How often do I need to acidify the soil of my blueberry bushes?

12 years ago

Hi there. I am a newbie at gardening. I planted a blueberry bush last year. After doing my gardening research in the winter, I found a lot of things I should have done to this blueberry plant.

1) Plant another blueberry bush nearby to yield a better crop

2) check ph and acidify the soil.

So this spring, I purchased another blueberry bare root plant and planted it about 3-4 feet away from the previous bush. The nursery gave be a bag of sulfite to acidify the soil before planting.

Question - do I add this sulfite once a year? every few weeks? how often?

The one I planted last year is small (1 foot high) and gave me 5-6 half pea size blueberries. Thoughts? Also, I have strawberry plants planted around them (which gave me hardly any yield. and raspberry bushes as well.

Other question, how close do the blueberry bushes need to be to be productive?

Random question, I planted 2 pink lemonade blueberry bushes because my kids loved the idea of it. Any thoughts on these. Wish me luck next year to get a yield!

Featured Answer

ericwi

12 years ago

If you are using your local well water, or tap water, to irrigate your blueberry shrub, then you need to know the pH, or hardness, of the water. If the water has significant dissolved limestone, then you will be raising the soil pH every time you water the shrub, and this affects how much and how often to add sulfur. The least expensive way to test for water pH that I know of is to use an aquarium water test kit-they have these for sale at pet stores where tropical fish are sold. Here in Madison, Wisconsin, we have hard water, and the pH is around 7.6. I add 12 fluid ounces of 5% white vinegar to 4 gallons of water when irrigating our blueberry shrubs. I also use agricultural sulfur, typically one pound every two or three years, per shrub. We also have alkaline soil here, with pH around 7.6. There is a lot of natural limestone in southern Wisconsin, both on the surface, and underground, where the aquifers are located. I don't know the pH of your soil and water, so I can't say if you should be using vinegar and sulfur as I do. Once you understand pH, blueberries are easy to grow. They need plenty of sunlight, extra vegetable fiber in the soil, and periodic watering during drought conditions. That's about it.

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Comments (8)

Bradybb WA-Zone8
12 years ago
Hello TGibson,
Sulfite,is that Sulfur?If it is Sulfur,a yellowish powder or granule,it can be put on about once a year,about a couple tablespoons per plant,mixed gently into the soil surface.It may take about that long to see results though,as the microbes change it to Sulfuric acid.
It is a good idea to see what the actual soil pH is,by way of a soil test or an accurate meter.
It will probably make a difference to pull the berries off the first couple of years,so that the plant can grow more in roots and leaves.Not so much fun on our part.
Bumblebees are usually the most common pollinators of Blueberries and they will fly a good distance between plants.
Strawberries also like an acid soil.I'm not sure about Raspberries.
I also have a Pink Lemonade Blueberry plant,that I picked up early this Spring and it is growing like a weed.It only has a few berries though,which I'm eager to try.
What is your soil amended with?I use Pine bark mulch and Moss Peat.About 70/30 mix.
I'm going to close with the words that the man who welcomed me on this forum a little over a year ago, when I announced my intentions to grow them."Blueberries are the easiest things to grow until their not".Have fun and I hope they do really well. Brady
neptune25
12 years ago
Hi, TGibson. I don't know the answer to your question, but to save time, I've heard you can use pistachio shells as mulch to help continually acidify the soil. Hope that helps. :)
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Eric: Yes, I do know, but it is a good reminder for anyone reading this thread that it is not a good idea to play with acid without proper precautions and understanding. It would be all too easy to become blind making a thoughtless error like wrong mixing order. HM: I've read many of the threads on here re blueberries, and your comments re neutral or near-neutral soils with high OM have been noted (at least by me). Your theory of zonal variation seems to have merit. Makes me want to plant a few plants in a hole with one side native soil, and just off to the side in the opposite direction some peat/acid amended soil. See if even with majority of roots in 7.5 ph soil they can thrive. Eh, I'll save that for some later year of investigation. While you are in Z6, by chance are the bushes you observe largely Southern? Conventional wisdom indicates they are more tolerant of higher ph. Of course, the plants don't read the books, or the forums, so whatever works despite what is written is what's best. I recall the thread, and the discussion with the 1,000 or so plants you are referring to. Part of my plan, starting with pots this summer is influenced by that thread and your comments about it in a later thread. And hence my decision to modify my irrigation to go with drip rather than try keeping on top of it by hand. Re neutral or near-neutral ph soils with lots of OM, it could be that in your area the soil is more consistent, and the OM is just enough to modify. I know that in some areas of the country, while the surface soil may be neutral, sublayers are highly alkali. Makes me curious about Drew's experience if there is soil nearby that was strongly influencing ph even though tested areas were reasonable ph.
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If the leaves are pale green, or if they are looking yellow, the most likely cause is high soil pH. The least expensive method I have found for checking soil pH is bromocresol green dye indicator. You dig up a small soil sample, about one tablespoon, and mix it with distilled or de-ionized water to make a slurry. The slurry is then filtered though a paper filter, and when you have accumulated about 1/8 teaspoon of filtrate, you then add a few drops of dye. The solution will turn blue, at pH = 5.4, yellow at pH = 3.8, and varying shades of green if the pH is between 3.8 and 5.4.
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I just planted some blueberry plants. Ive never tested my soil, but every single house in the entire area have hydrengea, and none of them are blue... Either way, just to be sure, I planted them in a 2:1 ration of peat to soil. I then took a liter of coffee grounds, ans dpread them around the plant about a foot away. I then Put 2 inches of pine needles my neighbor gave me ( they dont use anything nasty at all, we call them the "hippies".)and worked them both into the soil lightly. I then covered the area with a thin layer of news paper, and then multched with leaves/pine needles. My logic was that the peat will only make the ph acidic, where I placed it, and isnt really long term. So by the time its effects are gone, the layers of compost/leaves/pine needles will already be acidifying the soil. Since ive read blueberries like really acid soil, I wasnt too paranoid about over acidifying the soil. THey seem to love it. ITs almsot time for more coffee grounds, seeing as we are getting tons of rain. If you have the room, you might want to plant some pine trees near or around your blue berries, and dont bother raking up the needles. If anything spread them around. How can you get more organic then pine needles from trees that are already there?
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I will answer the questions that were asked of me, above. The sulfur that goes into the bottom of the "V" shaped hole is not mixed in with the dirt because I want it to be assimilated slowly, over a period of years. The only purpose of this application of sulfur is to counteract the tendency of the surrounding alkaline soil to raise the pH of my blueberry shrub. I don't know how effective this method is, I have never tried to prove that it accomplishes what I expect. The typical hole dimensions are 24 inches diameter by 16 inches deep. The reason for putting down sulfur in a ring, on the surface, is essentially historical and idiosyncratic. When I started growing blueberries, back around 1993, I did not have a local source of sulfur, so I was using white vinegar, 5% acidity, mixed with our local tap water, to lower soil pH. This method works, but the vinegar disappears in about a month, so you have to keep repeating the application over the growing season. It is not a practical method for lowering soil pH. When I finally picked up a pH meter, and found a local source of agricultural sulfur in 50 lb bags, I had maybe 16 blueberry shrubs already well established, and I did not want to dig them up, apply sulfur, and replant. So, I applied sulfur to the surface, and that is how I have been doing it ever since.
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capoman
12 years ago
TGibson:

Bradybb's advice is all good. Thing with sulfur though is that you need to understand your current soil before applying it. You should not just add as if it was fertilizer. You need to measure your pH and it's trends. Sulfur can take six months to convert to usable form. If your pH is very high, you may also need to use aluminum sulphate to get the pH down faster initially, then use sulfur for the long term. Once your pH is down, you'll have to cut back on sulphur quite a bit, especially if you use acidic mulch. Sandy soil requires less sulfur then clay soils.

Best way is to prepare the soil properly before planting. I had my plants in a garden initially that wasn't prepared well and always struggled with maintaining pH in my sandy soil and the plants never flourished. I finally converted a raised bed one year by amending it with sulfur and peat moss in the fall. The next spring I transplanted them and they have thrived since. I mulch with pine bark and chopped spruce cones, and have to use very little sulphur now to maintain it.
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capoman
12 years ago
I should mention also, that once you do get it down, they are one of the easiest plants to maintain. They are low maintenance and very hardy with few pests. Several inches of acidic mulch, and you don't need to week or water often.
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canadianplant
12 years ago
I dont use sulfur. I planted by blueberry plants in straight up peat moss, put an inch of coffee grounds around the plant (there is debate as to whether this acidifies the soil, but there is definitely literature pertaining to iron uptake!) and put a good 5 inches of pine multch (old twigs, needles and broken cones). Pine needles will slowly acidify the soil, like it does in the berries habitat.
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northwoodswis4
12 years ago
I think the recommendation for two bushes means two different varieties for cross pollination. It sounds like you just have the two pink blueberry lemonade bushes. You might add another variety. Northwoodswis
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blazeaglory
12 years ago
I agree with canadianplant. And also you could use elemental sulfur, Its less toxic to the plants than aluminum sulfate.
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How often do I need to acidify the soil of my blueberry bushes?

ericwi

Comments (8)

Bradybb WA-Zone8

neptune25

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