Planting Blueberry Plants in 5 gallon Buckets

[Woodland Woman]

I finally got some food grade 5 gallon buckets for my blueberry plants. I am going to drill holes in the bottom. Now my question is what should I use for the soil so it will be acidic enough? Should I put rocks on the bottom?

 

[dacjohns]

I don't know about raising them in buckets but the guy at the ag station near us said to use lots of sphagum peat moss and to mulch with wood chips/shavings. I dumped my chicken coop litter (pine shavings) around my blueberries and it has helped a lot.

 

[ShannonS]

I have a blueberry plant out back with the raspberries and it's just pitiful. Do you have any advice?

I like the bucket idea.

 

[Farmgirlpastandfuture]

Aren't coffee grounds good for blueberries too?

 

[ShannonS]

Aren't coffee grounds good for blueberries too?

I'll try this. We have lots of those.

 

[Woodland Woman]

I am planting them in 5 gallon buckets so I can control the acidity of the soil. Unless you have very acidic soil they will not thrive. I have a ph meter and tomorrow I will experiment. I have some potting soil, peat moss, sulfur, and compost from chicken manure, leaves, litter and other things. I will see what combination gives me a ph of around 5.

 

[hoosier]

Will the roots winter over in the buckets, or will you bury the bucket this fall and dig up in the spring? I just got three plants and had to pot them up temporarily. You have me thinking . . .

 

[VickiLynn]

I have two blueberry plants in buckets that I planted last summer and left on the deck all winter (in Wisconsin). It looks like they're dead now - or maybe it's just too early for them. I just read somewhere you should bury the containers in the ground over winter.

 

[Woodland Woman]

I bought mine at the end of last year and kept them in a shed for the winter. They are doing well. Lots of blooms. I also have a fig tree and strawberries in containers and I keep them in the garage for the winter. If you keep them outside for the winter, I would bury them in leaves on the side of a building or a corner that doesn't get much wind and gets some sun.

 

[big brown horse]

I have two blueberry plants in buckets that I planted last summer and left on the deck all winter (in Wisconsin). It looks like they're dead now - or maybe it's just too early for them. I just read somewhere you should bury the containers in the ground over winter.

Mine have not started to leaf out yet. I'm in zone 7a, rather mild. (They look sorta dead, but I know they aren't.)