Are your blueberry plants not producing enough fruit? Are you wondering whether or not the lack of pollination is the issue? Are you also wondering whether or not blueberry plants are self-pollinating? Do blueberries need to cross-pollinate?
Are blueberries self-pollinating?
Some varieties of blueberry plants are definitely self-pollinating or self-fertile. However, even the self-fertile blueberry plants need pollinators to pollinate so that overall growth, fruit production, and roots’ growth can get strengthened properly.
It is important to know what varieties of blueberry plants are self-pollinating so that you can act according to that information to surpass any unwanted incidents.
Duke blueberries:
Duke blueberries can definitely self-pollinate themselves which will lead to larger yields. However, it is always better to have other varieties of blueberry plants around your duke blueberry so that cross-pollination can happen too.
Pink lemonade blueberries:
Pink lemonade blueberries are self-fertile or self-pollinating therefore the presence of only one pink lemonade blueberry plant will be enough to produce a larger production. But you need to make sure soil conditions and weather conditions are favorable too.
Legacy blueberries:
Technically, it is possible for legacy blueberries to self-pollinate themselves but the presence of another legacy blueberry bush or plant will double the crop production.
Patriot blueberries:
It is always better to make sure there are multiple varieties of blueberries available around your patriot blueberry so that cross-pollination and self-pollination can occur without any hassle.
Climax blueberries:
Climax blueberries are not self-pollinating. This is why you can either manually pollinate or naturally cross-pollinate your climax blueberries for fruit yielding.
Rabbiteye blueberries:
Rabbit eye blueberry plants are self infertile and so they need to be cross-pollinated by pollinators, wind, and gravity for better growth and fruit production.
Brightwell blueberries:
In spite of being self-fertile, brightwell blueberries will need pollinators to pollinate. This is because the release of pollen by the male part of the flower will not sometimes ensure fruit production.
Sunshine blueberries:
The sunshine blueberry plant is one such type of blueberry plant that doesn’t need to be pollinated manually.
This is because the male reproductive part of sunshine blueberry plant releases pollen that will ensure the growth of sunshine blueberries.
Jersey blueberries:
Although jersey blueberries are self-fertile and seem to self-pollinate within one flower, the lack of pollinators can still cause the fruit yielding to be very less.
This is why cross-pollination can really help encourage fruit production, root growth, and overall foliage growth.
Biloxi blueberries:
Biloxi blueberries are also self-pollinating. This means biloxi blueberries have both female and male reproductive parts inside one flower. This helps to self-pollinate the flowers which will then form proper fruits.
Do you need two blueberry plants to pollinate?
Technically, you don’t need two blueberry plants to pollinate your blueberry bushes but the presence of two blueberry plants will definitely ensure a proper pollination process.
Moreover, having more than one blueberry plant or varieties of blueberry plants will usually lead to unique/new blueberry varieties, rapid growth, a quick ripening process, and so on.
Can blueberry plants cross-pollinate?
Blueberry plants can definitely cross-pollinate and the cross-pollination can actually help your blueberry plants to grow more elaborately.
Although blueberry plants can self-pollinate to produce fruit, blueberry plants will still benefit from a proper cross-pollination system.
Usually, it is the pollinators, gravity, wind and so on that will assist in cross pollination but pollinators are the ones that pollinate the best in the cross-pollination process.
The cross pollination of blueberry plants will require you to plant two or more varieties of blueberry plants around your garden so that successful cross pollination can happen.
Moreover, when you are choosing the variety of blueberry plants for cross pollination, you need to make sure that the fruit yielding time or the harvesting timeline is matched so that cross pollination can happen.
In addition, the cross pollination of your blueberry plants will potentially increase 20% of the fruity yielding rate and it will also cause the fruits to be bigger and better.
You can manually cross pollinate or naturally cross-pollinate your blueberry plants for better production. Moreover, it will also lead to even ripening of your blueberries due to cross pollination.
The cross pollination of your blueberry plants will even ensure that you get different varieties of blueberries and will also help to strengthen the immunity of the whole plant.
How to pollinate blueberry plants?
Pollinating blueberry plants comes with great responsibility that you have to plan accordingly to get the best result.
Therefore, being knowledgeable about the proper ways or steps to follow to pollinate blueberry plants will help you to eradicate any confusion.
Plant pollinating partner plants:
One of the first things you need to do to pollinate blueberry plants is related to making sure there are enough blueberry plants available for cross-pollination or self-pollination.
This is why you have to make sure there are two or more varieties of blueberry plants available at the same time to ensure successful fruit production.
Enough pollinators:
To make sure of the successful pollination of blueberry plants, you need to make sure that there are enough pollinators such as insects, bees, birds, wasps, and so on available to pollinate.
Therefore, you need to plant a lot of attractive colored flowers around your blueberry garden so that bees and other insects are attracted to pollinate.
Natural pollination:
If there are pollinators and varieties of blueberry plants available in your garden, only then natural pollination will happen without your assistance.
This is because pollinators, gravity, breeze, and so on will make sure of natural pollination which will lead to maximum fruit production.
Manual pollination:
The natural way of pollination is not reliable because natural pollination may not happen due to harsh temperatures and a lack of pollinators.
This is why you will need to go for manual pollination and for that, you will need an electric toothbrush or painter’s brush.
In addition, in the case of a paintbrush, you need to use the tip of the brush to release the pollen from the flower by brushing it gently.
Moreover, in the case of an electric toothbrush, you can transfer the pollen by using the vibrating system of the brush.
Why is the blueberry plant not producing fruit?
You don’t want to see your hard work being wasted especially when you see that your blueberry plant isn’t producing fruits after all the efforts.
Therefore, being aware of the reasons will help you to remove your confusion and to adopt actions appropriately.
Lack of fertilizer:
The lack of fertilizer will definitely cause your blueberry plant not to yield any fruit. One of the things that your blueberry plant needs for fruit yielding is nitrogen.
Therefore, the regular usage of coffee grounds, organic fish fertilizer, organic mulch, and so on will ensure the proper nitrogen intake in the soil and thus will assist in fruit production.
Not enough acidity:
Blueberry plants seem to thrive in a soil condition that has 4.5 to 5.5 levels of pH meaning the soil has to be more on the acidic side for proper fruit production of blueberry plants.
This is why if the soil where you plant your blueberry is too alkaline then your plants won’t produce fruits.
This is why it is best to use some coffee grounds to increase the acidity level of the soil which will also prompt fruit production.
Improper pollination:
Some degrees of pollination are required by every plant to increase growth and strengthen roots.
Accordingly, blueberry plants are not any different than that. The lack of proper pollination will definitely cause your blueberry plants to not produce fruit.
The improper pollination can be due to the fact that there aren’t any pollinators for transferring pollen from male reproductive organs to the female part of the flowers.
In addition, cross-pollination is also very needed to prompt fruiting in your blueberry plants and this is why if there aren’t any other varieties of blueberry plants available near your garden then fruiting won’t happen productively.
Irregular pruning:
Fruit quality and fruit production can be severely enhanced by regular pruning of your blueberry plants. Therefore, the lack of proper pruning will definitely lead to making your plant not yield fruit properly.
It is a must to at least prune 20% of your blueberry plants by making sure that you prune both diseased, old, and new leaves off of your blueberry plant.
This is because the diseased leaves will definitely contaminate other healthy parts of your blueberry plant and will definitely ruin the flowers thus discouraging fruit production.
Without pruning, your blueberry plant can be prone to infestation and there will also be a lack of new growth in your blueberry plant.
Final Thoughts
The self-pollinating nature of blueberry plants is not enough for fruit production. Therefore, in spite of being self-fertile, blueberry plants need to be pollinated naturally by pollinators, gravity, or wind to ensure proper fruiting and growth of the plants.