How to Grow Blueberries in Southeast Missouri

Send a sample of the soil from the selected planting site to your county extension office to test its pH value. Alternatively, test the soil yourself with a soil testing kit. Shallow-rooted blueberry plants thrive in well-draining soils exposed to good air circulation and full sunlight. Blueberries thrive in soils with a pH of 4.7 to 5.2.

Till the soil 6 inches deep and add 1/2 to 3/4 lb. sulfur for every 100 square feet of sandy soils, 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. of sulfur for silt loam soils and 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. for clay soil. Add the required amount of sulfur to the soil at least six months before planting and mix well.

Dig a 12- to 15-inch-deep hole for each 2- to 3-year-old blueberry plant. Keep the hole two times as wide as the root ball. Space multiple holes in a row 3 to 4 feet apart, and rows 10 to 12 feet apart.

Mix equal amounts of moist peat moss and soil and add to each hole until 4 inches from the edge. Level the top with your hand.

Lower each plant into a hole, adjusting it so it rests at the same height as it did in its nursery container and its crown is at soil level. Cover the hole with soil and tamp it down to remove air pockets.

Irrigate each plant with a drip or trickle irrigation system, or use a soaker hose. Provide plants water two to three times a week during the first year to help them become established. Reduce frequency or irrigation by the end of summer or early fall.

Spread a 4- to 6-inch-thick layer of organic mulch such as pine needles, bark, sawdust, rotted manure, compost, rotted hay or wood chips around each plant. Replenish the mulch whenever needed to maintain the 4- to 6-inch depth.

Fertilize each plant with 1 oz. of an azalea fertilizer soon after planting, and repeat application every other month from April to October of the first year. Increase the application rate by 1 oz. the following year, feeding the plant at the same interval.

Prune the blueberry bush in early spring or late winter before buds swell. Pinch off any flower buds that the plant produces during the first two years to divert its energy to vegetative growth. Cut back older canes by 20 percent after the fourth harvest, along with wayward, damaged and diseased branches.