Growing Blueberries in Containers January 23, 2013

Question: We live in Tampa and would like to grow blueberries in containers. What are some varieties recommended for our area?

Several blueberry varieties grow well in Central Florida.

Great question!

Now is a perfect time to plant blueberries in Florida. It is easy to grow blueberries in containers and is typically much better than growing them in the ground. Blueberries thrive in a low pH soil. The recommended growing media for containerized blueberries is pine bark fines. You don’t need to plant them in additional soil as they will grow and perform best when planted directly in the pine bark.

Because pine bark is naturally acidic, this is the best media to use. Blueberries require a soil pH of 4.0-5.5. A relationship exists between soil pH and the nutrients available to plants. If your soil pH is higher or lower than the recommended range, you may encounter nutrient deficiencies that lead to poor growth and establishment. Please contact our office if you need information about soil testing to measure pH: http://hillsborough.ifas.ufl.edu/residential_lg/diagnostics.shtml

Pine bark fines make a great potting medium.

Since most fruit needs high chilling requirements, proper cultivar selection of low-chill cultivars is important because Florida’s brief and mild winters do not provide periods of high chill. Two types of blueberries that grow well in Florida are rabbiteye Vaccinium virgatum and southern highbush- which includes the hybrids Vaccinium darrowii, Vaccinium virgatum and Vaccinium corymbosum. Southern highbush blueberries are adapted to the Tampa Bay area, as they grow well in areas south of Ocala and north of Sebring. Southern highbush is also recommended for container production.

The best time to plant blueberries is from mid-December to mid-February. Most blueberry cultivars require cross-pollination from another cultivar of the same type to set fruit, so you will need to plant multiple blueberry plants of the same cultivar. You can increase fruit set of your blueberries by encouraging beneficial insects (bees, wasps) and minimizing pesticide use or timing pesticide use when pollinators are less active.

To help you choose which cultivar you prefer (based on yield, taste considerations, ripening periods, etc.) and for information about recommended fertilizer application, irrigation, pruning, pests, and diseases, please visit this link and download the UF/IFAS pdf Blueberry Gardener’s Guide:http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg359

Growing several cultivars will lengthen your harvest season. Be sure to protect your blueberries from freezes and bird damage. Because blueberries are susceptible to Phytophthora root rot, do not plant them deeper than the pot. You can set them a little higher than the soil level.

Additional reference:

Blueberry Varieties for Florida: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs215

Good luck!

Nicole Pinson
Extension Agent – Urban Horticulture
Master Gardener Coordinator
UF/IFAS Hillsborough County Extension Service
5339 County Road 579
Seffner, FL 33584-3334
p: (813) 744-5519 X 54145

nicolepinson@ufl.edu
pinsonn@hillsboroughcounty.org
http://hillsborough.ifas.ufl.edu

The “Natural” Gardener: A Profile March 24, 2011

I just sat through a webinar hosted by the Garden Writers Association about, “Getting to Know the New Natural and Organic Gardener”. Based on a study conducted by IPSOS-Reid on behalf of ScottsMiracle-Gro, they were interested in determining the following:

• Who are the consumers most interested in natural and organic gardening products?
• What do they look like demographically?
• What are their “green” attitudes and behaviors outside of gardening?
• What are their concerns and motivations?

Here’s my summary of the take-away message. I hope you find this useful in some way…

2 Categories of product users:

• Natural (meaning they had used a “natural” product for lawn/garden/indoor pest use in the last 12 months; they could have also used conventional products during this time)
• Conventional (meaning they only used conventional products for lawn/garden/indoor use in the last 12 months)

For the most part, the “Natural” group tended to look like this:

• 35 years old or younger
• Have kids and pets
• More likely to engage in DIY projects
• More engaged in outdoor activities
• More educated
• More ethnically diverse
• Interested in all types of plants (ornamentals and edibles)

Motivators for using natural products:

• Environmental health
• Children’s and pets’ health
• Rate of chemical exposure
• Overall safety
• Perception that organically grown food is healthier and tastes better

Barriers to using Naturals:

• Cost
• Efficacy
• Don’t understand how they work
• Don’t believe that they work
• Don’t feel that they need to use any product (natural or conventional) at all

Products labeled "eco-friendly" are more likely to be purchased than products labeled "organic".

Based on the survey, here are the key data that stood out the most:

• Conventional products are chosen most often for insect control
• The top destinations for purchasing all types of products (natural and conventional) are Home Depot (48%), Wal-Mart (36%) and Lowe’s (33%)
• There is a general perception that natural products are more expensive than conventional products.
• “Organic” is most recognized as a synonym with “natural” when it comes to product labeling, BUT consumers are more likely to purchase products that are labeled “natural” or “eco-friendly” rather than “organic”.
• Products labeled “natural” are most often purchased for lawns and indoor insect control, while products labeled “eco-friendly” are most often purchased for gardens.
• Natural product users are MORE LIKELY to water their lawns and gardens than conventional product users. (When asked by the media why, the response was that these individuals are probably more highly engaged and spend more time caring for their lawns and gardens, and therefore are probably more in-tune with when their lawns and gardens need water…)

What was most interesting to me about this whole thing was that marketing seems to be driving consumer choices more than science when it comes to lawn and landscape care. I realize this is not news, but it can be frustrating as an educator…

I would be curious to see how this data shakes out specifically for Florida, since Florida homeowners have much more in the way of lawn and landscape care issues than any other state (with the exception of maybe Hawaii).

Master Gardeners Visit Riverview Flower Farm March 1, 2011

Each month, the UF IFAS Extension Master Gardener volunteers of Hillsborough County have the opportunity to learn something new and exciting about the plant world.

During their annual planning meeting in the Fall, Master Gardeners vote on their choices for a variety of educational field trips and/or lectures.

Last month, they voted to visit Riverview Flower Farm, a wholesale nursery that is responsible for those fantastic Florida Friendly Plants™ you see at your local Home Depot stores.

Rick Brown, owner of Riverview Flower Farm, was more than happy to show us around and talk about the sustainable practices he’s incorporated into the daily operations of his nursery, like composting and garlic pest repellent.

But rather than go into a long diatribe about it here, I’m going to link you to another blog by Meems, a fellow Master Gardener and all-round plant lover — http://www.hoeandshovel.com/2011/02/riverview-flower-farm-field-trip.html.