Blueberry: Respect Both Kinds of Roots

By Guy K. Ames, NCAT Horticulture Specialist: I know of no fruit-bearing bush or tree killed with greater frequency by home gardeners than blueberry plants. I’ve been a fruit-plant nurseryman for over 40 years, and my customers asked so often for free replacements for their dead blueberry plants that we just stopped carrying them in our nursery. Why? What is it about the blueberry that renders it so tender in the hands of so many home gardeners?

The answer is related to its evolution. The blueberry is a swamp thing. Other than its close kin the cranberry, there is not another domesticated fruit plant like it. As a marsh or swamp plant, the native blueberry evolved in acidic, moist soils. Because the blueberry plant did not need root hairs in such a wet environment, it never evolved root hairs. The coarse, fibrous roots of the blueberry plant do some of the work of taking up water and nutrients, but their main jobs are anchorage and carbohydrate storage.