Organic Garden Club members enjoyed a beautiful sunny day at One Acre Farm in Santa Rosa Valley picking organic blueberries. Owner, Scott Bahler, gave us a terrific presentation at our Organic Garden Club meeting in April on growing organic blueberries at his One Acre Farm! Scott started One Acre Farm in 2017 with his friend Dan Vigna leasing land at his family’s Gerry Ranch and planting organic blueberries. They grow different varieties of organic blueberries and are open to the public for U-pick.
This year, Scott removed the weed cloth that had covered the farm and grew a cover crop to absorb all the rain we’ve been having. Cover crops like red clover, buckwheat, fava beans, daikon radish, peas, and hairy vetch revitalize the soil with natural nitrates, suppress weeds, improve water retention, discourage pests and diseases, reduce soil compaction, and attract beneficial insects.
Birds are smart! One Acre Farm’s previous netting was brown and gave some shade, but it was torn to pieces in the winds last winter. Scott just got new bird nets that are white and allow more sun. His father in law, Gerry Ranch owner, grows conventional blueberries with no netting. There are fields of conventional strawberries growing at the neighbor’s farm with no netting. However, all the birds have come to One Acre Farm while the nets have been down to eat all the ripe organic blueberries! Organic Garden Club members found that it was like an Easter Egg Hunt looking for the ripe berries to pick!
Scott explained about pruning your blueberry bushes to improve the yield. Blueberries produce fruit on branches that were formed the previous year. The best time for pruning blueberry bushes is spring before new growth begins. Choose two or three of the oldest, bark-covered branches each year and remove them at the base. This encourages the growth of vigorous new branches from the base of the plant. Aim to remove about one-third of the total canopy each year, focusing on the oldest branches.
Scott and Dan had originally planted their blueberries in pots so One Acre Farm could qualify as an organic grower sooner. Now they are in the process of transplanting their organic Snow Chaser and Spring High Blueberries from pots into the ground. Everyone that came to One Acre Farm learned so much and had a great time picking the sweet juicy blueberries!
Organic Garden Club of Ventura County 
On timing for pruning in Ventura County: blueberries in this area yield fruit starting in late winter through late spring. Peak production is typically around March and it will begin to slow in April. New vegetative growth typically begins around March and will be full swing around May. So there is overlap between the picking and regrowth seasons. Prune early and you’ll miss out on fruit this year. Prune late and you’ll reduce next year’s crop. So finding the sweet spot for your microclimate and varieties is the trick.
One Acre will typically prune in late April or early May. We’ll be pruning late May this year to try to squeeze a little more revenue out of the season. Fingers crossed we don’t impact next year’s crop too much!
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