General conditions for growing tall blueberry
Planting bushes.
American blueberry bushes are planted in a place well lit by the sun, so that the fruiting is abundant, and the fruits are sweet and juicy.
In order to properly prepare the field for blueberry cultivation, it is necessary to plow it in the previous planting year. It is important to completely destroy harmful weeds, for example, using a herbicide. Next year, as early as possible in the spring. you should start planting blueberries. First of all, they plan the rows in which to plant blueberries. They should run in the north-south direction, which guarantees the correct illumination of the bushes by the sun. However, if there are large differences in height, bushes are planted perpendicular to the slope. The distance between bushes in a row should be about 1 meter, and the distance between rows should be 3 meters. Preparation of the place for planting begins with plowing as large furrows as possible in the places of the rows where the bushes will be planted. Then they are filled with organic matter - for example, acidic peat, peat mixed with sand or composted sawdust with pine bark - and level the area with a soil cutter. Bushes are planted a little deeper than they grew in the container, and then watered abundantly. If the groundwater level is high or if the parent soil is dense, clayey, the bushes must be planted above the soil level in beds about 30 cm high. A very useful procedure after planting the bushes, which is often used, is the litter plantation device. For this purpose, sawdust of coniferous trees or pine bark is used. Litter creates very favorable conditions for the development of blueberries due to the fact that it retains water, maintains a constant pH value, provides plants with nutrients during decomposition, protects against freezing in winter, and from excessive drying in summer. In addition, the litter partially protects against weeds, which are undesirable in blueberry plantations. They are destroyed mechanically or with the help of herbicides.
WATER
Almost all plantations require irrigation to a greater or lesser extent. An important element on which the success of cultivation depends is the quality of water. It is best if you can supply the plantations with water from natural or artificial reservoirs or rivers. Water from a deep well often contains a lot of minerals, and therefore it is unsuitable for irrigating the plantation, since the deposits that form on the fruits disqualify them as commercial material. Watering with such water can only be carried out by the drip method.
Due to the small depth of the root system, blueberry is sensitive to droughts, so plantations must be watered - especially in spring and summer. For this purpose, sprinkler systems are most often used, which can also be used during frost, which protects plants from freezing. Drip irrigation is also used, i.e. point injection of water under the plant directly into the soil. Such a system also allows the use of liquid fertilizers for fertigation. American blueberry (tall) Bluecrop
Shrubs 160-200 cm tall. Plant growth is intense, the habit is rounded, loose, in abundantly fruitful plants - with a tendency to spread. The leaves are dark green. Very fruitful variety (4-9 kg of berries from a bush). The fruits are large (65 berries/0.25 l), round, of the same size in bunches, covered with a very intense wax coating. Suitable for manual and mechanized collection. The pulp is greenish, dense, with an aroma of medium intensity, wine-sweet. The fruits ripen around mid-July. The advantage of this variety is low sensitivity to drought and sufficient frost resistance (from -28 to -34°C). Its disadvantage is a tendency to very abundant fruiting, which leads to crushing of fruits - in order to prevent this, intensive pruning of fully fruiting bushes is necessary.
