Blueberry variety selection

14 years ago

I have decided to add blueberries to my collection of trees and berries as our daughter seems to be something of a fruit bat. We are in the South Bay Area in California, zone 9B. The plot is about 3' X 13' clay soil in between two concrete driveways, although I'll probably amend with some sand, compost, and ammonium sulfate (?) to acidify.

Are blueberry roots problematic for the surrounding concrete? I did not install root barriers to protect the concrete as that seemed somewhat overkill for non-tree roots. But please inform me if I am mistaken.

My goals are to spread out the harvest season, of course. I tend to like some acid to go with the sugar in my fruit. I have heard good things about Sweet Crisp, and supposedly Pink Lemonade is an interesting variety. But I know very little about which varieties are best, so hope you can help with selection.

How many plants should I put in a 13' row? How large do they get?

Thanks for the advice.

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Comments (4)

fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
14 years ago
lifespeed:

Blueberry roots won't hurt a thing. I recently repotted one after 7 years and there were few roots on the outside of the rootball.

A raised bed would be better than ammending clay soil. In the Southeast they are grown in beds of woodchips or other organic matter piled in beds. But that might make watering more critical.

You probably heard of Sweetcrisp here from me. I think it's the best eating experience but I like really sweet and crunchy, you might not. To me blueberries are either sweet or sour, not much in between.

I like Star because it's the earliest I have, easy to pick, and pretty good fruit. Sweetcrisp is a few weeks later. So you need one later variety as three plants are about all that will fit in 13ft. You might consider Revillie if you get at least a moderate amount of chilling, 500 hrs.
blueboy1977
14 years ago
Zone 9B I would think your getting on average about 300 chill hours + or - 100. I havent tried growing them in our gumbo clay over here in Houston but havent heard anything positive about blueberries in clay? I would go with raised bed also or pots. Ive got 6 raised beds and several pots but to me the raised bed seem to be more robust than the potted. Now that being said you could get more plants per sq ft if using pots and make the raised beds into something like blackberries or something? Space those 2 or 3 feet.
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Kevin Reilly
14 years ago
I think even better than a raised bed would be enclosed containers. 3x13' is a lot but you can get acid mix soil bases from some of the local San Jose rockery/nurseries. Our soil pH is too high and it will win over whatever pH you amend the soil to. It will be a battle to keep it down.

Check these results out from a Santa Clara blueberry trial by SCMG...

FYI Costco of all places gets some nice mature blueberries in during the spring. Right now you can find Four Winds and Monrovia stock at all the Big Box stores and local nurseries.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blueberry Trial Varieties
MrClint
14 years ago
I would suggest planting blueberries in pots with an eye toward low pH potting medium, and would offer Sunshine Blue as a proven performer here in So Cal.