Zone 10-11 Blueberries??Need input!

Hartmanns Nursery advertises Southern Blueberries for zones 10 and 11. I was very surprised so I thought I'd try them as I have post polio syndrome and fresh blueberries work miracles for my muscles so I ordered the three plant southern combo of their choice. They will send me three different blueberry plants that are the best for my area. I know this is a heck of a time to ask but has anyone had any experience with success with blueberries down here? Or heard any negativeism on the subject?

I know there are low chill rabbiteyes coming out of the Florida breeding program, but I don't know about the southern highbush.

I do hope that their advertising is true as it would be a godsend for me and my affliction? I looked them up in the Watchdog and they were OK! My soil has a PH of 6 so I'm going to use an evergreen acidic liquid formula hoping to sour the soil down to 5 or 5.5 PH sometime before their arrival. I have the perfect spot for them along my fence line with partial shade especially from the hot sun. I was told last year from Nourse Nursery that blueberries could not be grown in zone 10? Has that much changed in one year?

The Florida breeding program has apparently been busy with low chill high bush. http://www.actahort.org/members/showpdf?booknrarnr=622_65 According to Dave Wilson, there are several culivars with less than 200 chill hour requirements Sunshine Blue, Sharpblue, O'Neal, Misty, and Georgia Gem. http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_trees/vine_blueberry.html http://www.cababstractsplus.org/google/abstract.asp?AcNo=20043196921 http://www.freepatentsonline.com/PP10675.html

From the Just Fruits chart, it would appear that the 150-200 hour chill hour zone extends just south of Orlando. http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/Blueberries.htm Zone 9B.

Those chill hours ---- Do they mean consecutive or accumalative?

Have no idea Plant, I just go by the chart or location. Determining chill hours is too complicated for me.

Tplants
I grow Tifblue , Climax and premier down here in zone 9, I put them in half 55gallon drums because my soil has a ph of 7, For soil I use mostly peat and pine bark and they produced fruit the first year, Maybe Just fruits and exotics has something that will grow down there in zone10-11,
Olodude


Sorry Farmerdill, I did not see that you had already recommended Just Fruits and Exotics.

This message was edited Apr 10, 2008 9:44 AM

UPDATE:
Danny Hartmann, of Hartmann's Nursery, just e-mailed me and assured me that the blueberries will grow very happily here in So Fl but for best results should be planted in the fall for best root development but I'll take the chance now and re-order in the fall as the blueberries are very important for my health.

I grow Gulf Coast, Sharp, Misty and Millennia blue berries. I tried growing them in the ground and had no luck. Only one survived and I transplanted that to an earth box. I planted the dwarf papayas that were in the rest of my earth boxes in the ground and bought some more bushes.

I made my own mix with a base of Jungle Growth and mixed in pine bark chips and broken pieces and a healthy dose of sphagnum peat moss. I mulched with pine bark. I use soil acidifer and and Azelea fertilizer and have had great success. I even bought some more and planted them in 10 gallon pots with a similar mix. I water every week or so and I have been eating blueberries for three weeks now.

Good growing

Dale

Thanks Dale! Two of my three are doing great but one was recieved in bad condition. The leaves had red rust or such and the plant has not grown and is dying. I e-mailed Hartmanns but they never replied? I'll try again. Also I'll take some pictures today and show you. I believe it was "Misty."

This message was edited May 13, 2008 1:48 PM

Chill hours is cumulative. It generally refers to the number of hours below 45 degrees that the plants will experience. Blueberries, apples, and other trees and shrubs need chill hours to figure out when to go into dormancy and when to break dormancy. Otherwise the plants don't "wake up rested" if you know what I mean.

The classic example is that all of the popular apple varieties like McIntosh, Braeburn, Golden Delicious, etc. have a tough time in Houston because it doesn't get cold enough long enough.

Of course you can get a lot more detailed than that and researchers have subsequently come up with the idea of "chill units".

This message was edited May 13, 2008 11:25 AM

Pretty sad looking so I think I'll just pull it and send an e-mail picture to Hartmanns Nursery. I'm surprised they shipped it in the first place as it looks much the same minus a few leaves . I believe it had "red stele" if that is how you spell it. I did e-mail them when I got it but they never replied? Prior to my complaint we were in constant communication!

Misty is doing fine.

Southern Blueberry also far ahead on growth as in comparison to the sick one.

This message was edited May 13, 2008 2:05 PM

I have two blueberry bushes that I bought in St.Cloud. fla. from a man that grows them in pine bark and they are happy plants. I transplanted them to a huge pot with both of them in there together but they are not doing as well as when they were in just all bark. So if you are home all time and can water every day as he said you can grow them in zone ten. They were the emerald. I bought another variety in Miss when I went up there for vacation but left it there at my sisters since i flew up. You know they do better if you got more than one variety and this one is different and it was already covered with berries in late april. So I hope mine witll do better when i get the new ones. Forgot the name but it said they grow as far south as zone 10. The emerald dont have to have other variety since the guy sells to the public and he has some that has berres on them . I am in Orlando zone 9 b I think . Fran

Forgot to say you should feed them cotton seed meal and miracle grow for azealeas. Fran

Fran --- I have been doing just that and my two remaining plants are doing very well but my books say never to use cedar mulch? I guess up your way you have pine mulch! I went and bought the artificial rubber mulch as it is the only type we have down here and it cost me a bundle of $$$ but if it works I'll be happy. (When I lived in NY we would use coco mulch from Hershey Co). I will be buying three more for fall planting.

Hi Tplant,
You are kidding about the pine bark arent you? Home Depot carries it as does lowes. GEEEEZE/
Well you can always use pine needles. should be about the same. I dont think the rubber mulch would be good for it.
Fran

Pine needles are unavailable in my area. I have used rubber mulch for years and it works very well! Never needs replacing and is produced by a company in Florida and is used in many public areas including school playgrounds. Though very expensive @ $10 per sq. ft. it never needs replacement and since I have been amending my blueberry garden's PH, it is just this 12' x 5' area that I am now using as my special blueberry garden. I certainly hope blueberries will grow here? The cost of the plants are insignificant compared to the seven bags of mulch! Dan Nourse assured me that they will grow here in my zone 10. I have placed the remaining two plants in a semi-shaded area. I have amended the soil with humus, milorganite, spaghnum peat moss and sulfur based fertilizer mixed in with my loamy soil. The PH originally was 6 and I will eventually drop it to 4.5 or 5 but that will take several more months. So far the remaining two plants are doing very well and look very healthy...

Tplant,
Well great if that works for you and that sound great that the rubber mulch works so well. Maybe I should try it since i have to replace most of mine nearly every yr. I will check out the price of it here. I sure dont understand why you cant find pine needles and pine bark there. Sorry. Anyway I think the slugs wouldnt like the rubber do they? I do have a bad problem with slugs and snails here. Fran
By the way what name are your blueberries.

Only mulch here is cedar and no other except the rubber mulch which snails and slugs do not like. My blueberries are Southern and Misty. Just checked them a few minutes ago and they look healthy. I think they like the bed that I made for them. Must check the PH today. I have a meter for that purpose although some claim that they are not accurate but they always did the job for me.

tplant,
Does the rubber mulch float? I may move my blueberries when we get a stump removed and i may try that myself if you only use it one time and dont have to replace it. I will keep the name of the blueberries in mind if I have to replace any of them...Thanks for all the information. By the way where did you purcase yours at ? Fran

Fran -- The rubber mulch does not float. It stays put even when sprayed with the hose. It really serves its purpose! I purchased my blueberries on the internet from NOURSE FARMS. I'll be buying three more come fall as that is their favored shipping time to my zone.

I bought my blueberries last year from Bay Laurel Nursery. They specialize in low-chill fruits of all kinds. My blueberry bushes were beautiful when they arrived, and we are picking lots of berries this year. I bought Sunshine Blue and Sharpblue. Both are less fussy about the soil and PH and should be good in your area.

Because of our heavy, clay soil, I have mine in very large nursery pots, about 30 inches across, 2 in a pot. I also have them in morning sun/afternoon shade because of the high heat factor here. They've grown so much that I am going to repot them this fall into larger containers, only one bush to a pot. No nursery in this town carries or even has heard of Camellia/Azalea mix, so I had to make my own from MiracleGro and add lots of perlite and peat moss to it.

http://www.baylaurelnursery.com/order/clicksite.cgi?cart_id=&xm=on&ftr=Blueberries&p=Blueberries

Karen

Hi Karen,
Thanks for the imput. What thats crazy about the fertilizer. Its miracle grow with the green at the top of the box. Its for acid loving plants. Glad your blue berries are doing good. You must get a lot more cold than we do and I will move my berries to get more shade than they do. Fran

Hi Fran,

I did find the Sunshine Blue to be a more vigorous bush then the Sharpblue. However, they both produced very nicely this year. For fertilizer I used Hollytone which is made for azaleas, camellias, and other plants that need an acid soil. But if you have MG for acid-loving plants, that should be fine, too.

We do get a lot more chill hours than you, but I still need the Southern type blueberry bushes. I don't get anywhere enough chill hours for the Northern types.

Karen

Karen,
Do you use cottonseed meal on yours? I dont know but the guy I bought them from said they like it. so I use both.
I forgot what I bought in Miss but it said they were for up to zone 10 so that was fine with me. I also have what is called a custard Apple but since it ws small when I got it not sure how long it will be before it bears fruit. Have you heard about it? Fran

Hi Fran,

I only use the Hollytone. They were doing a close-out at HD, so I got several bags for practically nothing. I just don't fool around with a of different kinds of fertilizer for everything. I don't have the time nor the patience to keep track of it all. I use the Hollytone on the plants that like it. For everything else I buy an 8-8-8 fertilizer from the local Farmers' Co-op, 50 pound bag, get me a bucket full every couple of weeks, and then go around and give some to everything else. For me, this seems to be working very well.

The ground is so nasty here, hard red clay, that I am using everything that can be composted as the basis for new lasagna beds.

I want to get four more blueberry bushes and get them into large pots this fall. I like the Sunshine Blue very well so I'll get a couple more of those. I think for the other two I may try the Misty Blue. I've read good reports on that one.

I have heard of the custard apple. I don't believe they will grow here, but I intend to try one when I get the time. I've seen told that the fruit is wonderful.

Karen

Would that "custard apple" be a persimmon tree, by any chance, or is it a different fruit? Just curious...

http://newcrop.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/custard_apple.html

Cyra,
No, I dont think its a percimmon. The lady I got it from . said it was a custard Apple and they made soothes out of them. I have not tried to look it up on the internet . Fran

Farmerdill, Thanks for the information. I will water mine more now that I have more information. No flowers or fruit yet. Fran

My blueberries are doing well in their special lower PH garden. If they survive the summer heat then I know they will grow here!

Thank you for the info on custard apples, this is the first I've heard of them. I think I'd better transplant my blueberry to a pot; since the soil here is fairly alkaline, and I don't like to use chemical fertilizers, like Miracle grow. Will try to find pine bark and some peat soil ammendments.

Aloha,
This was a very interesting thread. I have been wanting to grow blueberries here in HI (Zone 11) and wondered if it would be possible. Has anyone had any experience with them? I found an article about trying to grow blueberries on the Big Island, but they get cooler with the higher elevation than we do here on Oahu.
Mahalo,

Talk to True Blue Propagation in Hudson, FL (Near Tarpon Springs) They seem very knowledgeable about Fl blueberry growing, using the UofFL new cultivars. They are not rabbiteye, they are southern highbush. Their site is attractive.

Paul