High bush blueberry planting in prevailing winds

Hi. I'm from Newfoundland, Canada and live on the south coast. I purchased 10 blueberry bushes last year and put them in pots. In spring I put them in small raised beds but they've outgrown them already. My backyard is only small and didn't realize how big these bushes get until I researched this year. My front lawn is high with sloping. I have sandy well draining soil and 8 hrs of sun at least in the summer. It is however exposed to westerly and northerly winds. Great during summer but in winter we get harsh winds ranging from 80km to 160km at times . I'm wondering if this type of wind would destroy my blueberry bushes or if they are compatible for this climate and conditions. I have 7 northland blueberry, 2 chippewas and 1 bluecrop. Can someone help me with this please

 

Those kind of winds can be quite damaging to high bush blueberries, causing a lot of breakage. To the extent that commercial fields in windy areas often plant windbreaks. They are tolerant of pruning however, so you might consider keeping them pruned to a more manageable size for your space. Otherwise you might want to switch to growing the low bush Vaccinium angustifolium which grows wild in Newfoundland (as you doubtless know) and is much more wind tolerant.

 

That's what I was afraid of. So today we dismantled an 8x10 greenhouse I had in my backyard and are building big raised beds in that area to put the bushes in. We get east and south winds back there. Also it is surrounded by a high fence which we used for the green house so I figure they will be safe there. I would send you a picture but I have no idea how to do it on this. Sorry. Could you tell me how to post picture from my gallery. I'm not that great with technology

 

Sure. Have a look at Attach photos and files.

 

Here in the United States anyway a number of new blueberry varieties typically having small growth habits have made an appearance on the garden center market. Whereas traditional highbush kinds like you have listed are genetically programmed to grow above your head where and when site conditions permit - hence the name highbush.

 

Thank you for the info. I decided to disassemble an 8 x 10 greenhouse I had and have high fencing there on the south east side of my backyard. We built big raised beds and filled with rocks at first then sand. I pulled up the blueberry bushes and have them put in there now. Just finished it today. Hopefully they will be just as happy in the new beds as they were in the small ones I put them in this spring. Fingers crossed.