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PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:39 pm 
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Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:28 pm
Posts: 2
My husband and I would like to grow some blueberries in containers in our backyard. My husband's idea is to buy 25 gallon containers, bury them in the ground and fill them with peat moss, compost and sand and then mulch them with pine bark or needles. Then we would run a drip irrigation to water them. Would this work and be successful, or do you see any flaws?

I am wondering if this is the best way to go about this. I know Garrett does not like peat moss. So, what would he recommend so that we can get the pH level down to 4.5 - 5, and keep it there without a lot of amendments?

Our goal is to have a blueberry farm, but establish it right here in the metroplex using containers. Crazy I know, but we are trying to see if it is doable.

Thanks in advance for your help.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:47 pm 
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Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:22 pm
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Location: Frisco, Tejas
I hope you keep us updated, I am growing some blueberries but it is year one and the result has been mixed thus far. Cottonseed meal is a potent fert and lowers the PH. I used that and a lot of humate and things look decent so far.


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:27 am 
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Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:09 am
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We have an unused fish pond, about 8x8x2, that we are considering making into a blueberry planter - it sits on the northwest corner of the house, partially shaded until afternoon by a large pecan tree in summer. It will get some cold wind in the winter.

Anyone having tips on what soil to fill with (we're in black clay, so NOT using native), what to mulch with, we'd like to hear. We successfully raised blueberries in the NW part of US, but this is a different story!
Thanks!


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:10 am 
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Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:30 am
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Seems like we all need a bit of advice here. I am wondering myself. I have 3 blueberries in 5 gal containers. One struggled all spring but died by the summertime. The other 2 had some berries but the mockingbird found out where they were and kept robbing the bushes. I have them in potting mix and peat and feed them occasionally with acid food and put coffee grounds in their pots occasionally as well. They are OK right now but not Thriving well. I moved their pots to the fence wall near the blackberries. I will modify their care this spring if I find out what will work best in this neck of the woods (Corpus Christi)
mamafin


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:20 pm 
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Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:22 pm
Posts: 129
Location: Frisco, Tejas
I planted mine along the wet dip between my house and the neighbor, not a lot of success as they limped along but this thread has me thinking about raising them up a bit and adding more natural acidic soil builders. Back when I was a kid I had an amazing patch to plunder along the shore of a lake in New York. Mountain climate, granite (not calcium to raise PH) and they were literally growing out of marsh near cattails and those big grass 'humps' so they were wet wet wet in that spot.

Would love to trick them into thriving in North Texas, love blueberries and after that whole joyous bout with Cancer I am a little deranged about getting as many organically grown, antioxidant rich cancer fighters as I can stuff down. Blueberries beat hell out of the green gunk I drink :-)


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 6:54 am 
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Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:09 am
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We raised blueberries in the NW, right off the coast of Washington, and just planted them in rows on a slightly sloping hill, mulched them with wood shavings and chips from a DougFir lumbermill nearby, plus what is called 'hog fuel' which is pretty much the outer bark stripped off the logs. The berries thrived, didn't use anything else on them. We're thinking that if we can bring in the right dirt, maybe from GardenVille as we're close to them, and figure out what to use as mulch, they should do OK as they'll get some shade during the worst of the heat, plus they would be on the north side of the house. We're thinking 4 bushes in the 8x8 area so they have room.


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