How to Plant Northland Blueberries

Developed by Michigan State University, Northland blueberries are a shallow-rooted, hardy variety hybridized from combining highbush and lowbush varieties. This compact, half-high plant is hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 to 7. Plants do not set fruit until they reach the age of 2 or 3 years. When it does set fruit, Northland is a prolific variety, producing prodigious amounts of fruit in middle to late summer that often require at least two harvests per season. Northland reaches a height of 3 to 4 feet and a spread of 2 to 3 feet.

Soil test kit
Shovel or small hand-held spade
Granular sulfur
Peat or sphagnum moss
Bark or wood chip mulch

Instructions

- 1
  Find a spot in your garden that has good drainage and gets six to eight hours of full sun per day. Blueberries need 160 days of frost-free growing to produce the best fruit possible.
- 2
  Test a sample of your garden soil, following directions on the soil test kit. Blueberries require soil with a pH range of 4.8 to 5.2.
- 3
  Dig a hole for the plant, making it as deep as the nursery container the plant comes in and about twice as wide. If your soil test shows low acidity, mix sulfur into the loose soil to increase acidity, following package directions. Retest with the soil test kit and continue amending the soil if necessary.
- 4
  Mix about 1 gallon of peat or sphagnum moss into soil taken from the ground to help aerate and enrich the soil. Place a thin layer of moss into the hole as well.
- 5
  Hold the main stem of the plant in one hand and turn the nursery container over. Tap the container firmly on the bottom to release the plant into your other hand. Turn the plant over and place in the hole.
- 6
  "Comb" the root ball gently with your fingers to loosen any pot-bound roots. The top of the root ball should be even with the surface of the hole. If the plant is set too low, push some soil under the root ball to raise it.
- 7
  Fill the hole halfway with the soil-peat mixture and check that the plant is standing level and straight. Adjust the plant's position if necessary, then finish filling the area around the root ball with soil to the top of the hole. Make sure all of the roots are covered with soil.
- 8
  Water the plant thoroughly and add more soil around the base of the plant if needed.
- 9
  Spread a layer of mulch 4 inches thick around the plant, spreading outward from the base 2 feet.
- 10
  Space the plants 3 to 4 feet apart if you are planting more than one blueberry bush.

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