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How often to add soil sulfur?

Donald V Zone 6 north Ohio

17 days ago

I added soil sulfur to my blueberries in fall 2022 and spring 2023. In 2023 my blueberries finally produced a lot. I added it again in fall 2023 and spring 2024.

How often do I need to add this? If I stop will the soil go back to neutral on its own? Too keep soil acid for blueberries is it common to need to keep adding something to make it more acidic?

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Comments (5)

vgkg Z-7 Va
17 days ago
I sprinkle elemental sulfur pellets around my BB bushes every fall after they go dormant (once a year), it has worked A-Ok for 15 years producing abundant harvests annually. Naturally one should have their soil's pH tested on occasion, mine seems stable between 5-6 pH.
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
17 days ago
last modified: 17 days ago
I think the smart thing would be to keep track of soil pH. But be aware that sulfur takes a few months to acidify, because it isn't a chemical process. Soil microbes do the job, converting the sulfur into sulfuric acid and sulfates. Also, only something like a third of it is converted into sulfate every year. So applying sulfur several times a year might be overkill. I believe if you over-sulfate your soil, it competes with nitrogen uptake, and your plants will suffer nitrogen deficiency.
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
17 days ago
It also depends on what your existing pH is and what are the mineral constituents that are causing that high pH. Certain minerals will react to attempts to lower pH differently; some can take a much longer time for the reaction to occur. The issues with over-sulfating begin to occur if you apply more than 20# per 1000sf annually and that may or may not be sufficient to lower pH appropriately.

Often the recommendation for growing plants better suited to a soil pH substantially differing from your in situ pH is to grow them in containers where you can specifically tailor the soil mix to plant pH needs.

Blueberries require such a low pH that it is often impractical to grow them in the ground if your in situ pH is 7.0 or higher.
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
17 days ago
last modified: 17 days ago
Fair point. If your native soil isn't pretty acidic, it's understood to be largely a losing proposition to try to strongly acidify it. That is, you can heave sulfur on it, and it will reduce the pH slightly, but the pH will pop back up to a higher level in a year or two. It should be understood that where your soil is alkaline, your water (probably ground water) is going to be alkaline as well, so just watering de-acidifies. My soil pH is 7.9, but my water pH is over 9! My lake water is 8.0, but they bump the pH up to remove minerals. Growing blueberries for me in the ground is hopeless, and I suspect growing them in containers wouldn't be much easier.
Donald V Zone 6 north Ohio
Original Author
17 days ago
Thanks guys! I do suspect it will "revert back" if left alone. I will get it tested but not every year. It is only for blueberry bushes so only a localized area. I was also guessing 2x a year was overkill so will reduce it to once a year. I will watch my blueberry harvest, if it is bad then i will test the soil for sure.

Thanks again everyone!!!!!!!!!!

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