# Blueberry season is coming!!!



## dingeryote (Mar 7, 2011)

Bcorradi was asking me about Blueberrys, so I figured to post a few pics.
Season is coming.... EAT more Blueberrys!!!














Antique Harvester eating a 372.







Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## deeker (Mar 7, 2011)

Cheater.

If I can't taste em you did not pick em...


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## dingeryote (Mar 7, 2011)

One of the employees working a blossom.










Freshly planted field cultivation.





Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## bcorradi (Mar 7, 2011)

thanks dinger for sharing the blueberry pics.


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## deeker (Mar 7, 2011)

Now, I need blueberries....lots of 'em.


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## dingeryote (Mar 7, 2011)

deeker said:


> Cheater.
> 
> If I can't taste em you did not pick em...


 

If you don't come pick em' you ain't gonna taste 'em. LOL!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## dingeryote (Mar 7, 2011)

Crap...can't get the other two pics to load.

Hang on..


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## dingeryote (Mar 7, 2011)

deeker said:


> Now, I need blueberries....lots of 'em.


 
We sold out. None left in the Freezers.
Taking orders for fresh and processed 2011 though.

How many tons ya want?


Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## deeker (Mar 7, 2011)

dingeryote said:


> We sold out. None left in the Freezers.
> Taking orders for fresh and processed 2011 though.
> 
> How many tons ya want?
> ...


 
Never seen a quater that small before...how did you do that?

Man.....those are.........huge blueberries......
































That does sound bad.


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## bobt (Mar 7, 2011)

Hey there Dinger, Great pics, and nice healthy looking bushes!

I hope you are able to cash in on the sky high produce prices that we are all AHEM "enjoying". Haha! If it stays the same until summer, you might do right nicely!!

Hey, over there on the west side of the state, do you have soil with a low enough PH to grow blueberries, or do you have to lower it artificially?

Do you get those nasty late frosts that kills the blooms?

Over here in Huron County the PH is too high, and we are blessed with late frosts. I have given up on blueberries after babying them for about 20 years. Of course I just had a dozen bushes in the garden.

Bob


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## dingeryote (Mar 7, 2011)

deeker said:


> Never seen a quater that small before...how did you do that?
> 
> Man.....those are.........huge blueberries......
> 
> ...




LOL!!!
Does sound a bit cheeky.

The Bluecrop from that field are freakishly large some years, and generally larger than normal. 3 to a Muffin is pushing things, and when put in a pint clamshell the customer only gets about 10-11oz weight, so they cause thier own problems LOL!!

Pickers like 'em though. They fill up buckets FAST.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## dingeryote (Mar 7, 2011)

bobt said:


> Hey there Dinger, Great pics, and nice healthy looking bushes!
> 
> I hope you are able to cash in on the sky high produce prices that we are all AHEM "enjoying". Haha! If it stays the same until summer, you might do right nicely!!
> 
> ...


 
Bob,
Plenty low. We out produce every state by a significant margin just from within the local region here.

I have to ammend now and then to keep it at 5.0 in some spots, but for the most part it only rises to 5.7 if I skip a couple seasons. Basicly Beach sand with some organic matter in it. Go 5 Miles east and the ground goes sweet and heavy though.

They definately don't like heavy alkyd ground, and ya gotta go deep with prep and ammendments to get around it as you found out.

The lake keeps the temp swings more even in the spring, but sometimes we get a nasty late frost that gets us turning the irrigation on and sweating bullets.
Pruning late after dormancy delays bloom a week or so, and timing fertilizer with petal fall helps a bit too, but early varietys are still a gamble. Jerseys and Blue crop are predominant.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## fubar2 (Mar 7, 2011)

Do tell is it possible to start a new plant from an existing one? I have a few and would like more but I'm too tight to buy em.


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## dingeryote (Mar 7, 2011)

fubar2 said:


> Do tell is it possible to start a new plant from an existing one? I have a few and would like more but I'm too tight to buy em.


 
Snip last years new shoots and canes while dormant, and cut them into 3-4" lengths.
Try to get at least one bud in each length. Keep 'em in the fridge untill spring, then Put 'em into peat 2" apart and make a mini hot house. Root stim seems to help as does Miracid in the peat to start with. Pot them in the fall after they go mostly dormant. Make sure to keep the peat moist but not flooded, and let the air flow when it gets hot. You'll get 50% to take solidly if you do things right, and more if you're lucky on the first attempt. We push the roots the first couple years, and pinch the flowers off when in the pots.

I'd guess 90% are started from cuttings. Tissue cultivation gets more plants growing, but they aren't as hardy and can get wierd....where's PB to argue with me LOL!! 


Good luck!
Dingeryote


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## indiansprings (Mar 7, 2011)

Man those look good! I wish we could grow them here without a ton of soil prep.
The bushes I planted last year struggled just to survive.
Nothing beats a blueberry pancake from Johnny Rockets diner in the Hard Rock in Vegas, 70 percent berries, 30 percent pancake, they are awesome.
I'd be crapping blue if I had those to graze on.
Just think of those with fresh pie crush and fresh chilled cream right from the cow, I still do that with black berries, it's sinfully good.


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## fubar2 (Mar 7, 2011)

dingeryote said:


> Snip last years new shoots and canes while dormant, and cut them into 3-4" lengths.
> Try to get at least one bud in each length. Keep 'em in the fridge untill spring, then Put 'em into peat 2" apart and make a mini hot house. Root stim seems to help as does Miracid in the peat to start with. Pot them in the fall after they go mostly dormant. Make sure to keep the peat moist but not flooded, and let the air flow when it gets hot. You'll get 50% to take solidly if you do things right, and more if you're lucky on the first attempt. We push the roots the first couple years, and pinch the flowers off when in the pots.
> 
> I'd guess 90% are started from cuttings. Tissue cultivation gets more plants growing, but they aren't as hardy and can get wierd....where's PB to argue with me LOL!!
> ...


 
Thank you for the info. That question has been in the back of my head for a couple years now, just never asked or looked it up before.


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## dingeryote (Mar 8, 2011)

fubar2 said:


> Thank you for the info. That question has been in the back of my head for a couple years now, just never asked or looked it up before.


 
When you make the cuts, try to keep a leaf bud within an inch or so of the bottom, and it does help if you peel/scrape the bark a half inch up on one side.
Sink em' about 2" into the damp peat. We don't fuss though, just cut 'em and stuff 'em and the ones that take will be the most hearty.

Plain old Peat works good, but mixed with sand or pearlite works better.
We just use the local sand. 

Plain old Miracle grow "Miracid" mixed in, is the dirty little secret of one of the local commercial green houses. When the initial mix is made, they run the hose through one of those garden mix sprayers to saturate the peat and stir it all up before fillng the beds. Irrigation water from then on is run through one of the sprayers in series...just remove the sprinkler head and attach a hose. 

The biggest thing is to wait untill the green tissue cuttings have been dormant and cold long enough. Wait untill the donor plants have decided to swell buds, before putting the cuttings into the beds, or they might not take at all. Dadgum Blueberrys need thier sleep and can be cranky about cooperating if they don't get it.
Bud swell should start for you down there in the next couple weeks, so snip 'em asap if you're gonna do it this year.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## dingeryote (Mar 8, 2011)

TreeCo said:


> Great looking field of berries there Dinger!
> 
> Propagation sounds a lot like what is done for azaleas.
> 
> I've got mostly clay soil here and with amendments it's high in organic matter. What do you suggest for adjusting my pH down to around 5? I'm running about 6.5 as it stands and my blueberries sure could be doing better.


 
Wow...
Geting them to do well above 6 is tough unless ya got a LOT of rich organic content like Horse poop.

Ammonium sulphate (NO ALUMINUM sulphate!!)will change things fast, but only gets down a couple inches so it really only benefits the intake from the "Umbrella roots" that spread out near the surface. Good for a quick recovery, but the real problem takes time to correct and will be a constant fight. Plain old sulpher tilled in should do it, and then tilling in acidifying ammendments like Pine needles and Pine saw dust for long term. I wish we had the "Pine straw" available here like in your area.

If you can find Ag grade sulphurous acid and mix with irrigation(We run it through drip lines to clean emmitters) while keeping tabs on PH, corrections can be made while waiting for the elemental sulphur and bacteria to do thier thing long term.
Just be patient though, as it will take a couple applications of nothing happening and then BAM! it will drop. 

That Red clay you are in, is like a Giant Tums tablet, so I don't envy your fight.

Good luck to ya!
Dingeryote


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## lfnh (Mar 8, 2011)

Nice looking field.
Interesting to see the drip line for new plants.
What irrigation if any is used for the mature bushes ?
Is it controller based for scheduled times or manua demand as needed ?


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## dingeryote (Mar 8, 2011)

Dripline is on the mature bushes as well.

18mm w/ 18" spacing on emitters.

Everything is set up off of a Ranbird programable controller in zones, but manual mode is a simple zone select and push of a button for time.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## newmexico (Mar 8, 2011)

*and jealousy almost sets in*

down here we get no blueberries, no huckleberries, no decent strawberries, no blackberries...

I like all of the above...

but the wild raspberries.. 

Yeah, I'm still a lil jealous, but the flavor of the perfect wild raspberry-- the one berry that does grow wild here... too bad it takes about four hours in a good patch in a good year to yield anywhere close to a gallon 


I might have to try planting some blueberry... just to see....


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## lfnh (Mar 8, 2011)

dingeryote said:


> Dripline is on the mature bushes as well.
> 
> 18mm w/ 18" spacing on emitters.
> 
> ...


 
Thanks.
Just got on board a while ago with line and tape for raise bed veg crops.
Don't know how I got along with out it.
Nice yields, no runoff waste.


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## olyman (Mar 8, 2011)

dingeryote said:


> We sold out. None left in the Freezers.
> Taking orders for fresh and processed 2011 though.
> 
> How many tons ya want?
> ...


 
iffen you werent so damn far away--id be there--been to grapids,,thats a haul!!!!!


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## gink595 (Mar 8, 2011)

Me and the wife were just discussing Blueberries the other day, we are down to the last box, the boy asks for BB pancakes every morning

Hopefully we can make another day trip up there and visit, I'll bring some saws this time.


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## dingeryote (Mar 8, 2011)

Gink,

Just holler and head on up around 2nd week of July through August.
Farm is always open for you guys.

I'll save a length of that big Popple to make cookies.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## dingeryote (Mar 8, 2011)

TreeCo said:


> I have a deep root feeding soil injecting tool but I'm kind of leery of Ag grade sulphurous acid and mixed with irrigation in my spray rig as it sounds like it might eat it up. Like you mentioned there are a lot of pine needles available here and I've got a good supply of horse manure too.
> 
> Thanks for the info.


 

Treeco,

Sulpherous isn't real bad on irrigation IF you run enough volume of water to deliver it. It wont hurt PVC systems at all.
It's not as aggressive as sulphuric by a good margin. If you have the old style brass fittings,ball valves and such, it will merely etch them a little.

If you have a local Ag supply you haunt now and then, ask about sulphur. It's not as quick as the acid route, but faster than waiting on the pine straw to break down. OMRI Elemental sulpher can be had if you look around, easy and safe to work with,but it's pricey. Just till it in 

One thing about the horse poop. It's crazy alkyd. One of my Organic hippie buds composts the horse poop with peach and apple waste, and still has to work in the sulphur to drop PH before tilling it in. Go easy on the road apples LOL!


Stay safe!
Dingeryote



Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## hanniedog (Mar 8, 2011)

Dinger whats the torpedo level taped infront of the wheel for? Do you have to self level the machine?


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## dingeryote (Mar 8, 2011)

hanniedog said:


> Dinger whats the torpedo level taped infront of the wheel for? Do you have to self level the machine?


 
LOL!!!

Yep. Hydraulic ram on all 4 corners like a Low rider, and independent hydraulic chain drive on all 4 wheels. 

The torpedo level is darn handy as a reference after a while.
Ya lose the ability to sense level after an hour or so of looking down on the rows.
Same thing with fore and aft pitch.

Farmbilly precision instrumentation.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## indiansprings (Mar 8, 2011)

You need to engineer you a robot header using ground radar. Hope it's not as tedious as manually running a combine header. 

Do you have to pick them a little green to allow for ripening during shipping?


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## dingeryote (Mar 8, 2011)

Nah, it ain't as bad as a corn head on most fields that are prepped right.
There are some spots where ya have to be all over the controls and need 4 hands though. The object is to keep the catch plates low on the bush, where they aren't as open so losses are kept minimal, but not so low as to drag the frame and lug platforms on uneven ground. Little Hills on an off camber row SUCKS! Sorta like a diabolical video game at .4mph.

Blueberries don't "ripen" much at all if picked green or red, they stay acidic and sour but turn a bit more blue.
The machine harvested stuff goes to process products that aren't dependent on perfect appearance, and green fruit is lighter than ripe. We also get graded on Green and over ripe, so green is a double bad thing.

Every grower has thier own method, but about 2 weeks into July we all start "Beat checking" the bushes . Basicly you want the ripe to come off with just a tickle, and leave the reds and greens for a couple days later.

If the hand pickers did thier job right, they got all the first ripe "Leaders" off, so over ripe wont be an issue, and you can turn up the beaters untill the green come off, and then back off a smidge or increase ground speed. There's a whole lotta "touchy feely" developed intuition involved, that no computer could ever manage. 

Some crazy Aussies have come up with some whiz bang sensors, and computer controlled beaters that look promising, but so far they wont hold up in the real world. I give it another 10 years and they might be viable but still prohibitively expensive.

Crazy thing is, there IS a market for the Green fruit, even if we get docked for it.
The processors sell it to the dietary suppliment and dye industry, where it gets turned into ink, clothing dye, food coloring, and Vitamin ingredients.
That Blue "USDA" stamp on the steaks at the market? LOL! Yep. Green Blueberrys.
Same thing wih the color in Kids Crayons.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## hanniedog (Mar 9, 2011)

Dinger where abouts in Mich are you located? I am near Fremont, Ohio wouldn't mind seeing how a berry harvester works up close.


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## dingeryote (Mar 9, 2011)

hanniedog said:


> Dinger where abouts in Mich are you located? I am near Fremont, Ohio wouldn't mind seeing how a berry harvester works up close.


 
hannie.

We are due west of Kalamazoo, all the way to the lake.

Gimme a bump come Mid July and pack some containers.

In the mean time...
YouTube - ‪BEI International - Berry TraX - Mechanical Harvester‬&rlm;

This is one of the newer tracked Machines set up for sway harvest.
Our is quite a bit older and on wheels.

Been eyeballing one of the new "Black Ice" tracked harvesters with the top loading/packing system.
If I win the Lotto and can get a loan, I'll have me one!! LOL!!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## treemandan (Mar 9, 2011)

TreeCo said:


> I have a deep root feeding soil injecting tool but I'm kind of leery of Ag grade sulphurous acid and mixed with irrigation in my spray rig as it sounds like it might eat it up. Like you mentioned there are a lot of pine needles available here and I've got a good supply of horse manure too.
> 
> Thanks for the info.


 
I know a guy in New York who uses battery acid. No ####!


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## dingeryote (Mar 9, 2011)

treemandan said:


> I know a guy in New York who uses battery acid. No ####!


 
He's paying too much. Ag sulphuric is cheaper and in higher concentration.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## computeruser (Mar 10, 2011)

I'm diggin' the berry pics here.

Any particular concerns I should have on transplanting a couple of the plants I got from ya? The ones on the north side of the house, in the moist, acid soil are doing well, but the two on the drier south side aren't, plus people's damned dogs keep straying off the sidewalk and trampling them. Haven't figured out where to put them, but I'm sure they need to move...


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## dingeryote (Mar 10, 2011)

Put 'em on the north side with the others.

Just dig em up and transplant them while they are dormant and they should be fine. Nail 'em with Mir-acid as soon as the buds start to beak and they should do fine.

Good to hear they took to living in the big city!!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## indiansprings (Mar 11, 2011)

My problem isn't the dogs trampling on them, but pizzing on any shrub or bush we plant.lol I wish I had the time to sit and fry them with the shock collar. Gonna have to put cages around them.

By the way none of you guys get sucked in and by the miracle blueberry bushes of the infomercial like my wife did. They are about 3" tall and half dead when you get them, they didn't last two weeks, they replaced them, same thing.


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## dingeryote (Mar 11, 2011)

Indiansprings,

Havn't even heard of 'em. Ya gotta link or company name?

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## indiansprings (Mar 11, 2011)

I'll pm it to you tommow, it's an infomercial that was on last year and started again in this market a week ago. You get three miracle blueberry plants for 19.99 plus shipping and handling. I about chit when I seen them come in the mail last year. I swear they wasn't over 3" tall and splindly as all hell, I put them in the newtonia red soil, richest in the nation, the world record corn and soybean production happens three miles north of my farm.
They died in two weeks.lol They come with a warranty to live,lol the second batch dies too. What a marketing rip off.


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## dingeryote (Mar 11, 2011)

Wow...

3yr olds, certified and potted run 3 bucks each, and are usually 12-16" tall and are already bearing if you don't pinch the blooms.

That's a scam at 20 bucks for 3 last seasons bare root starts.
I gotta set up a greenhouse!! LOL!


Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## indiansprings (Mar 11, 2011)

One plant the size of what you are describing will cost you 20.00 here, it's the main reason I backed out of putting 3 acres of bushes in as I talked to you about last year. I put it into sweet corn instead last year.

I wish gas wasn't so high right now, it would be worth the drive up to your area to buy plants, even to buy a few extra to resell, at 10.00 bucks apiece you could sell the cheet out of them here this time of year.


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## dingeryote (Mar 11, 2011)

indiansprings said:


> One plant the size of what you are describing will cost you 20.00 here, it's the main reason I backed out of putting 3 acres of bushes in as I talked to you about last year. I put it into sweet corn instead last year.
> 
> I wish gas wasn't so high right now, it would be worth the drive up to your area to buy plants, even to buy a few extra to resell, at 10.00 bucks apiece you could sell the cheet out of them here this time of year.


 

Std. 8' truck bed will hold 242 3yr olds in 5" pots.
Lemme know how many thousand ya want, I'll line 'em up.
Last fall I could get 4yr old Dukes pushing the pots for 2 bucks if I bought all 7,000. I hate Dukes and passed.

PM me if you're considering lunacy, as I have several buds with Green houses that would be glad to help ya out. 


Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## treemandan (Mar 14, 2011)

dingeryote said:


> He's paying too much. Ag sulphuric is cheaper and in higher concentration.
> 
> Stay safe!
> Dingeryote


 
He just finds old batteries, he doesn't pay for them, I don't think he pays for anything actually. He definatley ain't paying a dentist... nor the electric company for that matter.


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## dingeryote (Mar 14, 2011)

treemandan said:


> He just finds old batteries, he doesn't pay for them, I don't think he pays for anything actually. He definatley ain't paying a dentist... nor the electric company for that matter.


 
Then he's using some toxic nastiness.
Dunno if playing with all the lead oxides and other evil gorp in the batterys has anything to do with his tooth deficit or not, but it can't help.

That's nuts. 

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## zogger (Mar 31, 2011)

*our soils makes bricks*

I've tried blueberries twice now, they croak, which is real embarrassing as a long time gardener. The soil is clay with some natural limeyness to it, and the well water for any watering is limey as well. I tried heavy mixed hardwood and pine chips mulch, some stirred in, that almost worked but not quite.

There are some wild around here, but not many.

The soil around here makes *bricks*. Of course one of the tradeoffs it is real easy to make ponds step 1-dig hole, step 2-let it rain, step 3-stock with fish. 


--oh hey, what are the tractor fenders for?


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## dingeryote (Mar 31, 2011)

zogger said:


> I've tried blueberries twice now, they croak, which is real embarrassing as a long time gardener. The soil is clay with some natural limeyness to it, and the well water for any watering is limey as well. I tried heavy mixed hardwood and pine chips mulch, some stirred in, that almost worked but not quite.
> 
> There are some wild around here, but not many.
> 
> ...


 
Zogger,

You're in the pottery clay section eh? PH is only partly the issue.
Drainage and root penetration is the other half.

Blueberry roots are lousy at uptake, so they make a bunch of fine roots.
A rootball about the size of a Bean bag chair that extends downward, and a hair fine "Web" that is about 4" under the soil and extends radially about 4-5' from the root crown. 
Problem is the roots are so fine and weak, they have a hard time penetrating clay soils. 

The other issue is drainage. Standing water lacks oxygen and smothers the roots. If you can get the water draining, even slowly, they can tolerate just about any flooding.

The folks that are successfull on clay, dig a big enough hole to accomodate the roots, and blend mulch with Peat and sand, on raised rows or beds to allow for drainage. Crazy amount of work from what I have seen, but some of GBA guys are pulling in good tonnage doing it. 

The fenders?
The Bushes tend to send new branches towards light between the rows, and Tractor tires will break them, so they fenders allow for sliding through the rows with minimal damage. 
Some Varietys like Blue Crop have floppy canes, and when the fruit is on, they sag into the rows and without Orchard fenders, they would get broken. 

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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