How to Grow a Healthy Top Hat Blueberry

Choose a container in which to grow the Top Hat blueberry. It should be two sizes larger than its current container.

Place the growing container in its permanent location. It may be too heavy to move once it's filled with soil. Place it in an area that receives a minimum of 6 hours of full sun every day.

Combine equal parts of compost, peat moss and coarse sand in a large planting pot or other container. Pour water over the mixture, stirring, until it is thoroughly drenched. Allow it to drain until it is moist.

Check the planting medium's pH. Top Hat requires a soil pH between 4.0 and 4.5. If needed, add additional peat moss to lower the pH.

Fill the planting container with the moist soil and create a hole that is twice the width of the Top Hat's rootball and the same depth.

Remove the blueberry shrub from its nursery pot and use your fingers to loosen the rootball slightly. Place the roots into the hole and pack soil around them.

Water the soil again until water drains from the bottom of the pot and apply 1 to 2 inches of water a week during the summer.

Fertilize the Top Hat shrub one month after planting with ammonium sulfate at the rate specified on the label. The following February, apply a fertilizer listed for use on rhododendrons, at half the rate recommended by the manufacturer. Reapply in September, at the same rate.

Encourage the Top Hat to produce large yields by trimming 3 inches from the tips of all shoots for the first two years. The only other pruning required should be done in spring to remove dead and broken branches. Cut back new canes to 6 inches below the height of the plant.

Bury the Top Hat's container, up to the rim, in the fall. Cover it with at least 8 inches of straw in November and allow it to remain over the winter. Remove the straw in spring.