Wild blueberries

I am lucky to have wild blueberries growing all over the place, but it seems like I can never get a 'crop'. I'm sure the birds, squirrels or some other critters (bears??!) are eating them, but I never catch them. I tried putting the tree fruit netting over some of them, but I still did not get a yield. This spring, my husband and I burned the two good patches because I remember farmers doing that when I was a kid.

Any other thoughts or suggestions on how to help my blueberries grow?

One thing I wonder about are the ferns that grow with them - good or bad?

Are you getting any flowers or have you seen fruit at all? No expert on blueberries, but could be a pollination problem? One of my bush bbs is still flowering and one has fruit already. Glad something liked all the rain :)

~Kat

Yes, I have flowers now, too, but no berries yet. I don't think these guys are bush blueberries, they're only about 10 - 12 inches tall. I do get some berries, but nothing like some of the blueberry patches nearby, like on the hiking trail a couple miles down the road. We go there to pick berries - you get handfuls of them there in just one reach.

Do your bush bb's do well every year? I seem to remember hearing that they're biannual.

My dad planted ours a number of years ago, so I don't know what varieties they are. Last year two of the five seemed to do much better, more fruit and much sweeter. This year, those two have fewer blossoms than the others. Will be interesting to see how they compare. My grandfather had a large bit of blueberry ground and all I remember is that he burned a different portion every year, maybe a 3-5 year rotation? If he fertilized, my guess would be cow manure, straw or garden compost, he certainly wouldn't have purchased anything :) I found this on Google, which may be helpful: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/blueberry.html

A great website!! Thanks so much for finding it! I'll share this with my hubby, too, and plan from there