April 8, 2010:
My wife is a blueberry lover and has been after me to plant some blueberry bushes, which is something
I should have done years ago. Many mature blueberry bushes can grow 6-7 ft. tall and 4-5 ft. wide, producing gallons of large, fresh, sweet berries every year.
Since I am in a hurry for fruit, I spent a little extra money and ordered 2 – 3 year old bushes, and one 2 year old bush which arrived today. The 3-year old stoce should yiels a few pounds of berries each this year, and the 2-year old stock, perhaps several cups full. Each yest, the yield will increase markedly.
They arrived as bare root stock, wrapped in some peat bedding to retain moisture, and are already in bud. I have them soaking in a bucket of water over night, before planting tomorrow. Tomorrow I will pick up a bale of peat moss, because success with getting blueberry bushes off to a good start, is planting the roots directly into nothing by peat moss. Blueberries need a very acid soil to thrive, and the peat moss produces the ideal enviroment. If your soil type is naturally alkaline, an annual addition of some aluminum sulfate may be required for good results.
In addition to being a high yielding fruit, they also make an attractive foliage plant, and can be worked into the backyard landscape. Did I mention that my wife is also addicted to raspberries, so several 2-year old raspberry bushes will also be arriving shortly, making my yard very “berrylicious” this year! 
*Note: Please take the time to visit my website, and log into the interactive message boards. I would like to develope a nice garening community there, and would value your input – questions, advise, suggestions, garden lore, etc.
Ron
The Garden Guy
http://www.TheGardenGuy.org
Tags: Backyard Food Production, Blueberries, Organic Gardening, Raspberries, soil preparation
March 13, 2011 at 12:52 am |
I read something in Teaming with Microbes in which it stated that bacterial dominated compost and actively aerated compost teas promote soil acidity.
I quote.. p.124
“The bacteria in compost will tend to buffer PH around 7 to 7.5. Fungi in comparison will tend to buffer the PH around 5.5 to 5.7, so you want some fungi in all your composts to prevent them from getting too alkaline. The more fungal material in your compost, the lower the PH, to a point.”
I think this might be a cheaper solution than aluminium sulphate, since you can provide the input from the output of your own garden.
March 13, 2011 at 5:26 pm |
All of the compost from my compost bins, as well as from an organic mulch goes right back into my garden beds. Blueberries need and thrive in a low pH, and I don’t thinbk just using compost as a top dressing would do the trick, until they are well established.
May 29, 2011 at 11:34 pm |
Well, the compost is going right back to the garden, just not in a solid form, so it’s not a top dressing. Fungally dominated actively aerated compost teas sprayed onto the area where the bushes are will lower the PH to the upper 5s. If you want to get there faster you could also add pine needles to the soil as well. I think this is better than using sulphur.