Irrigated Blueberries

How Much Water Per Week

• The age and size of your blueberry plant determines how much water it needs each week. Small blueberry bushes need 5 gallons of water, while large mature blueberry bushes need 10 gallons. To know how much water your blueberry plants get each week, place a tuna can next to your plant in an area where it can collect rainwater. Check the tuna can each week before applying water. If the tuna can is halfway full, your small blueberry plant has received enough water. Larger plants should be watered when the can is entirely full.

Irrigating

• Blueberry plants need water to absorb into the first 6 inches of topsoil to reach their roots. To achieve deep watering, avoid spraying the top of the blueberry plant with your sprinklers. Allow the water to slowly run out. Find out how long you need to run your irrigation system by placing a tuna can right underneath the running sprinkler system. Periodically, check the tuna can to find out how long it takes for your blueberry plants to receive enough water, which is typically around 1 inch of water in the tuna can.

Mulch Types

• Blueberry plants should be mulched to keep weeds away and conserve soil moisture. Because blueberry plants thrive in acidic soils, you must use a mulch type that provides acidic properties as it decomposes. Acidic mulch types include pine needles, pine bark and sphagnum moss. When mulching around your blueberry plants, do not allow the acidic mulch to touch any part of the actual plant. Your blueberry bush can burn if acidic mulch is placed directly on the plant.

How to Mulch

• Apply an acidic mulch 6 inches away from the base of your blueberry plant, as suggested by the University of Vermont. Spread the mulch all the way around the plant and just past its drip line. Allow the mulch layer to raise up to 4 inches around the perimeter of the mulched area. Mulching too high up around the blueberry plant suffocates the blueberry plant. Furthermore, make sure you change out your mulch if your blueberry plant ever contracts a fungal disease. Fungal spores can thrive in organic mulch layers.