trial and error with blueberry burst

amanda says...
Shade is good starling...mine are in the ground and on the south side of our property - they only get a few hours of direct sun in summer - and that's before about 1pm...and it's mostly lightly filtered sun..
Keep them out of hot afternoon summer sun...(where are you..?)

Morning sun is best.

Anonymous says...
Im growing 2 of them in Adelaide in 400mm diam pots.50 percent Azalea mix 50 % Premium potting mix with 20% potting mix sand added to Premium potting mix plus 25 % Chicken manure added to the whole lot.I use Leaves as mulch .Check ph level add sulphur as required.They love morning sun.Mine dont get late afternoon sun though With summer approaching this will be an issue in Adelaide. .I have one blueberry on one plant.They love low saline water.If you have rainwater water them every second day.If you have a waterfilter water them with that water. Salinity of tapwater in Adelaide is a problem. With the higher sand levels the soil will dry quicker but sand makes the soil free draining ,this is what blueberries love but this is the trade off.Good luck.

Julie says...
WA folks - Blueberry burst will be available here in November. Dawsons and Bunnings will stock it, don't know who else.

So we must be patient!

Amanda, are you referring to blueberries in general, or do you have BB? Mine do well with morning sun and afternoon shade in summer.

yry says...
You should get a result, regardless,but in general when setting up a blueberry patch one should avoid chloride and nitrate ions in the fertiliser. So organic manures are OK, as is ammonium sulphate and potassium sulphate. Peat and coco peat( washed to remove salt) with coco peat coming a distant second are helpful but peat is expensive and the environmental consequences of extraction are problematic.

Black Finger says...
HI STARLING - BLUEBERRY BURST Cultivar
I've just seen a gardening episode of Get Dirty With Milton dated 24 April 2015 in which he discusses the Blueberry Burst plant (it was his plant of the week).
This TV gardening show is shown on Channel 44 Perth, every Fri morning at 5am-5:45am. I tape the show each week, but check the TV Times or ring the TV Channel for information on program times.
Miton Vadoulis stated that when planting this plant that it should be kept in mind it requires an acid soil.
Also when potting up the plant use a largish pot.
The soil should be mixed 50:50 normal acid potting mix from the Garden Centres (or make up your own, etc) together with fairly fine pine chips. According to Milton this gives the best growing soil for this acid loving plant.
Attributes of this cultivar is that it is self pollinating, it is evergreen, it grows approx 1M high x 75cm wide.
When you've finished planting, give it a feed of 'slow release' fertiliser suitable for acid loving plants
When you've finished planting, give the plant pot a topping of the fine pine chips you've used.
Repeat the slow release fertiliser treatment every 3 months.
Watering is important should the plant be in the WA Perth climate (hot as hell in summer!) so if it wilts, or is in danger of doing so, water the plant & move it to a cooler area of your garden.
Keep in mind, that most acid loving plants will become chlorotic (i.e. show yellow-green leaves) without a low enough pH (5.5 or so). This leaf discolouration MAY be reflected in this plant variety showing a lack of an acid soil.
This variety of the Blueberry is best grown in pots, as stated above.
Milton Vadoulis (Get Down & Dirty) recommended keeping the plant in partial shade if it's too hot, in semi-sun if it is cooler - but definitely keep up the watering. Water twice a day if necessary.
Apparently the fruit the plant develops is 3x larger than the normal Blueberry plant. Fruiting will start July-August & it will continue to fruit for 3-4 months.
So it's well worth planting.
With regard to acid loving plants, the Hydrangea is one such animal.
Although this information is a little late (your enquiry was 2013) & you've probably seen the garden show mentioned, I'm supplying this information for those who may have similar enquiries with regard to this amazing cultivar
David

Markmelb says...
I don't think we are making the potting mix acid enough - if you look at their latest stocks in nurseries they have a mix high in peat with sand - i will be doing same when i up pot mine - my BBs have grown better since replacing top inch as peat with pine needle mulch and sulphur granules. About one Metre tall now.

Markmelb says...
Are you getting fruit now ivepeters? Or is that a old pic with 5c? My BBs going into winter hibernation. One thing to note they dont taste as good as Nellie Kellie evergreen BB or Annie deciduous - but friend had fruit 3/4 dollar size - so is that 75cent size? LOL

Waterfall says...
BB and sharp blue are both flowering right now for me, all other varieties are still green but no flowers.

Black Finger says...
HI JUNELI

Could the problem be that the plant being a cooler climate vegetation resists the humidity / heat of Mackay?
Try Markmelb's comment about increasing the acidity of the soil - " ... replacing top inch as peat with pine needle mulch and sulphur granules ... "
I'll give that a try & send you the results on this page at a later time.
Blueberries apparently don't fruit outside Autumn here in Perth.

Markmelb says...
Juneli - please note we said we used premium azalea mix like Debco 50/50 with something close to or like Amgrow wettasoil pine bark mulch - i still needed to make that mix more acid- in future will do 35/35 plus 20 peat and 10 washed course sand to keep acid levels high.

Markmelb says...
Juneli - watch this space in spring as we didnt either last year on our year old plants - maybe they need more maturity?

Tell you tho - the Nellie Kellie evergreen is far better tasting than Burst was last year and they were both treated exactly the same and sat together to chat as they do :)

Matt8279 says...
I bought 4 of these to try out. I killed one of them by accident while trying to get rid of ants so I had to get a replacement. First picture was when I first got them 30th Sept'2014. Really tiny plants and they were about 14 weeks as I was told so roughly 3 and a half months. They grew quite aggressively and 2nd picture was in Apr'2015 so they are about 10 months old I guess. Then they starting to bloom with lots of flowers but growth wise they stopped which is properly normal since all their energy is devoted to the fruit production. 3rd picture is taken yesterday 2nd Jun'2015 (probably about 1 year old now) where the flowers have mostly dropped and now they are fruiting a fair bit, very few blue ripe ones as they were early. My 3 year old is not giving them a chance to get any bigger anyway. Most of them are green as well. It will probably be a while before they are actually ripe and I can finally comment on the taste and size of the blueberries. At the moment they are not impressive in size but its their first year anyway. Will update at a later stage as well

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2	Picture: 3

Markmelb says...
Matt - did you read my post 10th May above - use more peat - also sulpheracid granules too - they really like it acid.

if you look at the Bursts latest potting mixes as they are sold they are very high in peat - I did this extra addition to the top 2 inches of one I got last year and is almost as big as my 2 year old one and is flowering ahead of it too.
Leaves on mine are always wet and never get fungal issues either. Maybe its your humidity - I would use yates Liquid copper - very simple and wont burn - good for mangos and stone fryuit too :)

Matt8279 says...
I'll try to test the ph first and adjust accordingly. Thanks.