Blueberries are sour red berries, widely used in a variety of sauces, cakes and fruit juices. Many add them to salads or dry them as a snack. In recent years, they have also become known for their healing qualities, largely due to the high concentration of vitamin C and antioxidants. Although they are more easily grown on a commercial scale, blueberries can also be grown indoors. Read on to learn how to grow them.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Planting Blueberries
Step 1. Choose a blueberry variety
There are several that can be grown indoors. The variety you choose depends on the purpose for which you intend to harvest these fruits.
- Vaccinium oxycoccus blueberries are small red berries. They are easy to grow and stay fresh for a long time after harvest if stored properly.
- American cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon), also known by the term "Stevens" are a hybrid variety designed for productivity and disease resistance. They are large and bright red in color.
- Two other types of blueberries of the Vaccinium macrocarpon variety are “Ben Lear” (large burgundy-black berries) and “Early Black” (small deep red berries). However, these varieties are not recommended for beginners as they are more difficult to care for and more prone to disease and infestation than others.
Step 2. Plant blueberries at the right time of year
These fruits grow best in cooler climates. They can be planted at different times according to the age of the plant.
- The cuttings and seedlings can be planted throughout the fall, from October to early November, or in spring, from mid-April to the end of May.
- Rooted plants with 3 years of life, which are still growing, can sometimes be planted in the summer, provided they are bought in pots.
Step 3. Prepare the ground
When it comes to soil, blueberry plants have unique requirements: they need soil with a low pH and a high level of organic matter. Therefore, it is often necessary to completely replace the existing soil rather than trying to modify it.
- The average size of a clod to be dedicated to blueberries ranges from 1, 2 to 2, 4 m. However, if you want to grow only one plant, a space of 0, 20m is sufficient2.
- Dig the soil to a depth of 18-25 cm. Fill the space with peat and mix 230 g of bone meal and 460 g of blood meal.
- As an option, you can also add 1 cup of Epsom salts and 460g of phosphate - these amounts are indicated for a 3m plot.2, so adjust accordingly.
- Before planting, wet the soil thoroughly (but do not saturate it). You can use a garden hose, periodically moving the soil to promote absorption.
Step 4. Plant the cuttings or seedlings
Blueberry plants are grown not from seeds, but from one year old cuttings or three year old seedlings.
- Know that plants don't start producing fruit until their third or fourth year, so deciding whether to use cuttings or seedlings depends on how quickly you want to harvest fruit.
- If you opt for cuttings, plant them in the prepared moist soil, leaving about 30cm of space between each plant. The root structure of each must be approximately 5 cm below the soil surface.
- If you choose to grow the three-year-old seedlings, leave about 1m of space between them.
Step 5. Alternatively, you can grow blueberries in a container
They undoubtedly grow best in a vegetable garden, where they have plenty of room to spread their roots. However, you can also grow a single plant in a large pot if you prefer.
- Fill the pot with peat and add the three-year-old seedling. Let it grow roots inside the container (as they take root and form the supports for the fruit), but cut off any extension that extends beyond it. You can also fertilize the soil with a low-nitrogen fertilizer to limit root growth.
- Potted cranberry plants need to be transplanted every two years (unlike those in the ground that stay indefinitely).
Part 2 of 3: Caring for Blueberry Plants
Step 1. Check for weeds
Blueberry plants are unable to fight against weeds, so it is very important to eliminate them regularly, especially during the first year. Fortunately, peat moss used in soil inhibits the growth of many weeds.
Step 2. Keep the plants wet
During the first year (and beyond) they need constant watering to keep the soil regularly moist. If the roots dry out, the plants will die.
- It is a common misconception that blueberry plants need to be saturated or soaked in water while growing. Although the soil should always be wet (or at least moist) to the touch, it should not be soaked in water.
- Too much water can slow root growth and prevent them from reaching the required depth.
Step 3. Fertilize the soil
Soon, the first twigs (similar to those of strawberry plants) begin to sprout from the plants, which occupy the whole ground before putting the roots and sprouting the "uprights", that is the part of the plant on which the flowers and the fruit. To favor the growth of these first twigs, the soil must be well fertilized.
- During the first year after planting, apply a high nitrogen fertilizer, which encourages the spread of the branches. Fertilize the soil three times: once at the beginning of growth, once when the flower buds appear, and the third when the berries begin to form.
- To contain the spread of the twigs in the space allotted to the blueberries, you should outline the perimeter with some wooden or plastic edging.
- After the first year, it is necessary to reduce the nitrogen supply, in this way the twigs tend not to spread anymore and to concentrate their energies in forming the “risers”. Use a non-nitrogen fertilizer from the second year onwards.
- At the beginning of the second year (and thereafter every other year) it will be necessary to cover the soil with a thin layer of sand (1, 25 cm). This will help the twigs to root and prevent weeds from growing.
Step 4. Keep plants checked for pests and diseases
Blueberry plants are susceptible to certain pests and diseases, but these are relatively easy to deal with as long as you know what to look for.
- Worms are a common problem, as gray moths lay their eggs inside the berries themselves. If you notice their presence around your plants, you need to spray the soil with an insecticide to kill the eggs.
- If you don't catch the worms in time, the eggs will hatch and the parasites will eat the blueberries from the inside out. You notice the infestation because the berries turn red before ripening. You can address this problem by removing prematurely red fruits (as well as adjacent ones) and disposing of them properly.
- Two other common diseases are red spots (they develop on the leaves of the plant) and fruit rot. The treatment for both of these diseases is the same: spray an organic copper-based fungicide between late June and early August, according to the instructions on the product packaging.
Step 5. Prune the branches that spread from the third year of growth
From now on, pruning is required every spring to control the branches and encourage post development.
- You can sort the texture of the branches with a rake, directing them in one direction. This makes it easier to spot the longer ones and cut them off. Do not prune existing posts.
- Over time, plants can begin to spread beyond the boundaries of the originally intended area. In this case, you can prune each plant in the spring until there is only 5cm of growth above the soil line. The blueberry plants will not produce fruit that year, but will resume normally the following year.
Part 3 of 3: Collect the Blueberries
Step 1. Reap the rewards
If you have grown the three-year-old seedlings, you will be able to harvest fruit as early as the following fall. But, if you've planted one-year-old cuttings, you may need to wait three or four before they start bearing fruit.
- When the plant starts producing blueberries, you can harvest them in September and October of each year. When the fruits are ripe they become light or dark red (depending on the variety) and the seeds inside are brown.
- Although commercial growers harvest blueberries by flooding fields to float them (and thus make harvesting easier), this method is not necessary for a home grow. Blueberries can simply be picked straight from the plants by hand.
- It is important to harvest all the fruits before the winter frost, as they do not withstand temperatures below -1 ° C.
Step 2. Store the fruit
Once harvested, blueberries stay fresh for up to two months if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator; this is a much longer period than most fruit.
Cooked cranberries (or cranberry sauce) can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month, while dried cranberries (which have a similar structure to raisins) will keep for up to a year
Step 3. Protect the plants during the winter
It is important to protect them during the winter months to prevent them from freezing and drying out. You can cover the soil with a heavy layer of mulch (such as leaves or pine needles) before winter arrives.
- You can discover them in the spring (early April), but you must be prepared to cover them again every night when frost is expected; even a single freezing night could kill any new shoots and prevent that year's fruit from growing.
- Don't cover plants with clear or black plastic, however, as this can raise the temperature of the soil below and potentially kill the plants.
