When it comes to having a healthy diet with a fine balance of different food groups, vitamins and minerals are vital for someone to be happy and healthy.
It’s always best to know the amount of space needed before trying to grow your plants because you might think you need more than you need, or you might not have enough room at first.
To get the best results and the optimum growth from your blueberry plants, you’ll need to keep some questions in mind.
Different plants will have different requirements and needs, so ask yourself the following questions.
How Are You Going To Maintain The Rows?
There is always a space between the rows of crops, which will affect the amount of room you gave to work with.
Is there going to be any mulch included in the design? Will you have some grass growing throughout this area?
These are very important things to consider because this space will also need maintenance if you’re to keep the space healthy.
Think of the size of a mature blueberry bush, as we pointed out earlier.
From here, you can plan the space around the crops and figure out how much room will be needed for a mower to come through for maintaining the surface.
Wheelbarrows are also a handy tool to keep in mind when you collect and pick the blueberries from these plants.
You don’t have to have mulch or grass in this area, with many people not having the luxury of this much space available.
Many people instead choose to include smaller paths through this space and use this for a thin walkway, which can help with access to the plants.
Are You Adding Netting And A Trellis?
These can be a great help when looking to grow your plants properly to a decent height, however, they aren’t needed for all forms of blueberry plants.
Northern highbush blueberries can grow to be quite tall and might need some help staying structurally sound.
Netting is essential for anyone that lives in an area with lots of birds, especially if there are a lot of trees around.
These animals can become rather pesky and will be looking for their afternoon snack when you’re not looking.
Although these nets might not seem essential, they can keep you from being stressed and will allow you to sleep soundly knowing your plants are safe from hungry passersby.
However, one thing you need to make sure of is that the plants don’t become too entangled within the netting or the trellises because it can stunt their growth and affect the quality of the plants being produced from the seeds.
This is counterproductive and can prove frustrating for many plant growers around the world.
Growing Different Types Of Blueberries
Once again, blueberry plants can come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, so you can expect to use a different amount of space for the certain type that you decide to grow.
This is very important and you’ll need to decide before you start to create the space to grow the fruit, otherwise, you risk making too much room for fruit you don’t need.
A lot of this decision will come down to where you are on the planet.
The three types that we mentioned earlier are very common and will likely be one of the types that you’ll have to choose.
Many people will grow different types in the same space and make sure that they’re all seen to, however, this is easier said than done, especially for beginners.
We mentioned the three different types you’re likely to see, higher in the article.
By using these as a starting point, you can move forward and plan for your future blueberry patch!
Spacing Recommendations For Blueberry Plants
Now you’ve thought about and answered the questions we’ve raised, you can start to plan what kind of space you’ll be looking to use for your blueberry plants.
Of course, the measurements aren’t precise and will need a little bit of breathing room, but they are relatively accurate for what you need.
You have to make sure that these plants have enough light, water, and space.
Otherwise, they will struggle to grow to the best of their potential and might even die off in extreme circumstances, which nobody wants!
Northern Highbush Spacing
For those with a larger garden, we recommend having about 10 to 12 feet between the rows, so that there is sufficient room to maneuver between the rows.
This also ensures that the plants don’t have too little space to grow, absorb water, or block each other from sunlight.
The plants themselves should have around 4 to 5 feet between them within the same row.
For a smaller garden, we recommend going slightly smaller and having 8 feet between the rows.
This has a similar effect but will save you a lot of space and room if you don’t have much to work with.
You should then have 4 feet between the plants in the same row, which should keep them compact enough for less space but enough room to thrive.
Southern Highbush Spacing
Slightly larger than the northern highbush, these blueberry bushes will need roughly 6 feet between them and 10 to 12 feet between the rows for them to have enough room to grow properly.
However, for smaller gardens, they will need roughly 5 to 6 feet between the plants and 8 to 10 feet between the rows.
Rabbiteye Blueberry Spacing
The largest of the lot, the rabbiteye will need 8 feet between the plants and will need 12 to 14 feet of space between the rows.
For a smaller garden or intensive planting, you’ll need 6 to 8 feet between the plants and will need 10 feet between each row of plants.
As we previously mentioned, these measurements will be accurate enough for a general idea, however, they can be adjusted slightly if you wish.
Final Thoughts
That’s the end of our guide! It’s not too hard to get this going, but the hardest part is usually knowing where to start.
Once you’ve decided what blueberries you want to use and how many plants you plan on planting, you can start to use the measurements we mentioned earlier in the article.
At the end of the day, growing your fruit, vegetable, or plant of any kind needs to be fun, otherwise, you’ll find it more stressful than rewarding.
Following the different sections throughout your article, this should be a relatively fun and smooth process for you!
