Irrigation

Irrigation is extremely important in this area of the south as we get feast or famine with rain. This variety of blueberries does not require as much water but they do better with water during the ripening stage. According to the Agriculture Exchange office, first year plants need ½ gal of water per day during the growing season. It is recommended having 1 gallon of water for second year plants.

They state that watering once or twice a week and providing a substantial amount of water is better than applying small amounts of water on a daily basis.  Water is especially important during fruit ripening. 

Our new Compact Mulch Layer will lay the tubing as it covers the hill with a mulch fabric making it easier to keep the plants healthy. We expect to have fewer issues this year as we are now putting the blueberries on hills covered with this fabric. We will need less water as there will be no weeds competing for the water and robbing the plants of nutrients.

Several factors go into the amount of water needed. Age along with the amount of rainfall and the heat that we are experiencing are some of the factors.  We tried many different types of mulch to hold the water content in the soil. We did not like the shredded paper for mulch but did find that pine needles and pine bark was very successful.