Mid City Nursery Garden Care Guides

HOW TO PLANT BLUEBERRIES

1. Dig a hole twice as wide and twice as deep as the root or container. Fill the hole with 3 parts Azalea Planting Mix to 1 part native soil; throw in several large handfuls of micro-bark chips. (If planting into a larger container, just use the Azalea Planting Mix with handfuls of micro-bark: Remember: Blueberries love acid soil.
2. Loosen the roots very gently around the edges, where they are matted.
3. Plant in the amended soil that you have created (#1 above).
4. Mulch with Micro-bark, about 2-inches thick. This will help with moisture retention.

5. Water well after planting and again the following day. Continue to water on a regular basis. Blueberries like moist soil.
6. Fertilize after flowering and monthly with a high nitrogen fertilizer. Liquid fertilizer is best for container-grown plants. (Cottonseed Meal is an organic alternative that you work into the soil.) Add soil sulfur at the time of planting and again in the fall and early spring to help lower the soil pH and help stimulate healthy growth.
7. Add F.S.T. (ferrous sulfate) if the leaves become yellow with green veins. We recommend applying this a couple of times a year, usually in the fall and winter months.

8. Remember to keep the soil moist but not soggy. Blueberries in containers may need daily watering in the hot summer months.
9. Afternoon shade is best for very hot areas (like the Napa Valley), but can be grown in the sun in areas like Vallejo, American Canyon, and Benicia.
10. You will have larger berries and higher yields if you plant more than one variety for cross-pollination.
11. Prune in winter when plants are dormant by thinning out the new canes and any that are over-crowded, adding only two or three new stems each year. Do not cut off the tips unless they are blackened.

12. Enjoy your blueberries!! They are great in cereal, on ice cream, by themselves.

Mid City Nursery, Inc
3635 Broadway
American Canyon, CA 94503