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Blueberry Winter Care
Mr BB
Posts: 21
in Fruit & veg
Morning all,
Great blueberries this year but was wondering how best to care as winter comes. Prune? Protect? Etc.
Any advice welcome.
mr bb
0
Posts
Mr BB - i don't do anything to mine - they stay outside in their pots, and seem to happily survive the winter. If I have any pruning to do (often they are fine to be left as they are) then i do it in spring.
I leave mine out in pots too, but I tie fleece around the pots and over the compost.
I leave mine in pots outside , they are totally hardy, in fact they need a cold spell to fruit well the following season
From the photo I see you have at least three good branches; the ones with red bark.
They are very hardy bt will appreciate some protectio for the worst of winter. When mine were in pots I'd move them to a sheltered corner out f teh way of the strongest westerlies and coldest easterlies as this helps prevent the loss of the ends of branches through dessciation or freezing and helps ensure a decent crop.
Now I have them in the ground and can't move them I put a protective windbreak round them and leave it up till after the last frosts to protect the blossom. In a normal year we get down to -15C for a few weeks and, apart from last year, -25C and worse have been frequent occurences over the last few years.
This year I lost every single blossom to a hail tornado whilst away at Chelsea so from now on the windbreak will stay up till I get back.
Coldyorkie.
Leave mine outside in a sheltered spot on pot feet. I was advised to prune about every three years.
You need to ensure good drainage whether in a pot or open grown. Blueberries are very tolerant of low temperatures but not winter water logging, I lost one of my pot grown blueberries because of this.
I pruned mine after they fruited which i read was the time to do it. Mine is about the same size but i never pruned it before, so i cut quite a bit of branches and twigs that crossed and cut out some old wood as I had a couple of new shoots. The fruit apparently appear on the new growth next year, so if you are going to give it a trim dont cut those bits. Mine is a lot better now with better air circulation and I hope it'll fruit better next year.
I do wonder if I should give it any particular feed or anything though? Its been in the pot, which is large, for a number of years. I just gave it some general feed earlier this year when it was fruiting but otherwise it's had nothing.
Give it a top dressing of blood, fish and bone or pelleted chicken manure next spring and work it into the top layer of soil. Give occasional feeds of liquid tomato food when watering from early spring to fruting time. That'll help it produce more flowers and fruit.