Teacup bonsai
Sapling
Anyone else try messing around with blueberry bonsai?
Highbush blueberry
- Thread starter Teacup bonsai
- Start date
Anyone else try messing around with blueberry bonsai?
@Leo in N E Illinois would be your blueberry guy.
Teacup bonsai
Sapling
Thanks!
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,427
- Reaction score
- 23,606
- USDA Zone
- 5b
Family owns a small blueberry farm. I have a few young ones in pots. Planning on digging a few older ones this spring.
What would you like to know?
What would you like to know?
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
Excuse me for the highjack, but when is the best time to do hard chops on blueberries?
Teacup bonsai
Sapling
Well although this plant looks fairly old already (around 1.5 in diameter at base) I picked it up earlier this year so I’m new to this plant especially as bonsai.
I figure it’ll probably grow like crazy in the spring so I’m trying to find out more about how they branch. From the little pruning I did this year it seems like it always dies back to the previous 1-2 node, leaving a woody tip to the shoot. I’m trying to start working the branches out to increase density in the bottom trunk (so I don’t lose that foliage) and fill out the middle of the apex.
Any pointers on encouraging back budding without having to just chop everything back and roll the dice on new shoots?
JoeR
Masterpiece
I played with a wild blueberry for a few years, dont remember why but it died after some time. They airlayer easily. From what I could tell, they do not like their roots worked on so no heavy root pruning. I have a few I plan on digging up in the spring but have no experience with that yet, again Leo would probably know the best way to collect them. As far as pruning, standard clip and grow or wire works well. They are an acid loving species so a fertilizer made for that is best.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Hey Teacup! Welcome to Crazy!
I narrowed down the "blueberry" search by adding "highbush" and still got 2 pages of results!
www.bonsainut.com
You'll find loads of information there, Leo's probably typing you a book right now on pruning them! He's....Getting Twiggy with It! Na na na na na na na!
That's a good start!
Oh...why was I eating Peruvian Blueberries and Mexican Rasberries last night? Idunno!
Sorce
I narrowed down the "blueberry" search by adding "highbush" and still got 2 pages of results!
Search results for query: Highbush blueberry
You'll find loads of information there, Leo's probably typing you a book right now on pruning them! He's....Getting Twiggy with It! Na na na na na na na!
That's a good start!
Oh...why was I eating Peruvian Blueberries and Mexican Rasberries last night? Idunno!
Sorce
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,427
- Reaction score
- 23,606
- USDA Zone
- 5b
You get better search results if you use the Thread Title only search. Then the results are not "All Leo, all the time".
But I have written a lot. I found a summary with links to different posts I wrote. Using the magic of copy and paste I will post the links to these.
This initial post is about 2 Walmart blueberry cultivars that someone bought. The original poster was in VIrginia. Read, follow the links, if you still have questions, I can answer.
Begin quote:
'Earlyblue' and 'Bluecrop' are both Northern Highbush Blueberry cultivars, their genetics are pretty much 100% Vaccinium corymbosum. This means they are quite winter hardy, flower buds form in late summer, and will survive over winter through -18 F (-27.5 C) on the bushes. The vegetative buds are even more cold hardy, and will survive cold through -20 F. (-29 C) possibly even through -25 F (-32 C). In Virginia, you might have problems with these varieties getting insufficient cold in mild winters. They do need more than 90 days of night time temperatures below 40 F (4 C). They may also be somewhat sensitive to multiple week long episodes of warm days and warm nights where night time temperatures stay above 72 F. (above 20 C). But I don't have hands on experience with this. Both cultivars are known to be pretty hardy and vigorous, they might have no problem at all. It is heat that prevents Northern Highbush types from being grown in Florida, Mississippi or Alabama.
'Earlyblue' was bred to bloom at the same time as 'Bluecrop' but to ripen a week or two earlier. 'Bluecrop' is considered a early main season blueberry, in SW Michigan it has first few ripe fruit usually by July 4, and 50% of the berries are ripe by July 10 or July 15. In your part of Virginia they should come in a few weeks earlier.
The one component in your mix experiments that really does work well for blueberries is bark, fir bark, pine park, any bark will work. Composted for a while (one year, but less is okay). The pumice, perlite & lava are great for adding aeration, they will not shift the pH of the soil much on their own. Akadama and Kanuma are not acidic enough to keep blueberries happy if you have alkaline water. If you are watering only with rain water your mix will be fine. Most municipal water will have some dissolved calcium, the more calcium the bigger the problem for the blueberry. It is the calcium that is the problem, not really the pH. Don't worry about water pH. Do worry about the calcium, expressed most often as Total Alkalinity (as mg calcium carbonate per liter of water). Total dissolved solids can be used to estimate total Alkalinity. Dissolved solids is usually listed as ppm, parts per million.
If you are forced to use medium to hard water (medium to high calcium content) your choice of potting media becomes important. Here peat moss is a good choice. Yes, that fine nasty powdery peat moss sold as Canadian peat. It has the ion exchange capacity to adsorb calcium. It is fine and powdery, no amount of sifting will give you a reasonable amount of peat from a bale, so it will not breathe if compacted. You must repot at least once every other year, and best results might be yearly repotting to keep the peat mix aerated. More in the posts I linked below.
I wrote quite a bit about blueberries over the last 3 years, here are links to all the articles I've written. (I had just summarized them for @Traken so copy and paste and you have them too.
the How to Increase Soil Acidity For Blueberry is some of my ''most complete'' writing on potting media for blueberry.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/how-to-increase-soil-acidity-for-blueberry.37068
This thread I cover pruning for bonsai in detail. My soil recommendations in this thread are not as experienced (or as good) as in the above thread. Ignore the Kanuma in the mix. Peat, Bark & a small amount of Sawdust is my main recommendation post 2018. You will need to repot every 2 years if peat is in the mix. Repotting yearly is okay. I no longer bother to sift the peat.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ideas-suggestions-welcome-blueberry.25620
another thread where I discuss blueberry pruning. A more brief summary, less wordy.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/mother-daughter-windswept-blueberry-keep-the-daughter.32266
A thread with photos from the farm and my 2016 version of my blueberry sermon.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/blueberry-side-project.23437
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/berry-bushes-as-shohin-mame.37678
this thread is good discussion of pH, which is much talked about with blueberries and azalea. Point of article, pH is trivial. Calcium content of water and soil is the measurement that matters.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/testing-soil-ph.35224/
brief note on Humates, and Seaweed - https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/vitamin-b-1-drenches-who-does-it.34943
Brief snippets of blueberry knowledge here, some about environmental factors and fungus control page 1. Photos from the farm on page 2.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/boredom-leads-to-a-blueberry.28763/page-2#post-554005
more snippets of blueberry info, as I understood it in 2016
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/blueberry.25150/#post-432088
autumn colors of blueberries, buried in 2 posts in middle of this lengthy thread.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/autumn-colours.29452
But I have written a lot. I found a summary with links to different posts I wrote. Using the magic of copy and paste I will post the links to these.
This initial post is about 2 Walmart blueberry cultivars that someone bought. The original poster was in VIrginia. Read, follow the links, if you still have questions, I can answer.
Begin quote:
'Earlyblue' and 'Bluecrop' are both Northern Highbush Blueberry cultivars, their genetics are pretty much 100% Vaccinium corymbosum. This means they are quite winter hardy, flower buds form in late summer, and will survive over winter through -18 F (-27.5 C) on the bushes. The vegetative buds are even more cold hardy, and will survive cold through -20 F. (-29 C) possibly even through -25 F (-32 C). In Virginia, you might have problems with these varieties getting insufficient cold in mild winters. They do need more than 90 days of night time temperatures below 40 F (4 C). They may also be somewhat sensitive to multiple week long episodes of warm days and warm nights where night time temperatures stay above 72 F. (above 20 C). But I don't have hands on experience with this. Both cultivars are known to be pretty hardy and vigorous, they might have no problem at all. It is heat that prevents Northern Highbush types from being grown in Florida, Mississippi or Alabama.
'Earlyblue' was bred to bloom at the same time as 'Bluecrop' but to ripen a week or two earlier. 'Bluecrop' is considered a early main season blueberry, in SW Michigan it has first few ripe fruit usually by July 4, and 50% of the berries are ripe by July 10 or July 15. In your part of Virginia they should come in a few weeks earlier.
The one component in your mix experiments that really does work well for blueberries is bark, fir bark, pine park, any bark will work. Composted for a while (one year, but less is okay). The pumice, perlite & lava are great for adding aeration, they will not shift the pH of the soil much on their own. Akadama and Kanuma are not acidic enough to keep blueberries happy if you have alkaline water. If you are watering only with rain water your mix will be fine. Most municipal water will have some dissolved calcium, the more calcium the bigger the problem for the blueberry. It is the calcium that is the problem, not really the pH. Don't worry about water pH. Do worry about the calcium, expressed most often as Total Alkalinity (as mg calcium carbonate per liter of water). Total dissolved solids can be used to estimate total Alkalinity. Dissolved solids is usually listed as ppm, parts per million.
If you are forced to use medium to hard water (medium to high calcium content) your choice of potting media becomes important. Here peat moss is a good choice. Yes, that fine nasty powdery peat moss sold as Canadian peat. It has the ion exchange capacity to adsorb calcium. It is fine and powdery, no amount of sifting will give you a reasonable amount of peat from a bale, so it will not breathe if compacted. You must repot at least once every other year, and best results might be yearly repotting to keep the peat mix aerated. More in the posts I linked below.
I wrote quite a bit about blueberries over the last 3 years, here are links to all the articles I've written. (I had just summarized them for @Traken so copy and paste and you have them too.
the How to Increase Soil Acidity For Blueberry is some of my ''most complete'' writing on potting media for blueberry.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/how-to-increase-soil-acidity-for-blueberry.37068
This thread I cover pruning for bonsai in detail. My soil recommendations in this thread are not as experienced (or as good) as in the above thread. Ignore the Kanuma in the mix. Peat, Bark & a small amount of Sawdust is my main recommendation post 2018. You will need to repot every 2 years if peat is in the mix. Repotting yearly is okay. I no longer bother to sift the peat.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ideas-suggestions-welcome-blueberry.25620
another thread where I discuss blueberry pruning. A more brief summary, less wordy.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/mother-daughter-windswept-blueberry-keep-the-daughter.32266
A thread with photos from the farm and my 2016 version of my blueberry sermon.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/blueberry-side-project.23437
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/berry-bushes-as-shohin-mame.37678
this thread is good discussion of pH, which is much talked about with blueberries and azalea. Point of article, pH is trivial. Calcium content of water and soil is the measurement that matters.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/testing-soil-ph.35224/
brief note on Humates, and Seaweed - https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/vitamin-b-1-drenches-who-does-it.34943
Brief snippets of blueberry knowledge here, some about environmental factors and fungus control page 1. Photos from the farm on page 2.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/boredom-leads-to-a-blueberry.28763/page-2#post-554005
more snippets of blueberry info, as I understood it in 2016
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/blueberry.25150/#post-432088
autumn colors of blueberries, buried in 2 posts in middle of this lengthy thread.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/autumn-colours.29452
Teacup bonsai
Sapling
Thanks Leo! I’ll take a look at the pruning info
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,427
- Reaction score
- 23,606
- USDA Zone
- 5b
Highbush blueberries, Vaccinium corymbosum, are a long lived perennial shrub. The roots are the long lived part, with no finite senility date. Plantings 100 years old can still be productive on the farm. There are no "trunks" just a collection of vertical branches. Each branch becomes a stand in for a trunk. Initially a branch extends rapidly from the roots. Every winter the terminal vegetative bud for a branch will die, and new extension growth is from buds lower down on the branch. Beginning the 3rd year of branch development, the terminal buds of the twigs of the branch may become flower buds.
The growth habit is apically dominant, and the root system will supply unbranched juvenile branches in favor over highly ramified branches. If you have a branch, that has a branch with 3 degrees of branching at say 8 inches. If on that branch a bud sprouts at 4 inches, the new sprout will monopolize the nourishment for the whole branch, the highly ramified branch at 8 inches will slowly decline in favor of growth to the young sprout at 4 inches.
So in your bonsai pruning you need to eliminate young unbranched branches when you already have a few branches that are finely ramified. You can keep a branch going for many years beyond its "expiration date" if you prune off any young unbranched sprouts that could draw root support away from the branch.
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,427
- Reaction score
- 23,606
- USDA Zone
- 5b
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
All Leo all the Time is the right Channel!
With so much information, we're going to have to upgrade them to Teapot!
Sorce
With so much information, we're going to have to upgrade them to Teapot!
Sorce
Similar threads
