SOIL MANAGEMENT AND IRRIGATION STUDIES WITH HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRIES

The highbush blueberry cultivars, Blueray and Collins were used to study the effect of three soil management practices and irrigation on a low organic matter Fox sandy loam at Simcoe, Ontario.
Soil management between the rows was either a Festuca arundinacea sod or cultivation. the plants were either planted into peat incorporated into the planting hole or soil and were either mulched with sawdust or left unmulched.
There were three levels of irrigation.

Highest yields and plant vigour were obtained where peat was incorporated before planting, sawdust mulch was used and a high level of irrigation applied.

There was an interaction between peat incorporated before planting and cultivation between the rows.
Yields and plant vigour with peat incorporated were higher and the rows grassed down than when they were cultivated and vice-versa when the plants were planted directly into soil.

IV International Symposium on Vaccinium Culture

A. Dale, R.A. Cline, C.L. Ricketson

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1989.241.18