A mature blueberry bush is one of the easiest plants to maintain.
They don’t need insecticide. Fungus was rarely a problem. They seem to thrive in crappy soil (thin soil that has clay underneath - very common in Connecticut). The bushes really don’t need to be pruned. Except for flower-to-fruit time, they are pretty tolerant of drought.
Just spread pine needles under the plant once a year. Cover the plant with netting after they’re done flowering to keep the birds away. Then you get a two month supply of berries.
I had blueberries at a previous home that I owned. I also had apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees and concord grapes. My present property doesn’t have the full sun that blueberries require. Otherwise, I’d have planted them long ago.
Drat those birds.
I planted two bearing bushes last year—I’m in Burlington County NJ where the blueberry was first cultivated commercially. I figured I’d lose some to birds but I’d still get most of them—that’s what always happened with our raspberries.
The birds ate every single one. Gonna have to do the netting like you said.
I’ve read different things about the pine needles—that they may not acidify the soil as was previously thought. The argument went that pines just tend to grow in naturally acidic soil. *shrug*. I don’t know myself. But I tend toward the natural, organic style of gardening so I’d rather mulch with pine needles than dump sulfur in my yard. I take it you had good success with pine mulch?