I'm eating blueberry's of my own for the first time this year. Last year we planted 26 plants 4 variety. They were 2and 3 year plants. I left them in the buckets to long but finally got them planted. Some are doing great some died I'm guessing we have 20or so left.

I'm going to do de reading and want to try propagating more. They are in a 3acre field and I would like to have at least an acre of that in production.

It sure is nice eating our first berries. I can't wait tell they mature and get into full production. Just a wag but probably will get just over a gallon this year less than 2.

Next year I should get a few peaches also.

Buddy in va just told me on the phone his crop is huge. They are freezing them.

I love blueberries. Never had a fresh one always store bought. Eat on!!

I just spent the last month and a half shoveling a little over 500 yards of fresh sawdust on a new three acre field of rabbiteye blueberries. We planted them last fall and pulled off all the bloom this spring. Should get about 1-2 lbs per plant in year two. By year 7 about 15.

Dang robins are my worst competition-do they ever get fulll?

Nice! I love eating fresh wild blueberries. Not sure if yours would be considered wild if you’re growing them, but we have them in abundance all around here. Saskatoon berries will be starting soon, then blueberries, and then chanterelles.

I need re mulch and figure out irrigation for them, our few fruit trees, our high tunnel and the garden. Tons to learn. Did you buy all your plants? Have you tried to propagate?

Yes, we buy our plants. Cost about $5.75 each with royalties. (Royalties range from $1.50 to 2.00 per plant) The nursery makes us sign a non-propagation agreement because these are all patented varieties that we grow.

If you were going to propagate I would go with softwood cuttings taken about now in a mist bench set up.

Some of you blueberry guys live in areas with naturally acidic soils but those that don't, did you have to reduce your pH to below 7 first...?

Interesting I have never heard of Royalties or patented blueberry's and other agreements. Is it a west cost thing or just such an amazing variety it's worth it. Either way I'm learning thanks for the reply. I will look up the mist bench.

Yeah Providence, it's getting to be an interesting world when it comes to all the new fruit varieties. It's not just blueberries, but any perennial fruit these days from apples, cherries to blueberries. Universities that have Ag breeding and research facilities patent their varieties so that they can receive royalties on any superior selection that they release. A big nursery like Fall Creek Nursery (the world's largest blueberry nursery which is just a few miles from us) will buy the rights to be the only distributor in a large geographic area and plus pay a per plant royalty for every plant that they sell. University "A" can't even use University "B"s patented variety to cross with other stuff because the genetics are protected by University "A". Kind of a shame because some darn good genetics get tied up for a long time. SO...... the research Universities use older un-patented varieties to cross for new varieties.

All of this is what funds money strapped schools in their ag development programs. So I guess kind of necessary....even though a substantial amount of their funding comes from our tax dollars.

This year I planted "Ochlockanee" patented from the U. of Georgia, "Overtime" patented by Fall Creek Nursery in their own breeding program, and "Centra Blue" patented by the Food Research Alliance in New Zealand.

I have been after Centra Blue or a long time and got the first plants produced by Fall Creek which owns the rights for Centra Blue I think for all of the United States. It's a late late variety that produces here in western Oregon from the end of August until November.

Interesting side note: I saw on line that Centra Blue was being sold by a nursery in France while it was still in quarantine at Fall Creek and not yet available. I sent a email to the French nursery asking if I could buy plants from them. About a week letter I got a letter from Fall Creek Nursery letting me know that their legal dept was aware of my plant inquiry and were "looking into it".

Rotten French nurseryman turned me in!

Thanks for the education. What do you do if the plants die or just left in a field if you decided they were no longer your thing. Still have to pay every year? How may years do you have to pay? 7 years tell they are prime then at some point they go down hill.

Would really have to be exceptional to catch my interest with the extra hassle and restrictions. Then again it it it was not worth it growers would not buy them.

Guess you could have had them shiped to a French middle man/friend then shaped to you.

We live in an area where our soils are basic (mostly pH's of 7 to 7.6) almost any manure will be slightly acidic some more than others but hardly any that will take mid 7's down to where acid loving plants like blueberries thrive at, like below 6. I don't know how the genetics for tame blueberries has changed but finding varieties that can grow in less acidic soil environment I am sure has been studied.

Bryce

PF, the patent is up front money, when you buy the plant. Least that is how it is with grapes. Like a tax on every plant. AND, you have to sign a "will not propigate"paper when you buy them.

The royalty is paid by the puchaser just when they initially purchase the plants.

Keith

Similar to Monsanto and their RR soybean "tech fee" and no seed production. They have taken farmers to court for this and have won.

Bryce

2x. I have a small patch 5 plants all different varieties, from early to late. If I didn't net mine I don't think I would get a taste. What do you big growers do? I can't imagine netting multiple acres.

We utilized used coffee grounds to fertilize blueberry bushes..cheap way to raise the acidity level if your soil needs it. Local school district provided the used geounds by the five gallon bucket full...just had to pick them up. Those bushes cranked out the berries if you could beat the birds to em'

You just pay the royalty once when you buy the plants.

Animal manure will not help acidify soil. In fact too much animal manure will build up salts which blueberries are sensitive to.

The best way to get ground ready for blueberries is to acidify with sulfur at least one year in advance and then test for soil pH. You want the pH at 5.2 or less. In calcareous soils is will be tough but I think it can be done. I would incorporate about 3-4 inches of sawdust into the soil before planting too. Sawdust will be about 5.5 pH and will help make a good high organic soil mix for the roots. Note that you will need to double the amount of nitrogen at first since the sawdust will be robbing it. We use either fish emulsion or feather meal in our operation.

Blueberries are good stuff. We have lots of wild ones on our place. They are a real chore to pick though, and you'll have to pick a long time to get enough to make a pie or two. These wild ones are quite small. After having some logging done years back, the next summer we had bunches, enough to invite the kin folk over to pick their own after we had enough stored away. This year there are quite a few berries forming, but the Gypsy Moths have stripped the plants of their leaves. I doubt the berries will ripen at all.

Thanks for the reply.

We are blessed with the best blueberry bushes I've ever saw. My dad bought his place 40 years ago and they were 7 mature bushes already there( not sure the variety). And we average getting around 30 gallon a year off these 7 bushes, and the first ones to ripen will be almost quarter sized and I've never tasted any as sweet. We have bought other plants over the years but that don't produce like the original ones

Try grafting off the originals.