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need advice on planting blueberries

14 years ago

I need some ideas about how to prepare the soil for blueberries. My soil ph tested at 6.6 and needs to be from 4.5 to 5.2. I was told to add 4 lb sulphur/100 sf. I have also read somewhere that peat moss and pine bark mulch could to be added to the soil. I would like someone out there who has had good luck in growing blueberries to give advice. I want to make sure the soil is prepared right before I set the plants out.

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Comments (7)

ericwi
14 years ago
To grow blueberries, the soil should be high in decomposed organic matter, and it needs to be able to drain water. Blueberry roots need to be kept moist, but they do not do well in standing water. If you have rainwater ponding in your yard, you might have high clay soil, and in this case, you might have to build a raised bed for your blueberries. I used to use peat moss for amending our soil, but now I use compost that we make ourselves, from shredded leaves, raspberry canes, and garden refuse like tomato vines. I mix compost with our soil, 50/50 by volume.
redskinsnut
14 years ago
You are on the right track. More importantly though is to make sure these plants are getting proper drainage. You probably have loamy soil so you are going to want to plant them in raised beds or large containers. Also, consider mulching with sawdust. Here is a link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mulching Blueberries With Sawdust
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I lived in Henderson, TN south of Jackson, TN for over 4 years. At the time I was there on a job transfer thought I was going to be there for the rest of my life. At any rate planted 18 blueberry bushes in clay soil along with many fruit trees. Used aluminum sulfate for ph amending the soil, I was really an amateur at the time, and didn't know a lot about blueberries, much more knowledgeable now after living in TN moved back to Indiana. Anyways I planted rabbiteye's in TN mostly Misty's with some Climax and other assorted varieties. Made me sick as when I went back to check on the house, the blueberries were in their 4th year and loaded with fruit!! If they could make it with my feeble attempts then anyone can do it. Now that I am back in Indiana on my second try here as the rabbits got mine in the winter after first planting in 06. Doing much better with with highbush and on my second go around. Even trying some in pots now as I love blueberries!! Good luck and hopefully you will have much success as I did in TN!!
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shariplant: Your have planted a very large, mature blueberry plant. Probably 3 years old. It is in fact blooming age, and if it were mine I would pinch off all those blooms the first season to allow the bush to become well established before it tries to produce fruit. I hope that bush is able to gather sufficient sunlight, enclosed, as it is, by a high fence on two sides. Sunlight will be your limiting factor for that blueberry bush, assuming you prepared the soil with peat moss etc. on planting. Your little strawberry plant can be regarded as a pet, which may produce a few berries for you, but again, depending on its exposure to sunlight. It is certainly nothing to worry about as a competitor to your blueberry bush. If the strawberry plant sends out a few runners, as is the habit of strawberry plants, you may have more plants and better chances at producing a few strawberries in '08 or '09. For now, that little strawberry plant is not much of a threat to anything. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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I also would agree with fruitnut and jean on no more applications of aluminum sulfate. Use garden sulfur for long term dropping of the ph. Vinegar water for the short term. Be careful not to get any of the leaves or rinse them off. I put in 30 new blueberry plants last spring (In your zone - just a little north. Also have the same soil mix) and most of them had a reddish tint on the leaves most of the year. Didn't lose any of the 30 but 1 was on the brink. This year I started the fruitnut fertilizer program (1 tbls of ammonium sulfate dissolved in 2.5 gallons of water). The plants have great color this year. I don't reccomend that rate on newly planted bushes though. I'd go 1 tbls in 4 or 5 gallons for year 1. I think the improved color is the result of both the garden sulfur finally getting the ph below 5.5 and the fertilizer program. Garden sulfur is very slow at becoming effective in our zone. The soil is cold or frozen 8 months of the year. Hang in there... Keep your soil moist... I think you will be OK.
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ericwi
14 years ago
I forgot to mention water. If you use tap water on your blueberry shrubs, and if you have hard water, then the dissolved limestone in your water will raise soil pH a bit, every time you water your shrubs. Adding sulfur will counteract this, over time. If your water is not hard, or if you water from a rain barrel, this will not be an issue.
coolvol
14 years ago
If your water does have a high PH one thing you might try for the first year or two is to add a tablespoon of vinegar per gallon of water to adjust the PH down.
redskinsnut
14 years ago
Has anyone gone to the effort of actually buying a rain catch barrel and watering their blueberries that way? Wonder if it is worth the effort.
franktank232
14 years ago
I use my gutters and a plastic/metal garbage can. WAY cheaper and just as effective and yet, i've been doing it now for 3 years. It works just fine. I usually store around 100 gallons when i can and that lasts me a long time (i usually end up emptying them on other plants, etc before the next rain).
somedudeinthegarden
14 years ago
I have about 10 blueberry bushes. What I do is steal/take/offer to clean up my neighbor's pine shrub trimmings and put them under a layer of pine mulch. I also use a blueberry/ dogwood / anything that likes acidic soil feeder in the early spring and fall. I get more blueberries than I can eat but I rarely get to eat them. Large family > than a flock of birds.

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