Blueberry picking

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Road trip to Thads a couple weeks ago and picked 18 gal of berries.

here is one use I have found for them
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/poultneyfiredog18/IMAG0398_zps2a9657cf.jpg (http://s40.photobucket.com/user/poultneyfiredog18/media/IMAG0398_zps2a9657cf.jpg.html)

more pics to come
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/poultneyfiredog18/Canning%20rig%20build/IMAG0300_zpsd5af529c.jpg (http://s40.photobucket.com/user/poultneyfiredog18/media/Canning%20rig%20build/IMAG0300_zpsd5af529c.jpg.html)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/poultneyfiredog18/Canning%20rig%20build/IMAG0298_zps1eac7822.jpg (http://s40.photobucket.com/user/poultneyfiredog18/media/Canning%20rig%20build/IMAG0298_zps1eac7822.jpg.html)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/poultneyfiredog18/Canning%20rig%20build/IMAG0297_zps412fe2ea.jpg (http://s40.photobucket.com/user/poultneyfiredog18/media/Canning%20rig%20build/IMAG0297_zps412fe2ea.jpg.html)
[URL=http://s40.photobucket.com/user/poultneyfiredog18/media/Canning%20rig%20build/IMAG0295_zps8675ef85.jpg.html]

[Ausable]

Flat Lander - I could not imagine picking 18 gallons of Blueberries. Even High Bush Blueberries. We picked them in the past - both in the Forest and on Blueberry Farms. Now in the Geezer phase of my life - We buy them in 5 pound boxes and freeze them in plastic bags. Hey! My Wife and one of my Great Granddaughters made the Gang --- Blueberry Pancakes and Sausage this past weekend - with - of course - maple syrup.

[maple flats]

We have a 4.5 acre u-pick blueberry farm. Most only pick between 3-6 gal, but 18 is not unheard of. So far we've had a good season. Been open since 1986, this will be our 3rd best ever, but we have several thousand $ to go to catch up to #2. Won't happen, the season has lasted almost 7 weeks and it is slowing. Out of 54 rows in 3 varieties, only 12 rows in the latest variety are still going. Likely 1 more week, possibly 2 max.
The blueberries were real good this year.

[PerryFamily]

I am hoping to plant a couple dozen blueberry plants this spring. I eat a couple quarts a day some times. I buy the local ones when available. I got some yesterday from BC Canada, TERRIBLE. NO FLAVOR. Cant wait for some of my own.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Thad has about 1100 plants and the 18 gal was pretty much picked from one row. Thad and his wife helped we didn't do the whole 18 by our selfs.

[maple flats]

I am hoping to plant a couple dozen blueberry plants this spring. I eat a couple quarts a day some times. I buy the local ones when available. I got some yesterday from BC Canada, TERRIBLE. NO FLAVOR. Cant wait for some of my own.
If you plan to plant blueberries, get a soil sample now and get it weed free now. Blueberries need a PH in the 4.2-5.2 range. They can not take in nitrogen unless it is in the ammonium state and that is only at the lower PH's. If you are above 6.2 you may not be able to grow them, if under that, add the prescribed amount of sulfur now. Once you sour the soil, the right fertilizer will keep it there. Contact your local co-operative extension. If your PH is naturally right you may need little except to get the land ready now.
My natural PH was 5.4-5.6, I use ammonium sulfate for fertilizer, and add a little epsom salt about every 3-4 years (for magnesium).

[jimsudz]

Maple Flats,I've decided to start growing a few blueberry's.I traded 2 beech 2x10x10 side boards to a local nursery for 4 bluecrops and 2 blueray plants. The price tag on them was $39.99 a piece,I think I did alright. What would be the right spacing?The only problem is my property is an old gravel pit, so the top has been stripped.Plan on mixing topsoil and compost to make my beds, but have to consider the PH. What are some good early,mid and late seaason berrys? Thanks for any info you can share,Jim

[Thad Blaisdell]

Minimum of 3 plants of 1 variety

2 Year Plants, 18" - 30"
•3 to 5 Plants - $5.75 Each
•6 to 10 Plants - $5.50 Each
•11 to 99 Plants - $5.30 Each
•100 to 200 Plants - $5.15 Each
•201 to 499 Plants - $5.00 Each
•500 - 1,000 Plants - $4.95 Each

we also offer a 3 year plant from 26 to 36 inches at 50 cents extra per plant.


http://pensenursery.net/

39.99 is a rip off

[jimsudz]

Thad I realize $39.99 is a rip,basically they got $20 of lumber and I got 6 plants 36" + that are in 4 gal buckets. I was told by a local producer to start with these varieties, seeing he has good luck with them, he likes blue crop best for our area.

[PerryFamily]

Flats- Thanks for the info. Where they are going to go was all pines previously so the ground should be pretty acidic but I will check it . Gonna buy them from Norse Farm in Deerfield, MA. They sell a ton of varieties and have great info on their web site. I think they are like $6-8 each? Might try some raspberries too.

[David in MI]

Now that looks like an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place to pick blueberries! If we ever get out your way I will have to stop by to see it for myself. We, too, have a you-pick blueberry orchard, although we only have around 300 mature bushes right now. We added 250 in the spring and have another 400 coming in the fall; our plan is to add more bushes each year with hopes of getting around 5 acres planted eventually. We had some really cold weather here in MI this year so our berries didn't seem to sweeten up as much. I'm guessing that we have another week, maybe two of picking but most of our bushes are picked out right now.

There's nothing like blueberry pancakes and maple syrup.

[maple flats]

Maple Flats,I've decided to start growing a few blueberry's.I traded 2 beech 2x10x10 side boards to a local nursery for 4 bluecrops and 2 blueray plants. The price tag on them was $39.99 a piece,I think I did alright. What would be the right spacing?The only problem is my property is an old gravel pit, so the top has been stripped.Plan on mixing topsoil and compost to make my beds, but have to consider the PH. What are some good early,mid and late season berrys? Thanks for any info you can share,Jim
Being on an old gravel bed might need some special considerations. How far down is the water table (do you have enough moisture?) You may need to install drip irrigation, or micro sprinklers. A blueberry wants 1" of water a week during the growing season, and 2" per week when fruit is present, either by nature or irrigation. If you go irrigation, I highly suggest drip. Then you may need to build raised beds. A blueberry roots system is not very deep, but I'd suggest 8-12" raised bed. Mix 1/2 peat moss and 1/2 sand, then mulch with wood chips. The chips will initially use up nitrogen but if you add more each year the final result will be good. As Thad suggests, you might want at least 3 of any variety you choose.
For pollination, I have no issues and I only have wild populations of bumblebees. They are needed to pollinate a blueberry, a honeybee can't reach inside the blueberry flower dependably enough. At my farm, went in bloom, I have between 5-10 bumblebees in each bush (I planted over 4000 bushes)

[jimsudz]

Thanks for the tips Maple Flats ,water table is way down so I probably will have to do some sort of irrigation.

[maple flats]

I'm talking surface water table, not well depths. To check, dig a hole 18" deep and check it 24 hrs later (no rain). If the bottom of the hole is dry, you need irrigation, if real damp, maybe not, if some water you don't need it until a drought hits. The blueberry roots are all in the first 6-10", but the moisture will wick enough to the roots most of the time, except in a drought. I bought my drip from Berryhill Drip, they are on the web. My drip runs off 2 pumps @ 2" each, one to pump from a creek 1600' away to fill my pond, the second pushes the water thru 2 sand filters and ten thru about 500' of 2" pipe, then it goes thru a pressure reducer to bring it down to 12 psi and then into the mains, and then drip tape runs down each row. If you are at your house, a simple hose connection is all you need for up to maybe an acre.

[davrhods]

What do you use to control Japanese beetles? Awesome year with 100 6 year old bushes from Nourse farm . bugs were cazy.I sprayed with 7 when they first emereged just once don't want to use more than I need to.

[maple flats]

I spray with malathion weekly, mainly for blueberry maggot and another import from China, the spotted wing drosophila (SWD), and it also controls Japanese beetles and mosquitoes. For many years I was able to do no spraying, but once the blueberry maggot found me I had to, or there would be no marketable crop. The SWD is a new import that spread like wildfire. It was first discovered in California only a few years ago, found in NY about 2011 and it hit my fields in 2012. For me it cost my total fall season Red Raspberry crop last year, there was nothing labeled to spray it with. This year emergency approval was passed to control it with malathion and a few others.