pollinating blueberries

[mary-belle]

Hi,

My lovely OH has just broke the bank and bought me a blueberry plant 'patriot' from poundland!
I had a look on the web to see if it is self fertile or whether I need to buy another one to pollinate t with and seem to have found contridictory advice.

What do you guys think?

Also if I do need another plant, any suggestions on variety?

Thanks

[Nicos]

If I recall they do better with more than one variety...no idea why though!

[selfraising]

I think they will fruit on their own but you will get a much bigger crop with more than one, as Nicos says, no idea why either but I have two and got loads last year.

[Two_Sheds]

BBC says: "Plant two different varieties of blueberries to ensure cross-pollination. A single blueberry plant will produce fruit, but the yields will be higher and the fruits bigger if more than one plant is grown" BBC - Gardening - Gardening Guides - Techniques - Grow blueberries

[Bigmallly]

I was really surprised @ the price of blueberry bushes. I bought 2 different varieties for £30.............ok, they were both 3' tall & were bought with xmas vouchers so shouldn't complain really.

[northepaul]

Hi,

My lovely OH has just broke the bank and bought me a blueberry plant 'patriot' from poundland!
I had a look on the web to see if it is self fertile or whether I need to buy another one to pollinate t with and seem to have found contridictory advice.

What do you guys think?

Also if I do need another plant, any suggestions on variety?

Thanks

They may say the particular blueberry is "self-fertile" but in reality it is partially self fertile, so you will need to buy a different variety one to go with it

if you paid a pound for it, am I right in guessing its rather small?? I hate to break it to you, but you wont get any decent-sh crops until its atleast 3 years old. More like 5. However on the good side, they live for ages unlike raspberries/strawberries and should still crop if planted in the ground at 15 plus years.

Any other variety would be fine. Dont forget the acidic soil and if planting in a pot, always use rainwater to feed it.

I was really surprised @ the price of blueberry bushes. I bought 2 different varieties for £30.............ok, they were both 3' tall & were bought with xmas vouchers so shouldn't complain really.

Yes but unless you were ripped off, you should get some crops very soon, if not this year.
Mine cost £30 but as the saying goes, you get what you paid for

[gojiberry]

At 3' tall they should be well into fruiting mode and be giving a good crop. I have 7 plants but don't know what varieties they are as the labels are all faded and not readable. The taller ones tend to give bigger berries and one med sized bush I don't even harvest as the berries tend to be rather small. Got about 20lb of berries last year.

Ian

[mary-belle]

Cheers guys, i am just starting out with gardening malarkey so I will pop it in a pot and leave it to fatten up over the next few years. Will have plenty of raspberries and strawberries to keep me going till it geys a bit bigger.