Hi Sal, thanks for the response, I really appreciate it :)

Sorry for the late reply.

Yes, I'm watering my blueberry plants with collected rainwater, though I'm unsure what the ph level is. I have ordered some ph strips from ebay to test the rainwater and it should arrive on Monday.

Earlier, I tested the soil ph level for the sunshine blues and its 6.5-ish. I'm using this particular soil test kit ( http://www.manutec.com.au/default.asp?pageid=5&template=PRODUCTCAT&catid=26&catalogue=6&prodid=MTO8000 ). Even with a high soil ph, the sunshine blues are sprouting new leaves and shoots :)

The legacy variety is still hanging in there, it has been 2 weeks now and i'm not seeing any new growth or leaf/shoot sprouting. Thankfully the leaves aren't turning brown or withering. I tested the soil ph and it's 5.5-ish.

I have bought some agriculture sulfur (as elemental) and sprinkled some sulfur on the soil surface (sunshine's), i'm not sure if that'll be effective in reducing the soil ph? The instruction box says to test the soil ph again in 8 weeks time and reapply the sulfur if needed. Some people on youtube said to mix the sulfur deep into the soil in order for it to be effective? I'm afraid that I might accidentally damage the blueberry roots if i dig too deep into the soil. Any advice or tips?

It would be helpful to know where you are located , and if the plants are in pots then what medium are they in , or are they in open ground and how long have you had them for ,so that other members can give you better advise. Sunshine blue is more tolerant of high ph than others blues. Sulfur will lower ph but it takes up to 8/9 months, depending on location. It's normally mixed within the soil before planting, so you're right there -don't dig around the root as they quite shallow and easily damaged. Are you in Australia or New Zealand?

Hi Sal :)

I'm in Melbourne, Australia. It's mid-to-late summer here at the moment. I transplanted the sunshine blues to the ground (azelea potting mix + a handful of peat moss mixed into sandy soil), the legacy is repotted into a larger pot (azelea potting mix + a bit of peat moss), hence the difference in soil ph between the 2 varieties.

I'm not so sure how old the blueberry plants are, the sunshine blues are about a foot tall with many healthy looking green stems and branches, while the legacy plant is about a foot and a half tall with only 1 main body stem that splits into 2 smaller stems on top (like a letter T), the stems are also somewhat yellowish/brownish looking :(

I have looked up the blueberry legacy variety on google, the legacy plants shown in the images have many body stems growing/splitting out from the base? while mine has only 1 body stem :(

I'm covering the soil with about an inch thick pine-bark mulch. Would that stop the legacy plant from sprouting new body stem from the base?

Also, would the elemental sulfur seep deeper into the soil over time? The store is selling a sprayable liquid form of elemental sulfur which i can use to acidify the soil, would that be a better solution to acidify the deeper layer of soil?

The bark mulch won't stop new shoots. The ph of 5.5 it's ok too. post a pic of the whole plant if you can, I think it's fine nothing wrong with it. Fertilise it with ammonium sulphate next spring , it will push growth and lower ph at the same time. This is how some of mine looked like this morning :

Hi Sal :)

Your blueberry plants look gorgeous even without leaves, i wish mine look like yours. May I ask, How old are your blueberry plants? and what variety are those? Also, how much blueberries are you getting from each plant?

I have placed order for 5 more blueberry plants - Legacy, Magnolia, Sharpeblue, bluerose and Reveille. They'll be ready for me to pick up in April and I'll be growing them all in pots.

So many questions that I want to ask you. How often do you need to change the potting mix? and do you replace the old potting mix with new potting mix? Or do you just add new potting mix to the existing soil?

I have bought this type of fertilizer for my blueberry plants ( http://www.neutrog.com.au/assets/Brochure-PDFs/Home-Garden-PDFs/NEU-KA-A4-0813hr-print.pdf ). The container says its organic and is for acid loving plants. Would this be enough? or do I have to fertilize my plants with ammonium sulphate as well? I haven't fertilize my plants yet but i'm planning to give them a bit of fertilizer in 6 weeks time (in early Autumn), do you think it's a good idea?

Some people online are saying to give to the blueberry plants a bit of seasol once every fortnight? should i be doing that?

Thanks Sal for your replies, I really appreciate it. You seem like you know a lot about planting blueberries and your plants look great!

Here are the images of my blueberry plants, Legacy and Sunshine blue.

Fertilizer - anything that says "acid loving" or Camellias/Azaleas. Avoid anything that lists "Nitrates" as the source of Nitrogen on the label.

Ammonium sulphate = steroids for blueberries. Provides N and lowers PH. Follow the directions and go easy on this. It will be very noticeable when this works.

Bottom picture looks great. Top, not so much but I don't have much advice for potted. In ground blueberries you want to double in size each year or they will get stunned in growth.

My plants in the raised bed are nearly 5 years old now, The one in pots are between 2 and 3. The ones in the pic in the square pots are chandler and brigitta(bred in Australia), in the round pot is a dwarf raspberry called ruby beauty in Europe and known as shortcake in the US. In the raised bed there I have Berkeley, bluecrop, spartan and Goldtraube all northern highbushes.

I got plenty of berries the last 2 summers, I never weighted the pickings though.

So far I never changed the potting mix in the beds , I mulch heavily every year or two, and I repot in to bigger pots once every year or when the root seem to have grown and filled the old pot.

I'm not familiar with that fertiliser however seems like a good choice and a good combination of organic and inorganic, plus I see it contains sulfur,ammonia and fe sulphate so it will lower ph too.

Over here it's not recommended to fertilise late summer or autumn , but I don't know what's the climate in Melbourne is like. I m sure is lovely in the summer that you can grow southern highbushes and rabbit-eyes.

i don't know what seasol is.

And finally, I m not an expert Alec. I started just like you, I have killed my fair share of plants due mostly to over love and too much TLC. In fact as I was repotting a toro bluberry last week, I noticed that the root was tiny but the bush had grown like a weed last summer with new bull shots everywhere, maybe I over fertilised it and I m not sure if the root system will catch up or the plant will succumb. Your sunshine blue looks very well, the legacy one on the other end not so good in comparison, if the root ball is not damaged it should be ok. You are definitely on the right track and are getting a nice collection of plants this April. Soon you'll be collecting a lot of berries mate, but don't rush it I hardly got anything the first 2/3 years.

Hi Sal and hi AJ,

Thanks for replying.

@ AJ, how do i double the size of my blueberry plants year after year? how often do i give them ammonium sulphate? Sal suggested to fertilize the plants with ammonium sulphate in spring time. So only do it once a year? or once every 3 months or 3 weeks? Could you please be more specific?

@ Sal, i'm a bit confused regarding your toro blueberry plant. Are plant growth not connected to its root growth? How is it possible to have a plant growing like weed and its root not growing at the same rate? sorry for my silly question, i'm new to planting.

Thanks for showing me your blueberry harvest. I really appreciate that you took the time to take the photo, those berries look very tasty :)

I only speak for in-ground. First four years you want doubling. I alternate in feeding once it starts warming every two weeks.

Diluted ammonium sulphate once during the first two weeks. Light application of acid loving synthetic fertilizer. So only two days out of the month you are doing something. I also do two applications of cottonseed meal during the growing season for slow release. This is what works for me but you should adjust it for your soil conditions or start very slowly. Most people don't push their plants this much.

Hi AJ, thanks for the info. I'll keep that in mind. I'll start giving my blueberry plants acid fertilizer come spring time (in September) every fortnight until mid summer.

Thank you Sal and AJ for your time and your advice. I really appreciate the replies. I hope and wish you the best in life :)