How to Grow Wild Blueberries and Huckleberries

Prepare a sunny location for your plants. Blueberries will grow in partial shade, but produce more fruit when they grow in full sun. Huckleberries prefer light shade.

Test your soil several months to a year in advance of planting to give you enough time to properly adjust the soil. Both wild blueberries and huckleberries prefer well drained soil that is high in organic matter such as well rotted sawdust. Both plants grow best in acidic soil, preferably with a pH of 4.5 to 4.8. A soil testing lab can tell you the pH level of your soil. You can lower the alkalinity, if needed, by adding sulfur to the soil.

Dig down 3 to 4 inches using a three-inch spade to collect wild blueberry stock. Space the plugs 12 inches apart and cover with 6 inches of pine mulch. Plant blueberries during early spring. You may be able to purchase wild blueberry stock from a nursery, but huckleberries are generally only found in the wild.

Wild huckleberry plants must be collected from late fall through the winter, when the plant is dormant. Dig up as large a root ball as possibly---at least large enough to fill a 3-gallon pot. Leave the plant in the pot for a year or two before planting in the garden. Space plants 3 feet apart, in rows that are 8 to 10 feet apart.

Apply fertilizers one to four weeks ahead of the manufacturer's suggested schedule. Both blueberries and huckleberries require high levels of nitrogen and potassium, and very little phosphorus. Potassium is supplied by the decay of mulch materia l--- add 1 inch of mulch per year --- and compost should provide enough nitrogen.

Remove flowers from the blueberry plants for the first year. Every other year, cut plants down close to the ground. Plants will not fruit in following year, but will provide abundant fruit in the second year. Huckleberries grow slowly and do not need pruning, but you may want to lightly prune very dense plants to allow better light to reach them. Wild blueberries and huckleberries don't tolerate weeds. Neither plant has deep root systems, so don't cultivate deeper than a couple of inches. Instead, hand weed and mulch to control weeds.