Velvetleaf Blueberry

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, like our hillside blueberry, 6 inches to a foot a year. It makes a low shrub 1 to 4 feet tall, most often under 3, spreading by underground stems into open colonies. On good sites one plant can spread 33 feet across.

Its thin leaves, about an inch long, are softly hairy on both sides and turn red in early fall. Small bells, greenish white to pink, open in May and June. The berries ripen from July into September, bright blue under a frosty bloom, a quarter to a third of an inch across, sweet but tart. Many birds and mammals eat them, from robins to black bears.

It grows wild across Canada and south to Maine and Minnesota, then in the mountains to West Virginia and Virginia, with scattered stands from Iowa to Ohio and in Montana and Washington. Records from Kentucky and North Carolina lie outside that range. Its home is dry conifer woods, burns and clearcuts, barrens, rock ledges, bog edges and mountain meadows.

How to grow Velvetleaf Blueberry

Velvetleaf blueberry grows in full sun, part shade or shade, though it flowers and fruits best in sun. It needs an acid soil, about pH 3 to 6, sandy or loamy and well drained but not dry for long, and it does well in poor ground. Set plants 2 feet apart, and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in early spring or fall, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with pine needles or bark, clear of the stems. The seed is tiny and needs light to sprout. Keep the dry seed in the refrigerator for about 90 days. Then sow it on the surface of a moist mix of sand and peat, uncovered, in light. Seedlings come up unevenly over 3 to 12 weeks, and often only a quarter of the seed sprouts.

Water in dry spells for the first two summers, since the roots are shallow. Grass and weeds hold young plants back, so keep the ground around them clear. Every few years, cut the oldest stems to the ground in early spring to renew the colony and its crop.

A colony from one root is a single clone, and velvetleaf blueberry is self-sterile, so plant two or more seedlings from different parents for fruit. Bumble bees are its best pollinators. Plants first fruit in their third growing season, and a late spring frost can ruin a crop. Without a cover of snow, a hard winter can kill the stems to the ground.