I would love to plant a blueberry tree/bush here in North Georgia...I just saw them for sale at Costco and my dd would go nuts. How hard are they to get started if you get them as a small tree? Any terrible pests that love them? What about birds? Thanks for any experiences/advice.
Birds love em. They sell nets, though that are supposed to keep the birds at bay. Also, a girlfriend of mine just told me about a good way to keep the birds off. You know the garland you can get that's foil/plastic and has little confetti attached to it? Hearts, snowflakes, whathaveyou? She said that her mom wraps them around the blueberry bushes and when they wave and sparkle in the sun and breeze, it keeps the birds away.
I know that they need special soil...you can put oak leaves or pine needles at the base...we have ours planted on the west side of our oak trees, and they're doing great so far (second season). We just leave the oak leaves to decompose around the blueberries (actually always have in the wilderness around the trees...critters love it, and it's some of the richest soil we have...).
You may also need a couple of types to pollinate them, although I think the ones at costco have two types of plants in a four pack, so you'd be okay. My problem with the costco packs was that I couldn't find a four pack where all four plants were alive!
georgia grows great blueberries. you might be better off going to a nursery where you could talk to someone who's really knowledgable about what varieties grow well in your area. they're bushes, not trees. different varieties grow differently, but they probably wouldn't get over 6-8 feet tall at maturity and would take many years to get that tall. my mom has some in her backyard. she doesn't do anything to the soil. if i remember correctly they favor a soil that is a bit acid, so the georgia pine needles should do just fine for a mulch. we're in NC and have plenty of pines, too.
IME, blueberries are very kid friendly and adult friendly, too. much easier to pick than bending over for strawberries and no thorns like blackberries or raspberries. at the botanical garden here they even have a bush trained into a little kid-sized house with a stump inside for kids to sit on and pick berries. it's really cute.
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