There are good ground gardener typically take to grow blueberry bush from clipping or nursery shrubs — they take less time to produce blueberries and reproduce their parents ' trait accurately . For the patient nurseryman , though , growing shrub from blueberry cum can be an adventure with surprising outcome . Choose the right type of blueberry bush and give it enough Sunday and acidic dirt and you might incur your name on a new variety .
Blueberry Basics for Beginners
Match the type of blueberry seeds you establish to the conditions in your garden . Wild lowbush blueberries ( genus Vaccinium angustifolium ) are hardy from U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 7 and set need between 1,000 and 1,200 scarey time of day — time below 45 degree Fahrenheit — for annual flower and berry product . Lowbush blueberries bloom in May and June on 2 - foot magniloquent shrubs that form colonies . Highbush blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum ) bushes grow as marvellous as 15 feet . Northern highbush plant typically uprise from USDA zones 3 through 7 and need 800 to 1,000 chilling hours annually . southerly highbush ( Vaccinium corymbosum hybrid ) plant life are typically unfearing in USDA geographical zone 5 through 10 , and demand only 150 to 800 shuddery hours a year . All blueberries thrive in full sun in a moist , but well - drain , sandy loam with an acidic pH of 5.5 .
Romancing the Seed
Blueberry cultivation shoot sentence . Most blueberry do not self - pollinate — they ask a nearby mate with similar inherited qualities to fertilise their flowers . This mean blueberry bush are an irregular lot whose offspring seldom twin either parent . For this reason , it ’s usually better to purchase seeded player collected by industrial plant societies that contain known cultivars , but some favor to harvest their own hybrids in the drop . Hold yield in the refrigerator for several days before maceration and retell rinsing with water . absent float mush and sterile seeds with a newspaper publisher towel — viable seeds sink to the bottom . Scarify semen by post them in damp sphagnum moss and filing them in the freezer or fridge for 90 days – that ’s over 2,000 chilling hours . Keep seed refrigerated until planting time .
Blueberry Germination Process
After scarifying blueberry bush seed in the fridge , plant blueberry germ outdoors in the tumble in quick climate and in spring in the North . For better cultural control , plant them in dampened Sphagnum peat moss in trays . Wherever you plant the seed , cover then with only 1/4 in of soil and keep the area continually moist . blueberry bush germination can take six to eight weeks . intercrossed highbush seed sprout more unfaithfully and might take longer than their wild lowbush cousin — so do n’t give up until 12 weeks have go along . shoot plants need sunny , ardent conditions .
Moving Day for Blueberry Plants
After ferment so long for blueberry germination to take place , you will have tender sprouts . Plants will only grow 5 to 6 in in their first yr , so northerly gardeners might want to keep their plants in a cheery window during their first winter . Keep indoor tray on sunny windowsill with a florescent luminance mounted 14 inches above each tray to supply supplemental luminosity . You wo n’t know what combining of traits your works has until it begin blossom and acquit after two or more years of growth .
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