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Fruit & Orchards

Organic Fertilizers for Container Blueberries

11 years ago

I'm considering switching from Miracid to organic fertilizers for my container grown blueberries this year. Based on reading that I've done here and elsewhere as well as advice from Keith at Backyard Berry Plants, I'm leaning toward a combination of liquid fish and kelp (with possible supplementation with a dry granular fertilizer). With that in mind, I'd appreciate feedback from others who are fertilizing their container grown blueberries organically. What do you use? How much and how often? Etc.

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Comments (4)

foolishpleasure
11 years ago
I use on my container blueberry compost and home made tea. It worked well although the smell is not that good.
Bradybb WA-Zone8
11 years ago
shazaam,
I've used a lot of things but not Miracid.Bloodmeal,Cottonseed Meal,Hollytone,Jobe's Organic Azalea and Rhododendron,Whitney Farms Organic.They all work.The first application about April during bloom and then once in May and again in June.
I've used Backyard Berry Plants recipe with the fish/kelp/molasses according to their schedule and it seemed to be fine.
If using something in conjunction with their method,maybe try Hollytone or Cottonseed Meal. Brady
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Thanks yellowthumb for posting. Interesting process, always good to read about different ways of doing things. Do you ord anyone have a good explanation for the chemical or biological process that goes on in this "formula". Why boil the soymeal first? Is the meal fermenting, anaerobic decomposing? Please post the other formula's, would love to read them. I've just started experimenting with liquid organic fertilizer this year. I've had not so good results with solid organic fertilizer in containers in the past. One interesting observation (and in hindsight obvious) on my current liquid organic results is that they perform much better in a well aerated mix. One container with a turface based mix is doing great, Dahlia's in full bloom for 2 month straight so far. One container with bush beans doing great, mix is 4 parts leaves, 1 part soil, fast draining. But my pole beans which I tried the organic liquid fertilizer on went downhill compared to when I was using chemical liquids. This mix is 3 years old and stays quite wet; 2 parts peat, 1 part pumice, 1 part bark. Next year, I plan to do a comparison between 1. liquid organics, leaf & soil mix (no store bought materials) 2. Al's mix & foliage pro. Should be interesting.
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Agricultural sulfur, scattered around the shrub, over the soil, but under the mulch, will help lower pH, and the leaves should green up, eventually. Sulfur is approved as a soil amendment by Congress, in the Organic Foods Act, which was passed around 1990. So, in that legal sense, sulfur is "organic." However, no one who has studied chemistry, and managed to stay awake during the morning lectures, would ever describe sulfur as an organic chemical. There is no carbon in the formula. To be successful with blueberry shrubs, most of us are having to check soil pH, and also water pH. Rainwater is generally acidic, but water from a well could be alkaline, and this will eventually raise soil pH, if it is used to water the blueberry shrubs.
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JaG... hmm... Gentle ribbing or outright snark? ;-) FWIW, I'm not looking to do anything "right"... just "right for me." I think there's a difference. Yes, anecdotes work for me. I'm new at this.. I like talking to other gardners. What's working for them. What products they use. Creative workarounds or inspiration. By definition those are all anecdotes. And isn't that what GW is all about? It's my job to assimilate what I learn and pick and choose what will work for me. Thanks for the "anecdote" on Neptune's Harvest... it's come up so often I just might give it a try.
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I was suggesting the OP do more research, one thread on one forum isn't enough. Growingfruits.org is excellent. Everything I ever read about blueberries, and from my own experience, over-wet is no good....damp is good....dry is no good unless plants are dormant, and even then, keep slightly damp. The key with blueberries is to not let them dry out when growing, that doesn't mean over water. Well drained soil is also good. I never heard of a blueberry bog. Whoever has no bird problems with blueberries is fortunate indeed, and I agree that a 10 gallon container to start out is way to big. Start small with the pots, and pot up when necessary.
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Ernie
Original Author
11 years ago
I know what you mean about compost tea, foolishpleasure. I brew comfrey tea with a combination of compost and fresh comfrey, and the smell is...intense.

Thanks for the tips, Brady. I'm going to move nearly all of my blueberries to 10 gallon Geo Pots this winter, so I'm considering working a good bit of cottonseed and/or alfalfa meal (and maybe a few other things) into the new potting mix. I could then supplement with fish and kelp through the growing season. Keith at Backyard Berry Plants said that he used his full strength fish/kelp/molasses blend on his potted plants once every week (he also noted that he had good results from a further application of chicken manure fertilizer for struggling plants). When I did the math, I realized that's going to be quite expensive. I figured I'd go through 6 or 7 gallons of fish and a couple of gallons of kelp in a growing season, which would easily add up to $100 to $150. However, if I could cut the application rate by combining it with a relatively cheap seed or alfalfa meal, it would be manageable. Since it's hard to predict how quickly the seed meal will be broken down in the pots, the liquid fish and kelp with more readily available nutrients would help guarantee that the plants are getting an adequate nutrient supply. I might even do some side by side comparisons of chemical and organic fertilizer applications. I picked up a couple of discounted Brightwell bushes at Home Depot a few weeks ago, and they might be perfect candidates since they're nearly identical in size.
Bradybb WA-Zone8
11 years ago
I think it was a tablespoon or two per gallon of water when I used BBP's thing and also sprayed it on the leaves.
For a synthetic,Ammonium Sulfate,mixed at a rate of one tablespoon per two to three gallons of water,once a week won't burn the roots. Brady

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