Blueberry Tree

mossyminds

Anyone tried keeping a “blueberry tree” indoors long-term? I know they’re shrubs, but I’m hoping to train a dwarf variety into a little single-stem standard in a bright room with a grow light and a self-watering pot. Before I jump in, I’d love advice on a few things that are tripping me up:

Cultivar picks: Are there truly low-chill, compact blueberries that do well in containers indoors? I’m seeing names like ‘Sunshine Blue’, ‘Top Hat’, ‘Jelly Bean’, ‘Peach Sorbet’. Any standouts for indoor fruiting and manageable size?
Dormancy hack: How do you give them enough chill hours inside? Unheated garage, near a drafty window, or is “fridge vacation” actually a thing people do without hurting the plant? How many weeks works, and what temps are safe?
Training to a “tree”: If I choose one leader and prune into a mini standard, will that tank fruiting or just reduce the total yield a bit? Any pruning pattern that keeps it tidy but still productive?
Self-watering pots: Blueberries hate soggy roots, but I love SIPs. Has anyone run a very airy, barky mix in a SIP without root rot? What wicking setup and mix ratio worked for you?
Acid and water: My tap is alkaline. Best practical way to keep pH in the 4.5-5.5 range indoors: rain/RO water plus acid (citric? vinegar?) or ammonium sulfate fertilizer? Any dosing tips that are safe for edible plants, and target EC you aim for?
Soil mix: Is a peat/pine bark/perlite blend still the go-to? Any success (or disasters) with coco for blueberries?
Nutrition: Do you avoid nitrate-heavy fertilizers and stick to ammonium forms? How often do you feed in an indoor setup?
Pollination indoors: If it’s “self-fertile,” do you still see better set with hand pollination? Toothbrush trick vs tapping-what actually works?
Light and seasons: If I simulate seasons, what photoperiod/temperature shifts help signal bloom and then fruiting? Any PPFD targets that kept plants compact but productive?
Pests/disease: What tends to show up on indoor blueberries (mites, thrips, gnats?), and any food-safe prevention routines that actually work?
Mycorrhiza: Worth adding ericoid mycorrhiza in containers, or does regular fertilizing negate the benefit? How do you keep them alive if you’re also acidifying water?

If you’ve grown a blueberry indoors for more than a year-especially in a SIP or as a mini “tree”-I’d love to hear what you’d repeat or avoid.

PlantPeace

A few specifics that have actually worked for indoor/container blueberries:

Cultivars: Go with low‑chill southern highbush or true low‑chill dwarfs. Standouts: Sunshine Blue (₁₅₀-200 chill hrs, compact, self-fertile, reliable indoors), Biloxi (₁₅₀), Misty (₃₀₀), Sharpblue (₁₅₀-200). Peach Sorbet (₃₀₀) is compact and workable. Skip Top Hat for indoor fruiting; it’s very high chill and underwhelming indoors. Even with “self-fertile,” pairing two low‑chill cultivars helps set.
Dormancy: Aim 200-300 hours at 1-7°C (34-45°F). An unheated garage works if roots don’t freeze. “Fridge vacation” is viable for small containers: 2-4°C (36-39°F) for 6-8 weeks, plant bagged to limit desiccation, watered lightly every 3-4 weeks, kept away from produce (ethylene). Reduce daylength/feeding ahead of chill to harden.
“Mini‑standard” training: Select one strong cane, stake, and clear laterals up the first 20-25 cm to form the trunk. Keep 3-5 short fruiting laterals in the top “head.” Renewal prune 1-2 of the oldest laterals each year after harvest. Expect some yield loss the first 1-2 years but good production once the head is built; replace the trunk every ₄ years if vigor wanes.
SIP/media: Works if you limit saturation. Use a small wicking area (a pair of 6-8 mm polyester wicks) and a 2-3 cm air gap above the reservoir. Media: 60% aged pine bark fines : 30% peat : 10% perlite, plus 2 g/L gypsum and ₁ g/L elemental S. Top‑water to full runoff monthly to flush salts; keep reservoir EC <1.2 mS/cm. Fabric grow bag set into a sleeve improves aeration.
Water/acid: RO or rain is best. Acidify to pH 4.8-5.2; citric acid is food‑safe and stable enough for small setups (vinegar is weak/variable). Feed 60-120 ppm N as ammonium sulfate in active growth (≈1.1-2.2 g per US gallon), target solution EC 0.8-1.2 mS/cm. Pause feeding during chill.
Nutrition: Favor ammonium over nitrate; keep P low; add chelated Fe periodically (Fe‑EDTA is fine at low pH). Avoid calcium nitrate; supply a little Ca with gypsum in the mix rather than in solution.
Light/temps: 350-500 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹ at the canopy for 12-14 h (DLI ₁₅-25) keeps plants compact and fruits well. After chill, run ₁₈-22°C days and 10-15°C nights to bloom; avoid >27°C during bloom/set.
Pollination: Vibrate flower clusters with an electric toothbrush or tap/stem‑flick daily over the bloom window; even “self‑fertile” plants set better indoors with vibration.
Pests/disease: Expect thrips, mites, aphids, fungus gnats, occasional Botrytis on blooms. Use sticky cards, quarantine, gentle airflow. Bti in the SIP for gnats; 1% horticultural oil or insecticidal soap rotations pre‑bloom for mites/aphids; avoid spraying open flowers.
Mycorrhiza: Ericoid inoculum is beneficial in bark/peat. Mix into the root zone at planting; keep P modest and avoid broad‑spectrum fungicides. Acidified irrigation doesn’t harm it.
Container size: 5-7 gal minimum for dwarfs if you want meaningful fruit; 7-10 gal is easier to keep stable.

Coco can work only if very thoroughly washed/buffered and acidified; it tends to drift alkaline and push K, so peat/bark is simpler and more reliable for blueberries.