Is anyone succesfully growing blueberries in Phoenix? If so can you tell me the name of the plants you are using and how you maintain them ie: in shade, in sun, soil ph, etc. I have tried and failed twice.
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Yes. We like the Sunshine Blue variety. They need morning sun and afternoon shade. The afternoon shade is a MUST. They cannot be up against a block wall, your house, or anything else that would reflect heat. Mine are kept along the irrigation ditch on our property, and they receive the perfect kind of shade...shade from vegetation...more specifically, my neighbor's mature hedge of oleanders. They also MUST be container grown here. They need acidic soil, and lots of rapidly decomposing compost. They also like plenty of water. They must be watered every day. I start mine in a 50/50 potting mix/peat moss blend with sulfur mixed in. I mulch with lots of the hay/goat manure mixture that I rake out of the goat's holding pens every week...it breaks down quickly, which the blueberries love. The blueberries I get aren't the big ones that I was used to from my grandpa's bushes growing up in Michigan....but they are sweet, and my children love them enough that blueberries never make it into the house. I currently have 15 or so bushes.
Thanks, Bethany. I have chosen zone 9 Blueberry bushes. They stay growing in the winter time, but come summer they just don't make it and die. Three have been out in the open, three have been up against the wall of the house. So I've been wrong there on two points.
When you say containers, what size do use? I have a raised vegetable bed 16' x 40' x 12" deep.
Do you try to keep the soils real wet or just moist? How many pints of berries would you guess are harvested each year and when do the berries usually come on?
I, too am from a farm in Lake Orion, Michigan about30 miles N.E. of Pontiac. We grew blueberries with no concerns there, but this desert gardening is totally new to me.
Re: watering
This time of year, I'm watering them about 6 days a week. It mostly depends on how moist they are in the morning of any given day. If something comes up one day, and I water late in the day...then I usually skip the next day's watering. However, generally speaking once a day watering this time of a year is a must. I can somewhat get away with not *quite* watering every single day because most of my blueberry bushes are in large redwood boxes that my husband built specifically for them. I have more than one bush per box, so I feel I have more wiggle room (also they are heavily mulched). If you have one bush per container (say a 10-15 gallon container per bush) then you must water daily. In that situation there is less soil...which means it will be getting dried out faster. Does that make sense?
Lake Orion, huh? I grew up in Sturgis (in SW Michigan if you are unfamiliar) and my husband grew up in Farmington!
I want to tell al of you, that I have learned a lot from these discussions. Much more valuable information than I have been able to get from other sources. Thanks.
Yes, Bethany, Lake Orion. I also worked In Dearborn (I-75 and Outer Drive) for many years.
I've been to Sturgis and had friends in Farmington. My dad owned a 150 acre farm 3 miles from Lake Orion. The property had a 1 1/2 acre pond and a three acre lake. (I wish i were young again and owned the place).
Our house was built in 1846 and is still standing and occupied. He sold it in 1959. If you have any interest in seeing it check it out on Google earth. 2914 Stoney Creek rd, Lake Orion Michigan. The barns, etc are gone but someone is still farming our land across the road from the house.
Robert, in addition to what Bethany posted you are looking for "Southern High Bush" blueberry varieties. These are developed specifically for low chill south and southwest conditions. Zone 9 just won't adequately address the varieties you need. The raised bed may not work for you because you specifically need to carefully control the acidic condition of the soil which could impact other things grown with the BBs. I know I tried to mix method and it did not work. You want a very large container - I recommend 20-24 inches wide.
Karis posted her method of using coffee and coffee grounds to regularly aid the acidic environment, and so far that is working for my container BB, which is also sun challenged but hanging in there (does not get as much afternoon shade as Bethany is recommending and I would concur - just right now I can't move the container.
See the thread post here:
http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/forum/topics/grafted-blueberries...
Hi Robert,
I have had sucess with my blueberries, and my "sunshine blue" is my best producer. If I could do it all over, I would get more of that variety.
As Catherine says, I have used coffee and coffee grounds sucessfully to fertilize and maintain an acidic soil for my blues... Glad its working for you too Catherine!
Here is the post from my desert gardening video blog about growing blueberries in the desert,
http://www.cultivatingdust.com/2012/05/07/growing-blueberries-in-th...
Super video, Karis!