How to plant blueberry bushes

Blueberries are acid loving plants and the most common issue that we've seen is that people stick them into the ground and hope for the best. The roots of blueberries are super fine (think strands of hair!) so ensuring that their roots are while drained but have access to water to help ensure success.

To really thrive in our (Fraser Valley) a little bit of work put in initially can offer huge rewards and HARVESTS down the line!

First you'll need to dig a hole 2-3 times bigger than the current pot that the plant comes in.

To ensure to soil has good drainage for the plants you'll want to blend it with roughly 40% of wood shavings/sawdust (a blend of both soft and hard wood is ideal) but any type of white wood shaving can also be used. Bark mulch can also be used in pinch, just make to avoid cedar! The final blend should be a nice fluffy mixture of wood and soil.

We offer a wide selection of mulches including a specialty blueberry blend To ensure your success!

Once you have your hole dug out and and soil blend all ready, place a high phosphorus fertilizer into your hole. (High phosphorus is an optional step based on time, resources available and amount plants being planted).

If your putting to the blueberry plants in a new raised bed make sure to use a high quality garden blend when back filling. Avoid any soil that is heavy, low in organic matter, or has mushroom manure in the mix.

The both the blends of soil we sell work extremely well for blueberries

When removing the plant from the pot gently squeeze all sides of the pot lay the pot down on it's side and gently slide the plant out. Once the plant is removed from the pot gently massage the root ball BE GENTLE!

Plant the blueberries around 1”-2” deeper then what they were in the pot. Top the whole area with the same type of mulch that you mixed into the soil.

-Things to remember

Any fertilizer for acid loving plants will work. All the fertilizer blends we sell is safe to use on blueberries and we even carry a blend that has been specially formulated for the Fraser Valley!

Top dress yearly with bark wood shavings/sawdust (avoid cedar no matter what, even if it’s free).

The minimum recommended distance between each plant is 2.5’-4’ from the root base.

Avoid using both mushroom manure and bonemeal as they are alkaline and will actually change the pH levels in your soil over time.