How To Grow BlueBerries - One Of The Top 10 Super-Foods.

Import · Hazel Tree Joined: 20 Sep 2008 Posts: 20

What with living in an estate with a postage stamp size garden, can one get a blueberry tree with 2 or more varieties grafted onto the root stock?

I have a pear tree grafted with 2 varieties and it yields very well.

Sive · Rowan Tree Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 132

I believe you can grow blueberries successfully in pots, so maybe that would be your best option.

walltoall · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 7:10 am Post subject: "Import" blueberry graftings

Yo! Import. Nice to meet another postage stamp gardener!
Sive's POT option IS the practical solution. However .... please make sure that you have variable cultivars as per a previous post. Serious gardening, particularly on a postage stamp is far from random. You can graft blueberry to wild rootstock and you can graft two (or more) types. But unless you are going to make a few euro by selling them on it's not worth the bother to do one

The technique is not rocket science. I learned how to do it in the 50s from Laddie DeJong in Lusk using the grafted bud technique. This link shows a different method. I think either would work with vaccinium
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/propagation/inlay/inlay.html
You're unlikely to find an already-grafted specimen because I bet no-one has bothered. People nowadays know very little and grafting techniques have retreated to universities and such. And anyway this here forum is mostly about knowledge transfer and passing on and receiving skills.

You may have opened a window of opportunity for yourself as a supplier of multi-grafted blueberries. There may be a five year lead in, but shucks the recession will last that long so we might as well be doing something.

Below is an extract from a (Japanese university) trial which I found at http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200615/000020061506A0491897.php.

Abstract;
"The possibility of using wild blueberry [Vaccinium bracteatum Thunb.] as a rootstock for cultivating Northern Highbush blueberry in a warm region was investigated. The survival ratios of three different cultivars ('Berkeley', 'Bluecrop', and 'Earliblue') grafted on 3-year-old rootstock were 85.7 to 100%. Furthermore, 41 cultivars included in highbush rabbit-eye blueberries were successfully grafted on seedlings of Shashanbo rootstock. There were no signs of incompatibility even four years after grafting, and anatomical observations of graft unions supported this result. The shoot growth and fruit weight of 'Earliblue' grafted on seedlings of Shashanbo rootstock were significantly higher than those of plants on their own roots. However, the shoot growth of 'Earliblue' grafted on rooted cuttings of rabbit-eye blueberries ('Homebell' and 'Tifblue') was significantly higher than that of those on seedlings of Shashanbo rootstock. In addition, there were no differences in concentrations or component ratio of sugars and organic acids on any rootstock. These findings suggest that Shashanbo has graft compatibility with blueberry and that seedlings could be used as a rootstock for cultivating northern highbush blueberries in southern Kyushu. " (author abst.)
public domain and acknowledged Go For It.

Organicgrowingpains · Hawthorn Tree Joined: 24 Aug 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Cork

Hi wallitall, I followed your advice and have moved the blueberries.You can see the finished result on www.organicgrowingpains.blogspot.com blog. I still have not got around to uploading photos on this , an endevour I will try to master for the winter!
Thanks to admin and everyone for the advice too!

walltoall · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:00 pm Post subject: Glad to be of help

Feng shued blueberries should work nicely. Gosh your blog spot is terrific and the photos are stunning. I went right down the whole blog to the end. Cobh brought back memories to me of seeing relatives off in the 50's. My grandfather went out of Cobh on the Teutonic in 1909 and died in America. It's a long story. By the bye, you were worried about the shrubs getting pot-bound. I have a fig eight feet high with a spread of about fifteen living in a stone pot against the house. I was told to do it that way by an old boy near here. he said if I let the fig grow free it would dedicate itself to growth and give miserable returns. As long as you keep yours ericated (is that a word?) I think they'll be fine so long as they pollinate ok. Best of luck with the garden. You do go to a lot of trouble but you'll reap the reward.

Organicgrowingpains · Hawthorn Tree Joined: 24 Aug 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Cork

Hi wallitall,I put up the photos firstly to remind us that we are progressing in some way and hopefully they will benefit somebody else also.It is also a wayof keeping track of what grew and what did'nt !
Roll on next year! If you go on to the Ellis island website and put in your Grandfather's name or the name of the ship you will get up the sailing log and info on it.Its a great site.

rosemary · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:53 am Post subject:

I'd love to grow blueberries in my windswept Kerry garden. Would they cope with the salty air? Would I need to make the soil even more acid than it is?

Thanks in advance, Rosemary

Organicgrowingpains · Hawthorn Tree Joined: 24 Aug 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Cork

Hi Rosemary, I think they need a sunny sheltered site. Judging by the proliferation of rhododendrons and peat bogs in Kerry the soil is probably acid enough. There is a great blueberry thread and advice on here and admin have also lots of advice on as well, but salty air I am not sure about?Like anything in gardening, have a go anyway you could confound all the experts!

walltoall · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject: Blueberry pie

Hi Rosemary!
If you can find 'hurts' growing in the vicinity of heather near where you are you can grow blueberries. If you are unsure about the word 'hurts' ask someone much older than yourself. Here's to the Kingdom!
SW