[AmandaLouise]

This sounds so daft, but now I have two blueberry bushes ready to plant, and gratefully I know what Im doing with the help of everyone here. So before I begin I thought maybe I would be best to put one of them in a pot that I bought a few years ago from Ikea that has just been hanging around my garden.  Its a metre high so the blueberry bush is going to look a bit insignificant in it for a while but better than an empty pot I guess?  With it being a metre high what could I put at the bottom of the pot, as I dont want to waste a load of soil (acid/ericeasceous dont worry!) as it is going to require a lot more due to its height.  I dont really have any bricks or broken pots to put in.  I know there a lot more inventive people than I am at this so if you have any ideas then let me know please.

Or is it a bad idea putting in a tall pot, (its about 40cm wide).  I have never known what to put in it previously, and just put off because of other tasks.

Many Thanks

[Trillium]

In the bottom you could add some of those styrofoam packing peanuts or gravel to improve drainage, and then add the soil. But you don't say just how high the pot is, only the width.

Also, what variety of blueberries do you have? Some are quite tall and need deep root systems, others are shorter with smaller root systems.

[allot2learn]

In the bottom you could add some of those styrofoam packing peanuts or gravel to improve drainage, and then add the soil. But you don't say just how high the pot is, only the width.

Also, what variety of blueberries do you have? Some are quite tall and need deep root systems, others are shorter with smaller root systems.

There is a clue in the thread title, Trill. 1 metre high.

[Yorkie]

In the bottom you could add some of those styrofoam packing peanuts or gravel to improve drainage, and then add the soil. But you don't say just how high the pot is, only the width.

Also, what variety of blueberries do you have? Some are quite tall and need deep root systems, others are shorter with smaller root systems.

Think the height is a metre (clue is in the title   )

I've used empty polystyrene bedding plant trays before to bulk out pots, but I'd have concerns as you have mentioned about it not being heavy enough at the bottom.  The pot will eventually become very top heavy (particularly if it's wider at the top than at the bottom, if this is the case).

Have you thought about freecycle or similar to see if anyone is giving away bricks or rubble etc?

[compostqueen]

I'd use the big pot for planting some early salad spuds in and find a smaller pot for the young blueberry 

[Auntiemogs]

Milk cartons/drinks bottles filled with water/sand?

[sunshineband]

Milk cartons/drinks bottles filled with water/sand?

Just make sure you have it in exactly the right spot before filling it as it might be rather heavy.

Poly packing you need to be careful with as a pot that tall might get top heavy if it is quite narrow 

[savbo]

perhaps Trillium meant to say OP doesn't say the width, only the height..

could also use 20-30cm of spent compost, at that depth it's not likely to affect the chemistry much

sav

[AmandaLouise]

The pot is a metre high, and the top is approx 45cm wide, and the bottom about 35cm, so not triangular.  I think I will use the polystyrene and a mixture of all the suggestions thanks a lot.
PS. Its an earliblue variety.  Will it be okay as the blueberry plant is only small, about 7 inches high, that in summer I put some lobilia around it? or small bedding plants just for a bit of colour?

thanks
Amanda

[Trillium]

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=90171.0

To followup on the other answer, the Earliblue will be fine in this pot for about 3 years, then might need repotting  into something larger, but I'd wait to see how fast it grows. You could certainly surround it with lobelia or such, though I'm not sure how well they'll like the more acidic soil, but you can try. Just remember with pots that you'll need to water almost daily, and deeply since it will take a lot of water to keep potted roots damp, especially near the bottom when it gets larger.

If you have mycorrhizal fungi (a root propagator), I highly recommend using this directly on the roots before planting. This will encourage good root growth and eventually a big healthy plant. If you don't have any, then don't worry about it.