I just bought some blueberries, and I know they need acidic soil. How do you make your soil acidic enough for blueberries? I live in Iowa and we have great, rich, black dirt to grow them in. I know that I could go buy miracid or some such thing, but I am looking for homesteader ideas...thanks for replying!

-- Terri Miller (imtchr4hm@aol.com), April 27, 2002

Answers

Blueberries prefer an acid soil with a pH of 4.0-5.0. If your pH is above this add 3 ounces of ammonium sulfate and a pound of cottonseed meal for each plant. Also include rotted leaf mold or peat moss to help lower the pH. We have a nice stand of white pines, so we also mulch with the pine needles.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), April 27, 2002.

An old rule of thumb I heard years ago was that anywhere pine trees grow well so will blueberries.

Where I am, Loblolly pine is the most predominat tree growing. I have yet to do anything to my blueberries except plant them! This year the bushes are loaded with blossoms. Though they were planted in spring of "99, the first 2 years kinda don't count cause the rabbits kept nibbling them right down to just short branches even though I had chicken wire around them. This last year we have had a fox population problem. Bad for my chickens - good as far as keeping the rabbit numbers down.

Mulching with pine needles also does wonders for blueberries.

-- dottie (mother-ducker@webtv.net), April 27, 2002.

hmmm if you put ashes from a fire on the soil, won't that make the soil more acidic? i think? i think? anyone? is it true?

-- C (punk_chicadee@yahoo.com), April 27, 2002.

Nope, ashes will help make your soil LESS acidic. :o)

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), April 27, 2002.

Not sure if this would work or not but I thought I'd mention it. Sometimes Pin oak gets chlorosis due to the clay in the soil binding up iron and the way to treat it is to either apply chelated iron or acidify the soil. The chelated iron is the standard treatment but doesn't last long, whereas some folks have been trying acidification by the addition of sulphuric (?) acid as you would fertilize a trees. They get the acid from car batteries. Works a lot longer. Haven't a clue if this would help or hurt blueberries, but it does wonders for Pin oak in clayey basic soils. "Your mileage may vary."

-- Susan in MO (smtroxel@nospamsocket.net), April 27, 2002.

I've heard of using sulfuric acid to acidify soil but NOT used battery acid. I wonder how much dissolved lead there would be in that electrolyte?

If you have pine trees and oaks in the area then simply put down at least a foot of pinestraw and oak leaves as mulch around each plant. If your soil test shows a pH near to 7.0 you might need to go with Miracid or adding ag sulfur to your soil but chances are simply keeping a thick mulch of pine straw and oak leaves will do the trick.

......Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), April 27, 2002.

ohhh...less acidic. heh...

lol battery acid sounds a little dangerous. i mean, it's dangerous enough to work with, what would it do to the soil? eat its way through and shrivel the roots? (heh) do they dilute battery acid? it can't be great for the environment...plus how would you get it out of the battery (without it squirting in your face and burning you??)? inquiring minds want to know, what can i say..... :)

-- C (punk_chicadee@yahoo.com), April 27, 2002.

I have tried to grow blueberrys for three years now. I found out the problem was soil ph . they all died year one. Next year I put in sulphur and peet and pine needles and sawsust. all died but one. It is doing fine this spring. I read that you need to adjust ph in the fall before planting in the spring or you will kill them. I guess that is my problem so I will get another bush this spring and try again. I live where blueberrys and azalias are supposed to do great and I have had bad luck with both. Azalias are blooming everywhere here but mine died again this past winter. Oh well.

-- corky wolf (corkywolf@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

I have gardening book that says to plant them in a good amount of peat moss mixed in with the soil, as it's acidic. Around here, the blueberry farmers mulck with sawdust.

-- CJ (sheep@katahdins.net), April 28, 2002.

Blueberries! Yumm. They are almost impossible to grow here. Mine are in tubs.

As for using battery acid, yikes! You buy battery acid in a jug down at the auto parts store. It has no lead in it, the lead is in the battery. Sulfer is MUCH safer to use and is cheaper. If you haven't planted the berries yet, you have the opportunity to amend your soil with lots of pine needles, etc before planting. But before going to the trouble, why don't you buy an inexpensive pH meter and check the soil?

-- kim in CO (kimk61252@hotmail.com), April 28, 2002.

Pine needles and azalea fertilizer is what I keep reading.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), April 28, 2002.

Terri, I live in Iowa and I grow blueberries. You have to do a lot of soil preparation because of their acidic soil requirements. Before planting the bushes, I built a raised planter to grow them in. (I built mine using our native limestone)Next dig a hole, down through the planter about 3 feet deep and 2 foot wide. Next backfill the hole, using a mixture of half peat moss and half normal soil. When you have backfilled almost to the top, set your berry bushes in the box and cover them one inch above the original planting depth using the half peat/half soil mixture. (Remember to use 2 different cultivars of bushes so that you will get berries) It is key to mulch the berries with about 2 inches of mulch that is acidic when it decomposes. Sawdust works great for this purpose. Water the bushes frequently ( the peat does not hold much moisture)and prune all of the flowers off the first 2 years. Fertilize in the spring with a fertilizer like Miracid or aluminum sulfate that is meant for acid loving plants. This is a lot of work, but the effort pays off when you get the berries. Hope this helps.

-- h severson (mama_hettie@hotmail.com), April 28, 2002.

I use Sawdust with horse manure in it from a local stable! seems to mork for me!! I just let it rot awhile before i put it around um!!

-- Grizz workin near D.C. (southerneagle@yahoo.com), April 28, 2002.

Coffee grounds. Ask the local diner or starbucks to give you their coffee grounds

-- Ann Markson in TN (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), April 28, 2002.

The trouble with sawdust is that it is also high in carbon, so be prepared to add nitrogen. And I don't think it has a particularly low pH (but I could be wrong about that)

Peat has some strang properties. It will repel water until it actually takes some in and then it will hold that water for a very long time. It does have a lot of humus, and I think it has a pH of 4.5 (from my shaky memory).

The soil around pine trees has a low pH because the trees drop their acidic needles. "Huckleberries" in Montana are actually blueberries! Note that the reason not much grows around pine trees is that those needles not only change the pH, but they also flood the drip line with tanins - too toxic for most plants. Blueberries seem to do okay, but I suspect that they would do even better without the tanins.

I once attended a two hour presentation on blueberries by a guy that was considered to be a national expert. Regarding pH, his comment was that the best way was to work gardeners sulphur in about twelve inches deep.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@richsoil.com), April 28, 2002.

if you have an access to cocoa bean hulls , they are acidic and excellent source of nitrogen.

-- ed (mkwrth@frsb.net), April 28, 2002.

First. check your soil ph. If low, apply pelletized sulfur per bag directions and also mix in aluminum sulfate per directions. The sulfur takes longer to break down into acid and the aluminum sulfate breaks down immediately. You can treat a quarter acre for less than $20. Be careful buying pelletized sulfur that you don't get a brand that is 20+% nitrogen

-- Willis (wpoze@yahoo.com), April 28, 2002.

Peacan shells can help too.

-- Thumper/inOKC (slrldr@yahoo.com), April 28, 2002.

I have been growing blueberries for 2 years. When I first plant them I put a little peat moss in the bottom of the hole. I then use azalea fertilizer, sparingly, around them. Then throughout the season I monitor their leaves. They will probably need fertilizer about every 4 weeks. When the leaves start to turn any color but green give them a little fertilizer. I live in south central KY.

Carole

-- Carole Kington (kington@duo-county.com), April 29, 2002.

I have a Blueberry farm here in S.E. Oklahoma. Or I should say it will be a farm someday. We moved here 4 years ago and planted the blueberries, everything took off wonderful. We will plant several hundred more in next year planting season and the reason you can grow them is a natural low ph in the soil. I lived in Ill before here and you would have to continually make the soil low. That is why up North you have wonderful hay meadows compared to our hay fields. We add lime to the hay fields to get a decent yield. I will be opening as a U-Pick in about a month. It takes a lot of mulch (pine is good) and water. Our water has a low ph too! We spend a lot of time in taking care of the bushes. I just hope the people in this are will appreciate the benefits of the blueberries, somehow I don't!

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), April 29, 2002.