blueberry bonsai from wild
about a month ago I brought in a small blueberry shrub and put it in a container. yes, it should have died, but with lots of TLC it's living now. the trick is high humidity and low temps, which I achieve by burying the pot, covering it with a 20gal aquarium and giving it a bottle of ice for water everyday. I lost some leaves due to the high temps at first, but now I'm acclimated the plant ('willie') to regular conditions and I'm seeing new growth. there are two ways I could go - bonsai or fruiting blueberry in a container. has anyone succeeded in something like this? what should I do now?
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
I don't think blueberry is the easiest subject for bonsai, but to my eye, the successful ones are beautiful:
https://i42.servimg.com/u/f42/13/42/78/96/6-1210.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73 ... bd8d19.jpg
Blueberry is a small enough fruit to make visual sense that way.
I expect it makes a difference what variety of blueberry you have. There are dwarf varieties like Top Hat that would probably work better for bonsai.
But blueberry is NOT a house plant. It needs to be outdoors and it needs to go through cold dormancy in winter.
https://www.bonsaiboy.com/catalog/blueberrycare.html
The other thing to notice is that the bonsai examples have considerably thicker trunks than your little shrub. That is part of what makes them successful, gives them that aged look. So whatever you want to do with it ultimately, probably you want to grow it out in a large container for a few years first.
https://i42.servimg.com/u/f42/13/42/78/96/6-1210.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73 ... bd8d19.jpg
Blueberry is a small enough fruit to make visual sense that way.
I expect it makes a difference what variety of blueberry you have. There are dwarf varieties like Top Hat that would probably work better for bonsai.
But blueberry is NOT a house plant. It needs to be outdoors and it needs to go through cold dormancy in winter.
https://www.bonsaiboy.com/catalog/blueberrycare.html
The other thing to notice is that the bonsai examples have considerably thicker trunks than your little shrub. That is part of what makes them successful, gives them that aged look. So whatever you want to do with it ultimately, probably you want to grow it out in a large container for a few years first.
well, a potted blueberry that produces fruit would be a triumph at this stage, so perhaps I'll aim for that. willie/blueberry does live outside - I have no intention of bringing him indoors.
so - say next year I want to show fruit, how do I go about that? I believe willie is a rabbitseye, but it's hard to tell. I really want to learn tree training and grafting.
the goal here is that I want to have some expensive plants for impulse buys in my pick-your-own- blueberry patch. an adorable little potted plant might go over better than an elegant bonsai.
so - say next year I want to show fruit, how do I go about that? I believe willie is a rabbitseye, but it's hard to tell. I really want to learn tree training and grafting.
the goal here is that I want to have some expensive plants for impulse buys in my pick-your-own- blueberry patch. an adorable little potted plant might go over better than an elegant bonsai.