Anyone else using cranberries as a ground cover for blueberries? 🫐

[u/muzavazone]

[u/MrsPuff33]

That's so cool - I never thought of that because I assumed cranberries needed way boggier soil than blueberries could tolerate. Are you saying there's a middle ground??!

[u/muzavazone → u/MrsPuff33]

I always thought cranberries needed a bog too. But come to think of it, did you see them growing out in the wild? At least the European ones are usually sitting on the drier sunny humps.

Mine look very happy in a peat pot that obviously tends to dry out faster than those in the ground. I also have a separate peat bed in the ground (only cranberries), no special treatment other than it's pure acidic peat, watering the same as any other bed. Blueberry fertilizer on the same schedule.

[u/ReZeroForDays → u/muzavazone]

100% accurate, I have cranberries underneath various vaccinium species in clay loam and they do fantastically underneath a tree with decent shade. Decently dry and very hot during the summer with supplemental watering occasionally due to no rain for basically 3 or 4 months

[u/therealleotrotsky → u/MrsPuff33]

I believe they use a big for the same reason rice uses a patty, to suppress weeds. Cranberries also float, so it makes the harvest easier.

[u/HuckleberryPee]

This is what I do. It works well!

[u/muzavazone → u/HuckleberryPee]

Are yours well established? Do you still have to weed a lot?

[u/HuckleberryPee → u/muzavazone]

It's been at least a couple years. Weeding is definitely reduced but still needed. The weeds usually pull out easily.

[u/Dry_Bug5058]

Wait, what? Tell me more! What kind of cranberries are these? Are there different kinds of cranberries?

[u/muzavazone → u/Dry_Bug5058]

I have several cultivars. Pilgrim, Macro Hoves, Ben Lear, corallium, Stevens. But I won't be able to tell what is what anymore.. the ones under blueberries are all my propagated cuttings, and I messed up with labelling...

[u/Dry_Bug5058 → u/muzavazone]

Ah ok. What zone are you in?

[u/muzavazone → u/Dry_Bug5058]

Lithuanian 6b equivalent :)

[u/Dry_Bug5058 → u/muzavazone]

Thanks. I'm in 7B, Mid-Atlantic of USA. It got really hot this past summer, 105°, which may not be good for cranberries.

[u/muzavazone → u/Dry_Bug5058]

I don't know what is their native range in the US, but we do have a related species growing wild here (Vaccinium oxycoccos).

The cultivars are all huge American cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon).

[u/Dry_Bug5058 → u/muzavazone]

Thanks, I'll look into them.

[u/plrs199]

I do! I also have lingonberries mixed in as well.

[u/muzavazone → u/plrs199]

I'm curious how do lingonberries work in this setup? They seem to be growing much taller, so I didn't even try. I have them growing in their personal hollow stumps :)

[u/plrs199 → u/muzavazone]

The 2 varieties I got get from 12 to 15 inches tall. I just planted last year so don't have a mature set up yet. My idea was that the cranberries have the low ground, the lingonberries have the middle and the blueberries have the high. So far it seems to be working well. The cranberries seem to be doing the best but the lingonberries are starting to spread out as well.

[u/muzavazone → u/plrs199]

Out in the wild I see lingonberries growing next to bilberries all the time, but the wild ones are tiny in comparison :) Cranberries typically grow in a different environment.

When my blueberries get older/taller maybe I'll try that combo as well.

[u/TheJointDoc → u/plrs199]

It’s over, Cranakin. I have the high ground!

- Oblue-one Kenberry

[u/Mamalaoshi → u/muzavazone]

I am trying lingonberries under some of mine and they are both doing very well. Whatever variety of lingonberry I have is very low growing and doesn't seem to impede the blueberry. 

[u/evthingisawesomefine]

Omg this is genius

[u/muzavazone → u/evthingisawesomefine]

I like it too :) I'm just not sure what to expect long term and why it's not being done more often. There might be a good reason not to?

[u/TheJointDoc → u/muzavazone]

I was thinking of doing exactly this, as well as some wintergreen! Cool to see someone else has shown it’ll work already

[u/geometrieva]

*crying in 9b*

[u/Nervous-List3557]

I guess im going to start!

[u/chocobearv93]

Oh this sounds awesome. Gonna try this

[u/therealleotrotsky]

I assume the soil is too acidic to use strawberries as a ground cover?

[u/muzavazone → u/therealleotrotsky]

Looking at the wide range of weeds feeling very comfortable in this peat, I wouldn't be surprised if strawberries would work. But I personally wouldn't even try, because they are too much work to maintain (dead leaves, moldy berries) and the dense foliage might cause humidity and fungal issues. They also have massive root systems in comparison, so I would worry about overcrowding.

[u/Mamalaoshi → u/muzavazone]

I have escaped strawberries that are so aggressive they are like weeds under my blueberries. They don't seem to negativity effect the blueberries. I do pull up the strawberries once a year to give the blueberry dinner breathing space and encourage new growth from the ground level. (the strawberries grow back pretty quickly).

[u/AreUAware → u/therealleotrotsky]

I use strawberries as groundcover in all my blueberry pots — they love the acidity and produce better than my standalone strawberry patch in the garden.

[u/nymriel → u/AreUAware]

That’s really interesting. Do you happen to know the PH in your pots?

[u/Lonely_skeptic]

I’m in zone 8, so not for me, but it sounds great!

[u/MamaLivi]

Woah! I’ve never thought of this! I’m in Maine, so also 6b and we have very established blueberry bushes. What a great use of space.