10 Best Blueberry Companion Plants That Thrive in Acidic Soil (2024)

FAQs

What is a companion plant for blueberries? ›

Plant blueberries near flowers like lilacs and azaleas. Lilacs attract pollinators and provide shade with its fragrant blossoms. Towering, lush rhododendrons and azaleas offer shade and attractive blossoms during particularly hot summers, and thrive best in the same hot, acidic environment as blueberries.

Elemental sulfur is commonly used to lower soil pH, and it is approved for organic growing. However, sulfur takes a few months to start working and should be applied six months to one year before you intend to plant blueberries.

Plants You Shouldn't Grow With Blueberries

Brassicas: Brassica vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, kale, and more, and these veggies are not great blueberry companion plants, because they demand a lot of nutrients and water. Additionally, they do not share the same soil preferences as blueberry shrubs.

Mulch should be loose enough for water percolation. Pine needles, wood chips or bark mulch work well as mulches for blueberries. Avoid using dyed mulches (black or red). Avoid using synthetic mulches like black plastic or landscape fabric.

Although wild social bees such as bumble bees will build colonies that grow during the season, at the time of blueberry bloom colonies are just getting started. Therefore, both honey bees and wild bees work as a team to pollinate blueberries and are essential to maximize yields in this crop.

Popular plants such as azaleas, rhododendrons, blueberries, strawberries and heathers, are all acid-loving, meaning they need a soil pH of about 5.5. Knowing whether your soil is acidic or not is the first step to healthier plants season after season.

Highbush blueberries would prefer to be planted in well-prepared soil in the ground but with proper planting and care, they can be grown in containers. Select a well-draining, large weather-proof container like a wooden barrel planter.

Raspberries and blackberries can spread aggressively by root. Growing them in a raised bed helps to keep them from taking over your lawn or garden. It also makes it much easier to get into the bed for picking and pruning. When it's time to remove the canes that have produced and died, you can reach them.

Leadwort grows about 6 inches tall (high enough and dense enough to shade out most weeds) and can take a little bit of foot traffic while you're harvesting the blueberries. Leadwort takes full sun to part shade. Plant 'em about 24 to 30 inches apart and give them about 2 years to fill in.

You can use Epsom salt if your blueberries need magnesium. You should add one tablespoon of Epsom salts and one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to two gallons of water and apply to the base of the blueberry plants. This method can help revive blueberry plants and encourage them to green up.

Do coffee grounds help blueberries? ›

Feeding / watering the surrounding soil with the left over coffee grounds from a cafetière helps maintain a low pH.

Blackberries respond well to any nitrogen-rich fertilizer, but blueberries require fertilizers with an ammonium form of nitrogen such as urea, sulfur-coated urea, ammonium sulfate, or cottonseed meal. Any fertilizer sold for azaleas or rhododendrons also works well for blueberries.

Blueberries can self-pollinate. However, for best results, plant two or more bushes—two is good, but three is better. The diversity will result in a higher fruit yield and larger fruits. Ensure the varieties you choose bloom simultaneously to ensure cross-pollination between the plants occurs.

Both strawberries and blueberries are easy to grow garden fruits that you can plant once and reap from for many years. They both can act as beautiful landscape plants and they can be grown together. Strawberries act like ground cover to keep the soil around the blueberry shrubs moist and weed-free.

Likewise, lowbush blueberries are self-incompatible. Here, effective pollen must come from neighboring clones in the semi-managed barrens. Bumblebees and a number of diverse nonsocial native bees in both North America and Europe are effective pollinators of various blueberries.