i'm on the fence when it comes to picking off berries... i don't really buy the whole 'saps future growth' since plants are pretty smart. i'm leaving mine on.

as for the pot--yes, it's appropriate for container culture. yes, you can plant it outdoors now. i just potted mine up--four plants in a VERY LARGE pot. i used a mix of 5 parts pine fines, 2 parts peat, and one part perlite. make sure your peat hasn't been treated to make the ph neutral--you want as low a ph as possible (within reason). do NOT FERTILIZE the plant this season.

The berries absolutely use a lot of energy of the plant that could go into developing vegetative growth. I've read it for countless fruits, including blueberries. The bigger the plant grows, the larger harvests you'll have in all the ensuing years. Can you be sure nothing undesirable wasn't sprayed on the plant at the nursery? I wouldn't want to eat those berries anyhow. Give it a year to work any toxins out of it's system.

Gary

good point gary... maybe i'll pick off the berries.

I think you'll get better vegetative growth. Of course, BB aren't easy to grow anyways. Lots of the BB in my 42' bed are budding up and starting to have flowers. I allowed a very small crop last year, this will be their 2nd year. I will still probably only allow a 50% crop, which should still be pretty nice.

Gary

Thanks so much. I think I'll pick off the berries.