Raspberries or Blueberries

[fishinbabe]

Just wondering if anyone grows these around here and how difficult it is? I am thinking of giving it a try this year, but don't know the first thing about either one as far as growing, just know that I love eating them.

[boatfixer]

We've grown raspberries for several years with very good success. We really have to watch the birds, so we use netting. I'm considering blueberries as well, so I'd like comments as well.

[sparcebag]

Blueberries need lots of acidity soil,if ya dont have it now start treating the soil and put your berries in,in bout 2 yrs so soil can be acidic and stable.

[Bassman55]

From what I have seen, you pretty much can't kill raspberries. We have moved ours sevearal times and thinned them out and gave them to other people and they all lived.

[Quetico]

Be carefully with Raspberries in the maintained landscape setting. They are very aggressive, spread readily and are difficult to control. Blueberries arent too bad in the residential landscape. Find cooler partial shaded areas with a slightly lower ph. You can always use stuff like pine needles or pine bark to keep the ph low.

[Wormdrowner]

For Blueberries you need an acidic soil, 4.0-4.5. You could do a google search to get the information needed to properly amend the soil. Your local County Ext. office should have soil test kits. Walmart even has basic soil acidity test kits that are very easy to use. As said above pine needles make a great mulch and keep weeds down, I probably have 3-5 inches on mine. I also use Miracle Grow "Muracid" once a week during the growing season. It's recommended to always plant two varieties for pollination. Two of the best varities for our area are Chippewa and Northblue, Polaris is a bit earlier. You should also pick blossoms off for the first few years until the plants establish themselves, hard to do but will pay off later in greater yields.

Also, put wire cages around them if you have deer or rabbits in the area. If you don't have the garden space, you could also plant them as shrubs. I've had blueberries for years, they're my favorite but take a few years before you get many.

[sparcebag]

worm your in good blueberry country! Had mine down by Nickerson,and all the wilds I wanted,My best spot was a open field No trees out of Kerrick.

[Moose]

I'm in Elk River fishinB and my raspberries do great in the Anoka Sandplane which I'm sure your in also. Mine like full sunshine and I partitioned off about a 6'X 10' piece of my garden and grow them in there. That way I can mow around them and not get thorned to death. In the early spring I go through them with a pruners and take out all the dead looking canes and trim them back so I can mow around them and they do great. I do have Irrigation so they have plenty of water.

I started mine as 8 small transplants from my brother inlaw and they have taken over the entire space and want to spread in the other part of the garden where I just pull them like weeds. Every spring I get some compost from the City of Elk River compost site and fill the flower pots for the wife and at the end of the season I throw the compost into the garden and the Berries to give them some fresh soil. It never seams to overfill the garden as the compost just seems to break down and become part of the soil. I also throw some granualar fertilizer in them when I fertilize the other vegetables Like the Shultz stuff you can buy in the box pretty cheap at Menards when it's on sale.

Good luck and enjoy the berries we make jam and enjoy it year round. The everberry varieties form fruit twice a year in our zone usually in June and the agian in Aug.

[solbes]

Great info, especially on the blueberries. I ordered some blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and 2 apple trees for our lake property. Can't wait to get them into the ground this spring. And then wait a few years for them to be established...