I have actually managed to get myself organised this year. I may not have planted out enough summer crops. I may have forgotten to apply copper spray to my nectarine before it got leaf curl. I may have completely failed to keep citrus gall wasp away from my kaffir lime. But at least I’ve netted the blueberries before the berries got big, blue and ever so attractive to the annoy Myna birds that seem to be everywhere at the moment.
For the last two years (yes I’m a slow learner) I’ve had a lovely crop of berries vanish all of a sudden just before they were ripe enough to pick. Well, hopefully this year will be different. The berries haven’t turned blue yet but they have swollen up nicely so it shouldn’t be too much longer.
Hopefully the birds don’t see them through the netting. This lot has my name on it.
Good luck, I hope you get to feast on blueberries!
Great article! I have also just netted all my blueberries, using the same system that I use for my apple trees – http://bit.ly/15RcdOK
Hi Liz,
Great blog. Keep up the great work.
We also live in Melbourne and I was wondering if there is a secret to getting your blueberries to fruit? We have had blueberries in for two years now and they appear to be the same size as yours, but we have never had any flowers or fruit. Very frustrating. We fertilize, we water but nothing. The plants look very healthy.
Thanks
David
It’s odd and I’m not sure I have the answer but my experience this year was that the two plants I neglected last year fruited the best and the one that put out the most growth has produced about two berries. So maybe neglect… Otherwise how much sun do they get? Is it enough? Or maybe even too much? Mine that did well this year got about 5-6 hr per day. I’m also wondering if you are over fertilising and watering? They put on flowers and berries on new stem growth and I’m wondering if yours are producing lots of leaves at the expense of stems? I will try and post about blueberries again soon to see if anyone has any ideas.
Thanks Liz, I’ll let you know how I get on later in the summer.
Wondering if that is the bird-safe netting, and if so, where you got it. I’m looking for some.
I got it from CERES in Brunswick and I presume its bird safe but I’m not really sure of the difference – thus far it doesn’t seem to have caused any problems for the birds and other than getting under it I’m not sure how it would – its very fine weave.
Netting is important for blueberries, because otherwise birds get to them before you can. You did a pretty good job this time, you probably were rewarded with many delicious blueberries for your effort. I totally get your positions, I take care of a garden too, and there are so many things to do in there, that it’s hard to keep track. This is why I started writing down everything which needs to be done, this helps me organise better.
It is amazing the yields you get from blueberry bushes when they are netted properly. I had mine for a few years before I placed them in a fully netted food forest (fortress). I couldn’t believe how many I picked once the birds were totally excluded.