad thing about Texas is the traffic, or I would have stayed there.

Thanks for the info, Scott, I do keep reading and reading articles and information on the net about maintenance of blueberries, etc., so hopefully between all of us we will have some major success stories!

Susan

Our local Wally World had 3 types of berry plants last weekend including blue berry. All were leafed out and looked great. I don't have my greenhouse ready yet and was afraid they are too far along for this time of year here. If I had a place where I could of kept them inside would of bought a couple. Jay

Jay, I bought some bare root ones like that last year that already had leaves on them. I planted them in containers and kept them there until fall. In the fall, I put them in the ground and they seemed to do OK. I need to go look at them, I guess. I don't know much about what is happening outside right now with all the mud, and I have been in Tahlequah all week in addition.

Anyway, they had leaves but one only had a couple of stems, so I wondered if they would make it. A couple of nights when it was going to be really cold, I moved the pots inside a shed just to get them out of the wind, but never into the house. They seem to be pretty strong.