Planting blueberry bushes near wall

They will need an acidic soil to take in nutrients and they are the require a lot of sunlight. At least 8 hours worth in a day. Otherwise, they won't grow much and ever put out plenty of fruit.

Also, a Blueberry bush is is a long term investment. They take a while to get to a decent size. The first two or 3 years, you also want to pluck off the fruit buds early in the season so the plants put all of the energy into bushing out and growing to a decent size. I didn't start harvesting berries from mine until year 3.

You will also need at least two different types so they can pollinate correctly. If you are looking for a berry plant to plant next to a fence that does not require an acidic mix and is a little more forgiving, Honeyberry plants are a good choice.

We had bushes on the West side of the house I grew up in along the exterior wall. They did alright except for one on the end that was right next to a spigot that always leaked. It was the biggest blueberry bush I've ever seen and it produced a lot of blueberries.

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Wall does run north to south, there is definitely no other shade tho.

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Will they be on the west or east side? If on the east side and receiving morning light they should be ok. I've got a blackberry that is in a corner fence area that does just fine.

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I may be able to keep them off the wall a couple of feet which may buy a a little more time in the sun.

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Any bit will help.

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I have bermuda gras so pH is 6-6.5 if that's acidic enough.

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Ideally you want that down around 5, maybe 5.5. But like I said, there are plenty of ways of bringing ph down.

It takes a few years

Use 13-13-13 fertilzer. Then add some alumininum sulfate around each plant every spring. It will lower the ph of your soil.

Aluminum Sulfate

Blueberries need a soil pH of 4.5 to 5.5 to thrive and for berry production. Elemental sulfur is preferable to alum (aluminum sulfate) for your application to lower soil pH because of its long residual time, cost and amount of product required. Repeated use of aluminum sulfate can potentially cause aluminum toxicity to the plants with long term use but it is fine to use it intermittently for a rapid lowering of soil pH.

See table Table 1 in this publication LINK to estimate the amount required. Sulfur additions will needed to be added every year or so, best determined by a soil pH test.

As also mentioned very liberal use of composted forest products (garden centers call it garden soil) and peat moss to lower pH to build the planting beds and promote drainage. Raise the planting bed 6 inches to a foot, blueberries do not like wet feet and are shallow rooted. You want the root system growing in acidic soil.

I grow about 10 blueberry bushes in 30 gallon nursery containers that are 1/2 garden soil (composted forestry products) and 1/2 peat moss mixed together (by volume, not weight) (LSU Ag Center recommendation for container planted blueberries based on research trials at the Hammond Research Station), and they grow well and produce many berries.

As stated, a minimum to 2 varieties for cross pollination. Full sun is always preferable for maximum fruit production for just about all fruit shrubs and trees but you have leeway.

Good luck - I think they are a pretty ornamental shrub in addition to the berry production - plant twice as many as you think you’ll need - as the birds like them too.

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A retired botanist advised me to use aluminum sulfate each year when blooms occur. He said you wont hurt the plant by using to much. I place 1 bag around my older plants and 1/2 bag around younger ones each growing season. Never had any issues other than having more berries than i want to pick. Lol

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Good to know and share your personal experience with this.

ETA: another thing I failed to mention for the OP’s benefit, building next to brick wall with a concrete foundation where will likely be some leaching of higher pH into the surrounding soil from the calcium carbonate minerals in concrete, so management of a lower pH soil for the blueberries becomes potentially even more critical.