The big three soil nutrients found in fertilizer are nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. It doesn't matter if you are growing corn, peanuts, or blueberries, its the same big three. There are some other nutrients that plants need, but these are a small percentage of the total. You can pick up some Miracle-Grow and read the label, to learn more about fertilizer. Changing soil pH is not the same as adding fertilizer. Blueberries need the soil pH to be somewhere between 4.5 and 6.5, or they will not take up the nutrient that they need to grow. There are several ways to lower soil pH. Usually, granulated sulfur, aka agricultural sulfur, is mixed in with the soil before the shrub is planted. So, you have to dig out the hole, put back some of the dirt, and mix sulfur with it. Then you put the shrub in, and finish the process. Another way to lower soil pH is to mix a small, measured amount of acid with irrigation water, and put this on the ground around the shrub. For instance, I add 4 fluid ounces of white vinegar, 5% strength, from the grocery store, to every 4 gallons of tap water. We have hard water, our tap water contains dissolved limestone. The vinegar lowers the pH to around 6. However, the vinegar is consumed by soil bacteria, so the beneficial effect only lasts a month or so. The reason for testing the soil, for pH, is to keep the additions of sulfur and other additives within an appropriate range. Too much sulfur, or too much vinegar, will kill the shrub.

This time of year you should have lots of lush green growth if there is enough N2 (if the ph is okay). Also the color of the leafs are very light green which is normal for tender new growth but the mature leafs should be much darker green. With southern high bush, summer reddening leafs is a sign of low N2 also. If your ph is 6.5 that explains alot though. You need to be in the 4-5ph. If you planted in clay, regardless of soil amendments, you will run into trouble with blues. If it were my plant, I would build a raised bed with 2X12 boards thats 4ft by 4ft. Fill the raised bed with 2/3 pinebark mulch and the other 1/3 spag. peat moss and sand or perilite. Add a 1/4 cup of sulfer, some organic fert(so you dont fry your plants) and if you can find mycorrhizal fungi, use it. The fungi helps the roots of blues in up take of water and nutrients. Really good stuff! Even with all that, you will still run into ph problems if your water is high on the ph scale. With only a couple plants you really need to get a drum under a gutter and collect some rain water and only use it on the blues. You will be rewarded with berries for years to come if you do.

Hi everyone: Thanks for all of your comments! This is what I've decided to do: I'm going to amend the soil this summer, let it lay fallow over the winter and put the berries in early next spring. To do this I'm going to "roundup" the marginal amount of grass on the site and turn over the soil/sod, incorporating elemental sulfur and pine sawdust (and pine needles if I can find a source). I'm not planning to dig down past about 8" - I've been told by several folks that as long as I don't go into the sand or gravel of the field I should be ok. Once that's done, I'll mulch the whole shebang with pine chips for the winter. I would like to plant blueberry sod, but the price for the size area I'm covering ($3/ft) is pretty steep for me (plus husband will have a heart attack). I've found a source in Fryeburg, Maine that sells lowbush blueberry plugs and so I'm thinking I'll go with that, or perhaps a combination of plugs and sod. This is all kind of risky, given how dry the leach field gets in the high summer, but a) I think the mulch with help somewhat; and b) there are lots of blueberries growing on Pum Island on the sand dunes and they seem to survive the lack of water ok. So, once again thanks for all of your interest. If any of you have leads on other sources for lowbush blueberry stock I'd appreciate the tips. I'll post a follow up next spring (hopefully with pictures) to show what I did. Have a lovely growing season, papercarver

The bushes are planted pretty close to each other and they have a tree to deal with. To me it appears quite clearly to be nitrogen starved, in fact all 3 are starved. The reason the other two are not as light could simply be the difference in plant type or more likely it is due to that plant being in the middle so it has competition on both sides for nutrients. A good sign the plants are getting all the energy they need is large dark green leaves and new....I call them bull shoots coming from the base of the plant. You can see one nice size new shoot on the plant on the right but that is it. On young plants you want to see 2 per plant minimum and they should be pencil thick. I would strongly suggest you get some water soluble ammonium SULFATE not ammonium nitrate. Use 1 tsp per gallon of water and do that weekly giving 2 gallons per plant. Make sure the plants are not dry when you give it. The plant should green up pretty fast. The ammonium sulfate is 21-0-0. For those that say what about the other needed elements? Ignore them for now. The BB need the nitrogen constantly but only need the P and K now and then, same goes for all plants. For inground plants that are mulched there is generally enough native P and K anyway. I have not given my 200 or so in ground BB any P or K yet this year just nitrogen weekly since mid February. Potted plants are different and need more P and K added more often. One of the problems with our "soil" is fertilizer tends to wash right through. Ammonium sulfate clings tightly to the soil and resists being washed out. Here is a picture of what you want your leaves to look like. This is on one of my bushes. While those leaves may look big last year Floralcity Lou had leaves on his potted plants that were even bigger. This year I have him beat :) as he was overrun with new projects. Bet that is more than you wanted to know lol.