Blueberry bushes are known to be quite difficult to please sometimes. And believe me when I say it can be quite frustrating when you have a healthy-looking bushy blueberry plant that just won’t start flowering.
I had three blueberry bushes in my previous garden and I followed every bit of advice out there to get them to produce at least some blueberries but they just wouldn´t bloom once in three years! So eventually I got so frustrated that I decided to ask everyone I know who has experience with blueberries to take a look at my bushes and finally I got my answer.
And the next year my blueberry bushes started blooming and I had my first successful harvest. So to spare you this headache I decided to write this article so that you too can have a successful harvest for years to come.
There can be a lot of different reasons that can hinder a blueberry bush from blooming but the most common reasons are bad growing conditions for the plant. So make sure that your plant is not growing in full shade, that the soil has enough nutrition, and that the soil is well-drained and loamy. The PH of the soil should be between 4.5 and 5.5.
I will go into more detail down below, so if you are still not sure what caused your blueberries to not flower properly then read on! You can also read more about how to properly grow blueberries right here.
Blueberries Growing in Shade Won´t Bloom Properly
The first and properly easiest problem to identify is if your blueberries are growing in shade.
Blueberries need full sun. Their growth and berry production can be hindered if they are growing in partial or full shade. If your blueberries are growing in shade then it might be necessary to either get rid of the plant or object that is casting the shade or to relocate your blueberry bush to another sunny location.
In my case, my blueberry bushes grew near a greenhouse that would cast a little bit of shadow on one of the bushes at around noon.
This one bush was only in shade for about two hours every day but it was enough to stump it´s growth.
The other blueberry bushes were almost twice as big as the one that was growing too close to the greenhouse. After I relocated the little bush to another more sunny location it instantly started growing and thriving the next year.
So don´t underestimate just how important the location of your blueberry plant really is.
A Lack of Nutrition Could Be The Reason For Blueberries not Blooming
This one, for me at least, was the biggest reason why my blueberry plants did not bloom properly.
I had planted my blueberry plants close to a field full of vegetables and herbs not thinking that this would cause any problems.
But these vegetables and herbs would bloom earlier than my blueberry bushes and they pretty much pulled so much nutrition from the soil that too little was left for my blueberries to form flowers later in the year.
Make sure, that you provide your blueberries with enough nutrition so that they can form a lot of flowers. If you have a lot of other plants nearby that also need a lot of nutrition then fertilize your blueberries regularly. This will ensure that the blueberry gets everything it needs to bloom properly.
Check out my guide on growing blueberries if you want to know more about fertilizing blueberries.
The Soil PH Has to Be Correct or Blueberries Won´t Produce Enough Flowers
When I started out I didn´t pay much attention to the right soil PH at all because I didn´t feelt like it was all that important.
And I actually got pretty far with it.
But eventually, I started paying attention to the soil PH and I realized that it actually does have a pretty significant impact on the health of the plant and my plants started producing so much more!
So make sure that the Ph of the Soil is between 4.5 and 5.5 to ensure that your blueberry bushes can grow healthy and produce a lot of flowers in the process. If the soil PH is not in this range then your plants might not develop as healthy as you’d like and they will stop producing flowers after a while. So try to keep the Soil PH in the required range.
You can get a commercial PH tester from Amazon right here or from your local hardware store or garden center.
After testing your soil, you might also consider some fertilizer made specifically for Blueberries. This fertilizer is a great option.
The Soil Has to Be Loamy and Well Drained for Blueberries to Produce Flowers
Aside from the correct Soil PH, it is also important to have the correct kind of soil for your blueberries to thrive in.
Make sure that the soil is well-drained and loamy if you want to ensure that your blueberry plants are thriving and blooming. Blueberry bushes don´t like wet feet so make sure that you don´t overwater them and use well-drained soil to avoid any root rot. If you use the wrong kind of soil then your blueberries might not feel well enough to produce any flowers.
This wasn´t a problem in my case but I know a few people who severely underestimated just how much of an impact the wrong choice of soil can have on a plant’s health.
They simply planted their blueberry plants in regular container planting soil and were wondering for years why their blueberry bushes were either continuously dying or were simply not producing any berries at all.
So make sure to use the correct soil or at least a very similar kind of soil to ensure that your blueberries can thrive.
If you follow all of these tips then you will surely be able to make your blueberries bloom this year. And even if it is frustrating at first to find out why your blueberries don´t want to bloom it is so much more satisfying when you finally have a plentiful harvest. So don´t give up!
