When to plant blueberries

Blueberries goes in by the calendar of your frost dates. Type your town to see the dates for your weather station.

The seed packet, in short

Blueberries planting dates by zone

Each row uses the typical frost dates of a zone: the middle value among towns of 10,000 people or more in it. In zone 6b, for example, the typical last frost is Apr 20, so the first step for blueberries, plant container plants, falls Mar 9 to May 4. Towns in one zone can differ by two weeks, so your own town's dates above are the better guide.

Good to know about blueberries

• Set bushes at the depth they grew in the nursery pot; planting too deep can smother the shallow roots.
• Pick off flowers the planting year (and the second year on small plants) so bushes put energy into growth.
• Blueberries need acid soil, so test and adjust pH well before planting.
• Planting early, mid and late season types together spreads the harvest over several weeks.

How to plant blueberries

• Aim for a soil pH of roughly 4.5 to 5.2, much more acid than most garden plants need.
• Choose a sunny site; shade cuts fruit production, so give plants at least half a day of sun and ideally more.
• Space highbush plants about 4 feet apart in rows about 10 feet apart.
• Spread about 4 inches of organic mulch such as sawdust, wood chips or pine bark over the root zone after planting.
• Cut the new plant back by roughly a third to a half at planting time.

Types that change the timing

• Northern highbush suits colder regions, while southern highbush and rabbiteye types are the choices for the South.
• Highbush types are largely self-fruitful but bear better with a second variety; rabbiteyes need more than one variety to set a good crop.

Common mistakes

• Planting in soil well above pH 6 without heavy amendment or a container; plants struggle and leaves yellow.
• Letting plants dry out in late summer and fall, when next year's flower buds are forming, which shrinks the following crop.
• Fertilizing right at planting or piling fertilizer against the stem; young bushes are easily burned.

Warm and cold regions

• Zones 3-6: Plant dormant bushes in early spring; plants already in leaf should wait in a sheltered spot until after the last frost. Choose northern highbush or half-high types.
• Zones 7-8: Plant in fall or during the winter dormant season; rabbiteye and southern highbush types suit most of this band.
• Zones 9-10: Plant in winter; use low-chill rabbiteye or southern highbush types.

First harvest

A small first crop comes in the second or third season; bushes take roughly 6 to 8 years to reach full production.

Northern highbush types need cold winters and often do poorly in the warm South from too little chilling; rabbiteye and southern highbush types fit warm areas.