Apple and blueberry advice

[Panik]

So the local Lowes was having a sale on fruit trees and shrubs and I was able to snag a couple apple trees as well a couple different varieties of rabbiteye blueberries for a very good price:

-2 Red delicious
- 1 Golden delicious
- 1 Winsap

- 2 Misty blueberrry bushes
- 1 Woodard blueberry

I'm hoping to go back and get some more and different varieties of blueberries in order to have more variation in pollination and fruit season.

My plan for the apples was to plant them in the front yard. However, I am unsure how far apart I can reasonably space them and still be assured cross pollination (the winsap should be a sterile polinator). We have about 3 acres of yard with it being longer than deep. I would like to be able to spread them across the front of the property 75-100' apart (rough guess, maybe more). It seems however that all of the guidelines refer to minimum spacing required for crowding.

I'd like to do the same with the bluberries so that eventually we have a couple large clumps of berry bushes, but am running into the same issue with determining spacing for pollination. In all cases the locations for the berries and trees are in full sun and high enough to avoid chill pockets.

In regards to the actual planting I had planned on amending the soil with peat moss for the apple trees and "commercial" garden soil for the blueberries, mulching well, staking the trees and fencing as appropriate. I will also likely do some judicious trimming on both the trees and shrubs. The trees are about 5' at this point and for the most part are open centered as opposed to having central leaders. Aside from making a dirt retention ring around the trees to retain water during watering do y'all have any other tips or tricks that might help this endeavor be successful?

BTW, if it helps in regards to advice I'm in the foothills of NW Georgia. Thanks!

 

[brown40]

Blueberries like the ph between 4.8 and 5.2 and hate wet feet... if you're buying soil buy the stuff for rhododendrons. Closer the better for cross pollination if production is what your after. A pretty landscape that gives a bit of fruit is a different goal. Apples are wonderful, if only for the blooms. Don't amend the hole and base too richly or the roots won't search out early. top dressing the perimeter where you want roots going is said to encourage it. Then, if you have them around, give them protection from critters--deer love apples--especially tender young branches in the winter.

 

[jeff9366]

I use Holly-Tone, which contains sulphur and Cotton Seed meal for Blueberries to acidify soil. Both are organic. Holly-Tone is more effective per pound, Cotton Seed meal is cheaper per pound. Cotton Seed meal is sold by feed stores. The higher the organic content of your soil, up to a point, the less important is exact ph to plants.*

Late season Rabbiteye Blueberries generally produce easier to pick, larger berries. I have NOT encountered 'Misty' nor 'Woodward' clones. For adequate pollination you need three early season, three mid-season or three late season bloomers in two or three varieties. An early variety and two late season varieties, for instance, will not pollinate well except in exceptional years. The flowering periods do not overlap sufficiently.

No frost worries with late season Blueberries.

I plant berries in rows, eight feet apart, center to center. When plants are mature will just be able to cultivate with a Kubota BX with a 3-Pt S-tine cultivator outfitted with shallow row crop sweeps. I partner on 175 plants from 1 year to 10 years old. We lift two to four mature bushes each year, break them up, and expand a bit. Big regret: my partner did not maintain clone tags on plants when he started the field.


* When contract outfit last trimmed power power lines, they were happy to give use six truckloads of rough wood chips. We let chips sit for three years, then spread decayed chips in the bushes. Blueberries are happy.

 

[Panik]

Thanks! I'm pretty much going for a bit of fruit and pleasant landscaping with the apples. We don't need to have tons of apples as we aren't canning/preserving and such. It's more for the enjoyment of having the kids be able to get fruit right off the tree as well as for the blooms.

The peat moss was more to bump the ph for the apple trees I have sandy clay soil. Thankfully I have some fencing left over from the dog yard so I am planning of enclosing all of the plants to keep the kids/dogs/deer away from them until they are established.

I'm hoping to pick up some more blueberries when I go to the store today. The lowes I typically go to sold out of the varieties I have so I am heading to one of the other nearby stores today. If I can't find any more that work with the three I have, I'll wait until the fall planting inventory come in and pick up some then. Fingers crossed, my understanding is that the Woodard and Misty varieties have coinciding bloom times so they should cross pollinate.