Your area looks like it may work for all three types.There may be temperature extremes sometimes,but since they will be in containers,they can be moved to help them.Mainly it might be too cold sometimes for the Southern ones.
I use Conifer bark(Pine and or Fir) and Peat moss in about a 60/40 to 70/30 mix and that's it.
The only other main consideration will be the pH of your water,which should be in the acid range.
I'm using that linked container for one of my plants and should work well for anything five feet tall on down.
All my Blueberries are growing better in pots than the ground for your named reasons. Brady

I noticed that it mentions that container has no drainage holes. Is there any rule of thumb for how many and how big to make your drainage holes? Do you mix vinegar with your water to make it acidic?

Thanks.

Do you know the pH of your soil? In mid TN many soils should be the right pH for blueberries. They would be a lot, that's LOT, easier in ground. If your pH is anywhere below 7 and devoid of free carbonates you could achieve the ideal range in one year. The only high pH soils in TN would be those developed on limestone.

If your soil is high pH, clay, or poorly drained consider planting them in a raised bed. That's still a lot easier than pots. Depending on the beds and varieties, beds might need a little more watering than native soil but much less than pots.

Rabbiteye are more drought tolerant and bloom later than SHB. But eating quality isn't generally as good. I think blueboy liked Brightwell.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Thu, Feb 27, 14 at 12:04

No, I hadn't tested my soil's pH level. I do plan to do a soil test but I just figured that it would need some degree of regular amendment. As I understand, the pH should be somewhere between 4.5 and 5.3 and the surrounding soil's pH as well as rainwater will be constantly working against it to bring it back up. Perhaps, I am thinking that it is more difficult than it really is.

It would be hard to conclude how 'difficult' it would be unless you quantify the ph and alkalinity of your soil and water.

After initial amendment of soil, it could be as simple as periodically (annually?) adding a small amount of elemental sulfur to the soil. Or, it could be much more work and expense.

Rainwater shouldn't be working against you much. It naturally acidifies a bit as it falls. But, depending on the ph and alkalinity of your water, it may work against you whether in ground or in pots. The matter is discussed a lot in other threads re how to treat water. Vinegar does change the ph, but its effect is more temporary than the use of sulfuric acid. But sulfuric can be problematic to work with (dangerous). If you can set up adequate rain barrel capacity to irrigate with, that would simplify maintaining the right ph.

I guess I have some soil testing as well as more reading to do. :-) This is the first time I've heard of rain barrel irrigation. I like fruitnut's suggestions of a raised bed. It seems it would provide a good compromise between the benefits of putting the bushes directly in the ground and the extra control offered by potting them.

I'm only a novice and all your advice is greatly appreciated!

Last year I would have thought that southern highbush blueberry varieties were well adapted to your area, but our winter weather here in Wisconsin these days has been so cold, for so long, that many of us are rethinking what to plant. I hope the polar vortex stays out of Tennessee! It is easy enough to grow blueberries in the ground, once you understand pH, how to measure pH, and how to amend the soil as necessary to lower pH. I use bromocresol green indicator, available from HMS Beagle, and other suppliers. I might spend 5 or 10 dollars a year on pH testing, and do maybe 10 or 20 tests. Over the course of a growing season, I might spend a total of two or three hours on pH testing.

The search forum on this site works, but could be enhanced. To find the specific threads re blueberries, use google. After your specific search terms, include the following without the quotes: "site:http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/fruit/"; That will return searches for your terms from this forum only.

There are two recent threads re ph and blueberry plants on the bottom of page 2. One may roll to the 3 page before you see this.

Indeed searching the forum unless you are looking for something very particular can be tedious. Sometimes it is best to just ask and if a similar question was posted recently and a member has working knowledge, they are generally kind enough to give you a link. (I'm not suggesting you should have given me a direct link.)

The polar vortex has affected us just like most everyone else. :-) I'm the type of person who generally doesn't mind the cold so much. But this has gotten pretty ridiculous. It definitely has had me thinking hard about avoiding those border-line plants.

Why is it a LOT easier in the ground fruitnut?The weight of the containers?I remember in past posts,there was mention about your back.To me it's not that big of a deal.Some of my containers have stayed in their present location for over two years.I also have a little cart that can transport them around.
Whatever thapranksta decides on,there is usually time to change and adapt to situations. Brady

Brady:

My thinking was that in TN with 40 inches rain a year he won't have to water much if in the ground. Unless you have very large pots and keep the top pruned back, that's once a day watering for me. Maybe every other day. But if I don't stay on a tight schedule they dry out and I forget when I last watered.

I did look up the rainfall in that area. It's 40/yr and about 3-4/month in summer, drier than I thought. There are pluses to pots but I'd still lean to in ground being easier in TN.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Thu, Feb 27, 14 at 15:54

Here in Madison, Wisconsin, I might hand-water our blueberry shrubs 10 times in a typical year. Once or twice in the spring, and then twice a week for three weeks during August. Once or twice in the fall. Something like that. In a bad year, with a long drought, I will water three times a week, for 6 weeks or so, maybe double the amount of watering done in a typical year. Our shrubs are all in the ground.

"There are pluses and minuses either way. But in TN with all that rain I'd be leaning to in ground."

The climate in Tennessee is reasonably similar to mine here in NC, and I definitely agree that raised beds will be less work, overall, than pots. I have one bush in a shallow raised bed (6" or so deep), and it pretty much takes care of itself and rarely requires supplemental water. By contrast, my potted plants require a lot of time -- primarily time spent holding a watering can.

thapranksta: Building off of the idea that in-ground (or raised bed) is easier . . .

The way I see it, planting in-ground may be more work upfront to prep the soil (if necessary), but less maintenance long-term. Containers may be more simple to setup, but more difficult to maintain proper drainage/nutrients, requiring assistance the entire plant's life. That is your call. I prefer the upfront work, and low maintenance, and so will be amending my soil. Others find enjoyment in the routine of care that containers would require, so choose that route.
My yet-to-be-delivered bb plants are going to be put in containers (fabric pots) this year while I take time to amend and adjust the soil they will eventually be going into. Most of my previous growing has been in-ground. Consequently, I've spent a bit of time over in the container forum reading up and learning from others who have been growing plants in containers for a while.

I gather, which is consistent with what I've observed in the few containers I've grown in, that proper maintenance of drainage and aeration in containers takes more forethought than simply filling the container with any sort of mix. That is one area where containers are not as simple and easy as growing in-ground, assuming that the soil is suitable or easily amended. Drainage is simple in ground, but can be problematic in containers even with large holes in the bottom.

One way around that disadvantage of containers is to ensure the container 'soil' is in contact with the ground. This will help ensure good drainage. In this manner, the pot acts much like a raised bed. This is one of the reasons I chose fabric pots for my bb's this first year while I prep their permanent site.

Another factor that may make in-ground easier is nutritional needs of the plant. From my recent soil test, I find that the only nutrient I will need to add this year is a nitrogen source. Everything else needed is already present in the soil in adequate amounts. What many claim is a properly draining container soil will not have the same nutrients, and the entire responsibility for feeding the plant is on the keeper. This can be overcome with mixing in existing soil with the chosen container mix, but then drainage may suffer.

For watering Blueberries,I use an EZ-Flo tank with a timer,drippers and Sulfuric acid.It's not perfect,the system dilutes fairly fast,but if I want to go away for a week in the Summer,it can handle that. Brady

Brady, I need a system like that! I have raised beds, but it's dry here in the summer. In July and August, they have to be watered every other day, even daily at times.. Now starting three in pots II was thinking of wicking the pots, to make a sort of self watering system.

Drew,
I'd say spend a little more and get a medicator/injector like Dosatron,Dosmatic,Chemilizer or Gator XL.They are more precise and their smaller units are best for home gardeners. Brady

I'm switching to automated watering this year for a lot of my potted plants, and I'm going to try an Add-It Proportioning Fertilizer Injector. From what I've read, my hope is that it will strike a happy medium between the less accurate but more affordable EZ-Flow injectors and the more expensive models that you mentioned, Brady. Or so I hope...

I haven't had an opportunity to read all the comments just yet but I thought I'd mention that I went ahead and placed an order with Burnt Ridge Nursery for the following varieties: Patriot, Reka, Toro, Chandler, and Aurora. I had initially only planned on getting 3-4 but the price wasn't bad so I grabbed an extra. I've ordered fruit trees from Burnt Ridge before and received excellent stock so I have confidence that this will be no exception. I've given myself 3 weeks before arrival to finalize my plans and hopefully get some warm planting weather.

If you can cover the plants with some kind of netting when they start to ripen it will keep the squirrels and birds from eating them. Nothing like looking out the window and seeing a squirrel dining on my blueberries.

Seriously I was hoping that squirrels ignored the dangling blue fruit. The blueberry posts I have read seem to be mostly void of squirrel complaints.

From what I've read it seems that while you may be able get by without fertilizing fruit trees, blueberries need fertilizer every year. Are there any growers who have successfully grown blueberries without annual fertilizer applications?

This post was edited by thapranksta on Fri, Feb 28, 14 at 20:25

We have squirrels in our yard, and they ignore the blueberries, even when they are ripe. Birds are another matter, cardinals in particular like to feed on ripe blueberries. They do not take green fruit, only ripe fruit. The local birds get maybe 5 or 10 per cent of our crop, so I am not actively preventing them from doing so. I am not a strictly organic gardener, so I apply one tablespoon of Schultz Plant Food-acidic formula, to each shrub(in 4 gallons of water), in March, April, May, and June. I have used Miracle-Gro in the past, applied in the same way. This is a minimal level of extra fertilizer, other people use more, and apply fertilizer through the growing season.

pranksta,
If you've got space, put 'em in the ground. Less issues with moisture control. I doubt that your soil pH will be an issue.

In your location, rabbiteyes will FAR outproduce any northern highbush type(don't think I have any NHBs left here); southern highbush may miss some late spring frosts that might hit some of the earlier-blooming rabbiteyes, and still outproduce the NHBs.
There is/was a U-pick place at Adams TN (neighbor's family ran it) - they'd started out with NHBs, but switched to mainly rabbiteyes due to greater productivity, but have been moving over to SHBs in recent years.

Thanks for the suggestion lucky_p. It took a little time to assemble my list for my order. Now you've got me thinking of substituting one on the list or adding the O'Neal SHB and keeping all the others. I'm going to run out of space. lol.

So I decided to skip out on the Patriot blueberry and just go with the other four. I'm going to plant the blueberries in the ground. I planned to follow a mix of 1/3 sphagnum peat moss, 1/3 pine mulch, and 1/3 native soil. Then top dress with Holly Tone fertilizer twice a year starting at the initial planting. Of course, I'd also test my soil's pH a few times each year to see if I need to add a soil acidifier. The only thing that has me a little skeptical about this mix is the fact that blueberries don't seem to like cultivation. It would seem that weeds would be more open to growing in native soil.

Would it be better to just skip the native soil? Also, how often do you guys check the soil's pH level? Since I'm including pine mulch and peat in the mixture, do I not need to put another layer of mulch on top of that to keep the weeds at bay during the initial planting?

I haven't checked my native soil's pH yet but I plan to do so tomorrow. The pine and peat moss seem like good mediums to give the blueberries a good acidic start no matter what the pH of the native soil turns out to be but perhaps my assumption is incorrect.

Thanks.

I skip the native soil with Blueberries more that other in ground plants,because of their acidic preference and my soil leans towards neutral.
A topping of bark mulch helps somewhat with the weeds and keeps the roots cooler during the heat.It also breaks down and adds organic matter.
I usually dig a hole about three times bigger than the root ball.It doesn't have to be real deep,mainly wide. Brady

The mulch also keeps it moist longer, and blues like it moist. I test PH about every 2 months, but mine are in raised beds. The PH is steady for the most part. Since it's winter here, I'm going to test before it starts growing and add sulfur if high. I add sulfuric acid to the water if way off. Elemental sulfur takes at least 3 months to work. Hopefully your native soil is low. If not I would check once a month and see how long it takes to change. Then you'll know how often to adjust.

Dont skip on the mulch! At least a 3 inch layer at all times and more is better, expecially in the summer!

Our blueberry shrub are all mulched, to a depth of about 6 inches. I have used shredded tree leaves, and also shredded cypress bark, as mulch. I would use pine needles if there were any available to me. The mulch helps retain moisture, and it keeps the weeds down. I generally keep the mulch a few inches away from the base of the plant. For me, growing in our native soil is more a philosophical position than a practical plan. Blueberries do grow wild in Wisconsin, & so I like to think of them as native plants, capable of taking root and growing without my help. However, the NHB (northern highbush) cultivars that I grow need lots of human intervention to succeed, and it is fantasy to pretend otherwise. I think you will be successful with or without using your native soil.

I think in your location I would almost certainly want to start with rabbiteyes in the ground. It's quite possible rabbiteyes would do fine wherever you are in TN without any pH amendment at all. I've never done a side-by-side taste test with rabbiteyes and other blueberries, but my rabbiteyes seem about as good as any blueberries I've ever bought at the store or gotten locally here or in other parts of the country. In other words, they're good, and they're also really easy. I would do a pH test to start, but I think I've read that rabbiteyes don't necessarily need soil quite as acidic as NHB. I've heard about other people, especially people that live in cities, talk about trouble with birds, but I can't remember ever noticing any bird problems with my blueberries. I would worry about watering during any dry spells the first year or two. After that I wouldn't be at all surprised if a rabbiteye planting would continue to grow and fruit for years (maybe not as well in drought years) without any water or fertilizer or anything more than keeping the weeds from overgrowing the bushes (for which I'd highly recommend maintaining a heavy mulch of pine straw.)

My order was delayed by a week from when I was expecting it. Argh. So I did what any impatient amateur grower would do on a visit to Lowes. I picked up a blueberry plant - Bluecrop (which seemed like a decent addition from what I've read). I decided to try to experiment a little bit with it. I created my own soil mix based on what I've heard others try with success.

I dug a hole 2.5 feet wide and 1 foot deep. Then backfilled with a mix of 2:1:1 pine mulch, peat moss, and native soil (mostly loamy with small amounts of clay). Each time I added about 3 inches of the soil mixture into the hole, I added about 1 cup of HollyTone acidic fertilizer and mixed it in. I used native water for the first watering but I am likely going to find a way to acidify the water or rainwater irrigation from now on.

I wasn't really sure what to expect but there wasn't much to look at it in terms of roots, possibly Lowe's "quality". I still haven't tested the actual pH of the native soil still. I'm not doing very well in that regard. :-) Once I do, I guess that will give me a better idea of whether adding so much native soil was a good idea.

On another note, I've gone over my budget at this point so I only have 5 NHBs. If I had read some of the comments sooner, I might have grabbed 1 or 2 of SHB and rabbiteye.

Thanks.

prankie,
Bluecrop ain't bad... but I'm pretty sure that when things come into full production, you'll see that what cuznfloyd and I are telling you is true - the rabbiteyes aren't too persnickety about soil pH (yours should be fine, anyway) and they'll outproduce the socks of those NHBs.
Plant 'em, mulch 'em, and get out of the way.

NHB produce some mighty fine eating blueberries. I agree though where you are rabbiteye makes more sense. We are similar zones, but we just do not get the heat here, nor the rain or humidity. My NHB went unprotected with lows going to -14 degrees, and no dieback at all, I need plants like that. Plants that can produce with very mild temps. Right now it's 15 degrees here.

lucky,

I hear ya and I know you definitely know your stuff. NHBs are already in the mail at this point though. I'll keep an eye on them and I know you won't be surprised if I come back to say, I'm yanking half or more out for rabbiteye. :-)

I have planted all 5 of my blueberries at this point. The other 4 were planted in a 2:2:1 mix of pine mulch, sphagnum peat moss, and native soil in that order. I tested my soil and it looks like the pH is somewhere between 6 and 7. I did 2 separate test using distilled water and the color was a mix of orange and green so with my test I am unsure where that puts me specifically.

I don't want to kill any of my plants in their first year but it looks like I did make a big mistake. On my Toro, I added a cup of apple cider vinegar to two gallons of water on it's initial watering which I discovered was waaaay too much. I hope the effects wear off quickly and don't kill it. On all the others, I went with a tablespoon per gallon until I can test my water's pH to see the exact amount I should use.

I plan to use rain barrel irrigation in the near future but I am unsure when I will be able to start with it considering the startup costs.

How was it discovered that a cup of vinegar was too much?Does your tester do both soil and water?If it was too much,pouring more water around the root area will probably dilute it to a safer level. Brady

After looking at the amounts others have posted on this site, it just appears to be an extremely high amount. I haven't tested water yet. I did add 2 more gallons of tap water after I discovered what I had done.

I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner, but it's not a good idea to add fertilizer to the planting hole. The roots are very sensitive. Wait 30 days and then fertilize with an acid type fertilizer like your holly tone.

We don't both with acid or vinegar for our fields and have great success. Our native ph is 6.5-6.8. We amend with peat, compost and sulphur, wait a year and plant. Every spring we do soil tests and mid-summer foliar analysis and then apply sulphur as needed. We water with well water which isn't as bad as city water but does gradually raise the pH, but this is very slow. I have only resorted to using acid (or vinegar) to spot treat small areas of the fields and only as a temporary measure. I prefer more natural growing practices that keep a healthy soil and bacterial environment.

Hollytone is organic, and takes at least 2 weeks to break down enough, so you'll probably will be OK. I added a little to my soil mixes, and the plants burst out of dormancy. The two I have in pots and just planted from bare root, Well three now, one came in today. One more is coming...Sweetcrisp, last but not least!

In the past, I have used 5% white vinegar, food grade, from our local grocery store, to acidify irrigation water used on our blueberries. I was using 12 fluid ounces of vinegar per 4 gallons of tap water. Our tap water has pH around 7.6, and after mixing in the vinegar, the pH was around 5. However, the vinegar disappears within about a month, so you have to keep repeating the process. I think the vinegar is consumed by bacteria that live in the soil. For several years I have been using agricultural sulfur to lower soil pH. An application of sulfur takes about 3 months to begin lowering the pH, and it becomes fully effective in a year or so.

When you guys say the vinegar disappears or is temporary, do you mean that the soil's pH rises as though you had added regular tap water to it as time passes? If that's the case, does the effect of the vinegar last for lesser time after each application or had anyone noticed?

Thanks.

Drew,
You're right, Holly Tone is from organic sources and is a slow release fertilizer which should be ok. It derives it's pH lowering properties from sulfur.

"When you guys say the vinegar disappears or is temporary, do you mean that the soil's pH rises as though you had added regular tap water to it as time passes"

Yes, possible. Some of the base is removed as it is converted to a salt, sodium acetate and is very soluable.
In pots you can wash the salt out.
With sulfuric acid the salt formed is gypsum, which is stable and will not break down easily. Sodium acetate can revert back to bicarb via bacteria if you fail to remove it.

You will be fine with your mix, give it time, let them settle in. I think your mix was perfect, some native soils are important in the mix for micronutrients that may not be present in the pine or peat. If you are worried about ph being too high, fertilize next spring with ammonium sulf two or three times.

RM

Ok, I thought it was a suitable time to give a tiny update. All 4 blueberries appear to be growing pretty well. The leaves are a nice green color (no yellowing). I am really surprised at how ornamental the blueberry bushes really are becoming. It's a huge contrast from how they look in dormancy. I plan to test the pH pretty soon to see if I need to make any particular adjustments besides more HollyTone fertilizer.

I have two questions. First of all, my bluecrop is the weakest looking plant but it is the first to flower thus far. Should I follow some of the advice I've read about removing the flowers for this year? Also, though all the blueberries look pretty well it is apparent that bugs are loving to snack on the leaves? Do you guys apply pesticides and fungicides or typically have minor damage and ignore it?

Thanks.

Apparently an animal decided for me. The top of the bluecrop where the flowers were was found broken off. By what? I am not sure. The bluecrop was mainly a twig with no branches at the bottom so maybe nature pruned it for me to promote lower branching. Lol. Just trying to think positively about the odd situation.

I lived in Henderson, TN south of Jackson, TN for over 4 years. At the time I was there on a job transfer thought I was going to be there for the rest of my life. At any rate planted 18 blueberry bushes in clay soil along with many fruit trees. Used aluminum sulfate for ph amending the soil, I was really an amateur at the time, and didn't know a lot about blueberries, much more knowledgeable now after living in TN moved back to Indiana. Anyways I planted rabbiteye's in TN mostly Misty's with some Climax and other assorted varieties. Made me sick as when I went back to check on the house, the blueberries were in their 4th year and loaded with fruit!! If they could make it with my feeble attempts then anyone can do it. Now that I am back in Indiana on my second try here as the rabbits got mine in the winter after first planting in 06. Doing much better with with highbush and on my second go around. Even trying some in pots now as I love blueberries!! Good luck and hopefully you will have much success as I did in TN!!

I'm a bit Blueberry ignorant...trying to learn. I have my blueberry bush in a pot and I did mix the potting soil with peat when I planted it, but otherwise I haven't done anything else with it. I keep it in a sunny spot and water it regularly. I honestly have no idea what variety I have because the container only said blueberry and nothing more. My plant is doing great now. It is over three feet tall and has berries on it now, but it did take two years to get berries. This is the first year I've had berries. I recently got two more bushes, but they are very small still. Hopefully in 2 years I'll have three bushes full of berries! I had to move it inside to keep the birds off of it! It'll be going back out as soon as I get some berries! Hope this gives you peace of mind!!

Rpost78,

Generally, more sun equals sweeter berries. Indoors is likely to less sun. Not that you need to move them outside. Just something to consider when you taste your berries.

Birds are pests. I'd get almost zero fruit if I didn't protect everything from the birds. You might consider bird netting. Dropping bird netting directly onto your bushes causes snagging problems. This link has some pictures of cheap, easy frames for bird nets. (The pictures with pvc hoops go over rebar stakes. Rebar is available at Home Depot, et.)
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg050626422467.html?38
Enjoy your blueberries.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cheap, easy bird net frames