Growing blueberries in the polytunnel

[JayTee]

I've decided to give up growing sweetcorn and moved my blueberry plants into the polytunnel, these grew well outside but in the last couple of years the birds have stripped them, I've planted them in ericaceous compost direct in the border, anyone else growing blueberries under cover

[muck lover]

I have blueberries in pots and last year moved them into polytunnel to protect from birds. They had a marked growth spurt with six inches of new growth whilst inside. They loved it in there but I worried about the watering and what would happen to the soft new growth when they were moved outside for winter. They were fine. In beds I think they will be very happy and the watering won’t be an issue the way it is in pots. Hopefully you have lots of pollinators in the tunnel.
I was thinking of setting up a netted tunnel sometime but if you have room in your polytunnel you will probably have some very happy plants.

[bario1]

My tunnel is too small to accommodate anything that will grow happily outside - i need every inch of space for stuff that won't perform without protection. I hope you get bumper crops next year though!

[It never rains..it pours]

I had various berrys in pots, kept in greenhouse last winter and now believe it may be a mistake. Firstly as most need winter chill hours and the cold does a good job of killing virus and along with help from the birds kills insects. This winter plan to bring them in at early spring to get early fruit. One concern I have is the effect on roots of very cold weather.

[nickdub]

If you are worried about the roots in the pots freezing, could you bury them in the ground temporarily then dig them up later ?

[It never rains..it pours]

If you are worried about the roots in the pots freezing, could you bury them in the ground temporarily then dig them up later ?

Thanks, if it gets really cold this winter, digging the whole pot in a bare bed, is is a good plan

[bario1]

Mine were outside in pots when the Beast from the East hit last winter and they were absolutely fine.

[It never rains..it pours]

Mine were outside in pots when the Beast from the East hit last winter and they were absolutely fine.

Noted, thank you Bario1

[Runtpuppy]

I had covered my blueberry pots with bubble wrap as I was warned that blueberries wouldn't survive the winter.

Essentially, my father-in-law told me that they can't survive the cold, which didn't seem right to me as all the info I had read online seemed to suggest they were okay with the cold. Since I couldn't get any specific temperatures that might be considered too cold for them, I decided to be careful, just in case.

Sinking the pots in the soil wasn't an option, so I decided to insulate the pots. The web articles I read suggested jute sacks or bubble wrap.

Bubble wrap was easier. Husband's office had metres of that stuff being thrown out.

So, sheets of bubble wrap around the pots... even the little 9cm one. And fleece during the worst of the snow brought in by the Beast from the East, but mostly they were all exposed. They were outside the whole time, right next to the west-facing wall of our house.

They managed just fine.

[bario1]

Pot size could be an issue - I had some in 35ltr bags, and some in regular 2ltr pots - I probably would have brought the little ones into the polytunnel if I'd had time before the storm hit, but they survived fine anyway, my plot is fairly sheltered. 9cm pots might not fare so well in a cold snap?

[Runtpuppy]

9cm pots might not fare so well in a cold snap?

I wasn't really expecting the blueberry plant in the small pot to survive. It was one of those plants I wasn't quite invested in. I wrapped it up because I had bubble wrap to spare, and was pleasantly surprised to see it made it through.

[It never rains..it pours]

Thank you for advice, Runtpuppy. This winter will have raspberry and strawberry in pots to produce early fruit (which they did well this year). One of the blueberry in a pot died, think vine weevil, so they are now in a bed.

[JayTee]

Just a quick update on the Blueberries in the tunnel, all are full of blossom so hopefully I'll have a good crop which the birds won't get at, I have removed the plastic from the door and replaced with wire mesh so there's ventilation and as the tunnel is a Keder I have an opening at the other end which helps as well, I've been watering the plants once a week, does anyone have a Keder tunnel, I've had mine 15 years and it's still in great shape, it came with a 10 year guarantee and the company emailed me after 10 years to see if I was still happy with the tunnel

[nickdub]

Thanks for the update - always interesting to know how things are progressing.

I bought some blueberries on offer last year and kept them in containers outside over winter - been mild here so hard to tell if that was a good idea or not. Anyway I moved them in to the poly-tunnel a few weeks ago to pot on and have left them inside for now, as I don't need the space yet as I plan on putting tomatoes there later. One is flowering now and the others have buds on, so fingers-crossed :-)

[JayTee]

Update on the blueberries, I had a massive crop, started picking in early June and still going strong